Is your scalp painful even when you don’t touch it? Does it feel like your hair literally hurts? Believe me, it’s not just in your head – “hair hurting” is a real thing and it happens to a lot of people. You can find below the causes of scalp pain and some advice, that really helped me relieve the pain and helped restore my scalp health.
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Causes of scalp pain
To make this clear from the beginning is not really your hair that hurts, it’s the skin and the region around each hair or follicle (also called perifollicular area) that hurts.
The number one issue when you have a painful scalp is usually not washing your hair as you should. This means you either don’t wash it enough, or you don’t exfoliate, allowing for the buildup and yeast to gather, or you wash it too frequently getting rid of all the beneficial oils that your hair produces and making it feel very dry.
Another common cause of scalp pain can be too much styling of the hair with a lot of hair tools or keeping your hair in the same style, usually a very tight ponytail for too long, causing it to feel sore because of the lack of scalp stimulation.
There is also a third cause of why your “hair hurts” and that might be because of migraines. People that suffer from frequent migraines can have increased scalp sensitivity.
We have a lot of blood vessels in the skin of our scalp, and when these vessels are inflamed because of the buildup gathered on our head, they start pressing the surrounding nerves, causing scalp sensitivity.
How to get rid of a painful scalp
Stop keeping your hair in tight ponytails
If you usually keep your hair in a tight ponytail, this might be a reason why your scalp is painful. Our scalp is very rich in blood supply, nerve endings, and also oil glands, but these vessels need stimulation, and keeping the same tight ponytail hairstyle is not offering the scalp the stimulation that it needs. You can try to do a hair massage with your fingertips once every few days to relax and increase blood circulation. Also, if you must have your hair in a ponytail all day, you can invest in a silk scrunchie, like this one, which is not that hard on your hair and doesn’t pull it as much as normal hair ties.
Hydrate your scalp before washing
One important step that you can do to help restore scalps health is to get a hair oil and massage it for a few minutes with your hands into your scalp. You can either use a hair oil like Morrocan Oil or you can just use plain organic oil like castor oil, argan oil, or coconut oil.
The best that hydrates your scalp as well as helps hair grow is pure organic castor oil. After you massage it into your skin wait for a few hours or overnight in order for the oil to properly hydrate the scalp and then wash your hair. Because of the greasiness of the oil and depending on how much you actually put in your hair, you might need to shampoo your hair twice.
Exfoliate your Scalp
In order to get rid of all the dirt and the yeast that builds up, leading later to dandruff, you have to make sure you exfoliate your scalp. You can exfoliate with either a silicone brush while shampooing or before you shampoo your hair with a scalp exfoliator.
Use a Good Shampoo For Your Hair
I would recommend using a gentler shampoo if you exfoliated your scalp pre-wash, maybe even a baby shampoo if your scalp is dry. If you didn’t, I recommend Eucerin shampoo as it contains Lactic Acid, an AHA which helps to gently exfoliate the scalp and relieve the itchy feeling.
Great shampoo with salicylic acid is this one from Vichy Dercos, good for dry and itchy hair. This product is amazing for hair psoriasis.
Use a conditioner or a mask only on root ends
If you have dry or treated hair is important to add moisture to it and restore its hydration. You can do this by using a conditioner or a mask after washing. If you do so, please only use it from half of your hair length to your hair ends, making sure that it doesn’t touch your scalp so you won’t get buildup right after washing your hair clean. A great mask that adds hydration to your hair and smells absolutely delicious is Garnier Ultimate Blends – Hair Food Watermelon.
Stop or use as little as you can dry shampoo
I know dry shampoo can be a life-saver sometimes if you don’t have time to wash your hair, but you still want to get rid of the greasiness from it. But, dry shampoo is also one of the most common issues why your hair gets buildup, your scalp is itchy, and also why you sometimes get dandruff.
My scalp health changed for the better after I stopped using on a day-to-day basis dry shampoo. My hair didn’t get as oily as fast, I got rid of dandruff and most importantly, my scalp was not painful anymore or itchy. You can still use dry shampoo from time to time, just make sure you don’t make a ritual out of using dry shampoo and that you properly exfoliate your hair after using it.
Use a microfibre turban or a t-shirt
Instead of using a cotton towel to dry out your hair after washing it, try using a microfibre turban or an old t-shirt, as it won’t pull your hair that much, making it less painful when you get out of the shower.
Air dry your hair
You should try as much as possible to air dry your scalp as it helps hair retain moisture – blow-drying will dry your scalp out even more because of the hot temperatures, making it even more painful.
These were some tips I have found out to work amazing in getting rid of scalp pain or “hair hurting”. And please remember, even if you don’t see immediate results with these steps, they will give you great results in the end. Just let your hair and scalp accommodate the new changes and continue to take care of it.
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