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Once & For All: Why Does My Hair Hurt? The Most Common Reason

Jamie Schneider
Author:
November 28, 2023
Jamie Schneider
Former Senior Beauty & Lifestyle Editor
By Jamie Schneider
Former Senior Beauty & Lifestyle Editor
Jamie Schneider is the former Senior Beauty Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.A. in Organizational Studies and English from the University of Michigan, and her work has appeared in Coveteur, The Chill Times, and Wyld Skincare.
Female Hand Touching Afro Hairdo
Image by VISUALSPECTRUM / Stocksy
November 28, 2023
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It's an all too familiar scenario: Your scalp feels sore, tender to the touch, yet you haven't styled your locks in days. Why does my hair hurt? you ask yourself, then immediately feel silly. Hair is dead, after all. It is not a living tissue, so it can't feel sore—so why do you feel such undeniable discomfort? 

You are not alone, and you are not silly! Plenty of people experience pain at the roots, and oftentimes, there's a very simple solution. Discover the antidote below. 

Why does my hair hurt? 

Scalp pain can happen for myriad reasons, including too-tight hairstyles, seborrheic dermatitis, and even stress (yep, it's pretty common to hold tension in your scalp!). But one of the most common culprits is scalp buildup—both natural and product. 

As a refresher, natural buildup refers to gunk like dead skin, dirt, or sebum that accumulates on the scalp, which typically happens if you go too long between washes. Then there's product buildup, which happens when styling products (think hair spray, dry shampoo, and the like) build up on the scalp.

No matter which type you're dealing with, that buildup can suffocate the hair follicles and lead to inflammation, resulting in flakes, itching, and—you guessed it!—tenderness or pain. And since those follicles are literally the source of hair growth, too much inflammation can limit growth and eventually lead to shedding.

Take it from Adarsh Vijay Mudgil, M.D., board-certified dermatologist and founder of Mudgil Dermatology: "If buildup is really extreme, it can even pull the hair down because there's so much inflammation around the hair follicle," he previously told us

Don't worry; it likely takes more than a few days of scalp pain to get to that point of hair loss. But that's essentially the reason why you might say your hair "hurts" after too many days between washes. Oftentimes, that pain signals it's time for a good, clean scrub. 

What to do about it 

Simple: Wash your hair! The tenderness should ebb once you clear away the buildup—if it doesn't, that's a sign you may be dealing with another cause of scalp pain (and time to head back to the drawing board). 

But if buildup is truly the culprit, a good cleanse is the antidote. Grab your clarifying shampoo and get to work—you may even want to use a scalp brush to further break up the buildup. 

That being said, if you're dealing with loads of buildup, you may need to enlist some extra help. Enter, scalp scrubs: Just like your skin needs regular exfoliation, the skin on your scalp can also benefit from this weekly step.

You can find physical exfoliant scrubs with sea salt or sugar to manually lift the gunk, or you can opt for chemical formulas that use ingredients like salicylic acid and tea tree oil to dissolve the buildup. Dealer's choice, but make sure you use gentle pressure and look out for potentially irritating players, which may cause even more pain.

The takeaway 

If your hair "hurts," know that it's not the actual strands themselves in pain—it's the surrounding skin on the scalp that's inflamed. Usually, this is due to buildup (natural or product) clogging the hair follicles and causing inflammation; to solve the issue, all you likely need is a good shampoo (plus a weekly scalp treatment) to get your roots feeling fresh, clean, and pain-free.

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