My Scalp hurts

brebre928

brebre928

Well-Known Member
Ok, this maybe silly...idk if anyone else goes through this. But for the past week my scalp (mainly the middle area, where a different texture of hair is growing) has been feeling tender. I am due for a relaxer Saturday (2/7) but I won't be getting one because I started transtioning to natural. I've oiled my scalp so I know it's not dry. Has this happend to anyone before? And if it has what have you done to soothe it?
 
This always happens to me when my hair is really growing... I usually put some aloe vera gel on it and it seem to help me.. HTH
 
Yes Mam, It happens with Growth, I get ecstactic when I feel tenderness cause I know it means GROWTH! YEAHHHHH!
 
Girl I've been experiencing this too. I'm about 7wks post and I thought it was dryness. I lubed up with some sta-sof-fro and voila! My grass is moisturized..... but my scalp still hurts. :look: Definitely growth.
 
The only time my scalp hurts...like is really tender is when it needs to be washed. That hasn't happened in a long time, but my daughter is the exact same way. She's only had a sore scalp twice in her life, and as soon as I wash, the tenderness goes away by end of day. It's not that it's nasty or anything...just that product buildup has clogged pores and caused soreness in those affected areas.

I know I might get in trouble for asking this...but isn't our hair always growing? Why does growing hair make a scalp sore? Wouldn't it always be sore if that were the case?

Maybe I missed something. Please forgive me if I misunderstood the post. I mean no harm. Can growing really hurt? :perplexed

Blessings and healthy hair to us all!
cj
 
I'm suffering the exact same tenderness in the middle of my scalp! It doesn't equate to growth for me though - this feeling doesn't come around often for me. I'm going to massage with some EOs and watch this space...
 
@ Melodies815...this feeling always seem to come around when its time for a touch up. One time a while ago I told my co-worker my hair was nappy it hurt....lol. I do wash my hair every week though. But maybe oils cloggin pores could be the case...idk, its just annoyin to me and its only in that one middle spot....arrrrgggh!
 
brebre928 said:
@ Melodies815...this feeling always seem to come around when its time for a touch up. One time a while ago I told my co-worker my hair was nappy it hurt....lol. I do wash my hair every week though. But maybe oils cloggin pores could be the case...idk, its just annoyin to me and its only in that one middle spot....arrrrgggh!
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lol@ the nappy comment. When I was natural, I never had soreness...not once. Only experienced it relaxed.

But dd is natural, so it can't be nappies for her.

Maybe it is a growth thing...my question wasn't meant to be "smart." I am genuinely curious to know if growth can cause soreness. Thanks for responding.

Blessings,
cj
 
I bumped this cause I am going through this right now. My head is very tender in the crown area. I took my braids out last night and they were very loose so it wasnt becasue they were tight. my head is an annoying tender and I keep touching it.

I truly hope its a growth spurt.
 
SouthernStunner said:
I bumped this cause I am going through this right now. My head is very tender in the crown area. I took my braids out last night and they were very loose so it wasnt becasue they were tight. my head is an annoying tender and I keep touching it.

I truly hope its a growth spurt.
Click to expand...

Mine was doing the exact same thing as you and some of the other ladies mentioned. I couldn't stand it. And if I happen to touch it the "wrong" way, I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin! It's creepy and it feels weird. I thought maybe the "soft spot" I had as a baby didn't close or something.:lachen: It hurt that bad.

Anyway, I started using this Coconut Mixture with Peppermint Oil. I couldn't decide if I should try Peppermint or Tea Tree and I start rubbing it on that area. And now it is not sore anymore.:yep:
 
LivingDoll said:
It happens to me alot too. I usually do a scalp massage with oils when it feels like that.
Click to expand...

*Happily Me* said:
scalp pain = shedding for me :(
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melodies815 said:
The only time my scalp hurts...like is really tender is when it needs to be washed. That hasn't happened in a long time, but my daughter is the exact same way. She's only had a sore scalp twice in her life, and as soon as I wash, the tenderness goes away by end of day. It's not that it's nasty or anything...just that product buildup has clogged pores and caused soreness in those affected areas.

I know I might get in trouble for asking this...but isn't our hair always growing? Why does growing hair make a scalp sore? Wouldn't it always be sore if that were the case?

Maybe I missed something. Please forgive me if I misunderstood the post. I mean no harm. Can growing really hurt? :perplexed

Blessings and healthy hair to us all!
cj
Click to expand...

IDareT'sHair said:
Mine was doing the exact same thing as you and some of the other ladies mentioned. I couldn't stand it. And if I happen to touch it the "wrong" way, I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin! It's creepy and it feels weird. I thought maybe the "soft spot" I had as a baby didn't close or something.:lachen: It hurt that bad.

Anyway, I started using this Coconut Mixture with Peppermint Oil. I couldn't decide if I should try Peppermint or Tea Tree and I start rubbing it on that area. And now it is not sore anymore.:yep:
Click to expand...

These ladies are on my wavelength. Soreness is not a good thing IMO. I don't get excited when I feel it. I take soreness as a sign that something isn't OK. Pain was given to us to let us know when something is amiss. So when I feel soreness, I consider that time to massage my scalp really well to help improve circulation to that spot and hence healing/nourishment to the follicles that are probably in need of my attention hence the "painfuly cry for help". Trust me, the last time I had soreness in my scalp, I wound up with a bald spot. :nono:
 
Like LivingDoll said, I do scalp massages with oils when my scalp feels really sore. Usually it gets sore when my hair is growing faster than normal. It's almost as if the scalp and hair follicles are being a bit overworked cause they're not used to growing so fast, which may cause the soreness. I think as long as you keep taking care of it, you'll see significant growth!! Good luck girl!
 
Scalp soreness always baffled me. I could be wrong, but I always believed it was due to a growth spurt. I assumed that my tight curls popping through my scalp (at a higher rate) was causing the pain, especially in the crown where my hair is most dense. Oiling and washing always helped me remedy the pain so it could be another cause.
 
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hmm seems like ever1 has a different interpretation of that same pain!

It happens to me too, when im going over 8 weeks post a relaxer it starts getting sore in the middle too! Since i never notice unsual stuff, i like to assume its the growth lol.

BUT the idea of more shedding might make sense too :ohwell: will have to keep it on check next time!
 
Just contacted a hair expert and confirmed that a sore scalp can be due to a number of things including growing hair because of all the activity going on in the scalp. The example given was similar to someone exercising and then they tend to get sore, but it's all good and the soreness ceases until the next big workout or hair growth spurt. Nice massages should ease the pain.
 
2themax said:
Just contacted a hair expert and confirmed that a sore scalp can be due to a number of things including growing hair because of all the activity going on in the scalp. The example given was similar to someone exercising and then they tend to get sore, but it's all good and the soreness ceases until the next big workout or hair growth spurt. Nice massages should ease the pain.
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A hair expert? Where'd you find one of those? LOL

Seriously though, where?
 
My scalp is so sore today! I just washed my hair yesterday, and I've been massaging my scalp for the past 5 minutes or so. I think I'm off to find some peppermint oil in my stash of goodies. :sad:
 
I have the same tender feelin when i try strenghing,it feels like somebody pullin my scalp on inside my head.managin makes it feel worser to me tha when it have more pressure on it.i didnt know my hair was growing cuse ooooooo its too much for me soon i strengh to 3 months the newgrowth to heavy/hard coil for my scalp so stregth is headache all way around.
 
It is interesting that a hair scientist associated pain w/ growth. In all my searches, I have never come across any writings on this. Hopefully someone will put this in writing w/ scientific backing.

To see what I'm talking about, try doing a search using any of the terms for a painful scalp and hair growth and see how many articles you pull up saying the opposite of what the above hair scientist said:


Of all those searches the only one that associated a sore scalp with growth was a thread on this forum. But not a single article outside of this forum supporting this...as far as my quick search could see.
 
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I use to get a tender spot in my hair too back when I was relaxing every 6-8 weeks (I thought it was a sign that I needed a touch-up):ohwell::perplexed
 
This is just a theory (do not kill me :) ), but do you ladies think that there is such little evidence because it is caused primarily to women with tight curls (women of African descent). I would think a scalp with straight hair having a growth spurt would not "hurt" as much as a scalp with tight curls having a growth spurt. For example, a condition called pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps) happens more likely to men of African descent because of their tight curls.

"Pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps) is a common condition of the beard area occurring in African American men and other people with curly hair. The problem results when highly curved hairs grow back into the skin causing inflammation and a foreign body reaction. Over time, this can cause keloidal scarring which looks like hard bumps of the beard area and neck."

***Now I am not saying the soreness on our heads is razor bumps, but it could be another condition similar to razor bumps that affects our skin/scalp due to our tight curls. Our non-African descending counterparts may not experience this condition.
 
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my scalp is rarely tender but recently I experienced it while experimenting with various oils; one of them was a growth oil but I think the tenderness was caused by clogged pores by using products with mineral oil/petroleum. It also made my scalp itch like crazy. I've since shampooed and switched products and no more tenderness.
 
What's interesting about this thread is that people seem to be reporting tenderness mostly in the crown area...and isn't that where people see thinning first when they start going bald?

soreness/pain=something's not right

The hair on my legs and under my arms grows back quickly but it's never felt sore. Maybe a bit itchy though, but definitely not sore.
 
Saffirejuiliet said:
This is just a theory (do not kill me :) ), but do you ladies think that there is such little evidence because it is caused primarily to women with tight curls (women of African descent). I would think a scalp with straight hair having a growth spurt would not "hurt" as much as a scalp with tight curls having a growth spurt. For example, a condition called pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps) happens more likely to men of African descent because of their tight curls.

"Pseudofolliculitis barbae (razor bumps) is a common condition of the beard area occurring in African American men and other people with curly hair. The problem results when highly curved hairs grow back into the skin causing inflammation and a foreign body reaction. Over time, this can cause keloidal scarring which looks like hard bumps of the beard area and neck."

***Now I am not saying the soreness on our heads is razor bumps, but it could be another condition similar to razor bumps due to tight curls. Our non-African descending counterparts may not experience this condition.
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I would believe that lack of evidence is because this is only our problem so no one cares enough to research if other things that pertain only to us were also unknown, such as pseudofolliculitis barbae that you mention or how knotting of strands is typical of our hair or how different our hair structure is from other races. And as someone else said, if pain meant growth, wouldn't our scalps be hurting all the time--more when there's faster growth and slightly when there's normal growth?

I have one of the coiliest heads of hair on the forum and my hair grows steadily as far as I can tell. But the growth between Feb 2007 and June 2008 is the fastest my hair has ever grown, but I didn't have a sore scalp during that "spurt".

Hopefully we have some trichologists on the forum who can study this and report back. Until then, I will trust the info I read and my own previous experience.
 
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