Can hair growth cause headaches?
Did you know that your very own hair can be giving you some serious headaches issues? Whether your hair is short, medium, long, curly or straight it doesn't matter. Headaches from a full head of hair, or even from trying to grow your hair are very real and very common. So what do you do? Shave it? No, this is not a very serious issue and can be solved using a few simple neat tricks. But first, let’s take a closer look at what's going on under all of those roots! Here’s how your hair can be causing you some headaches or migraines.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to worry about using your locks to rid yourself of these headaches. Moreover, by the end of this article, you’ll have a more in-depth understanding of what's really going on inside that scalp of yours, and all your stresses should disappear pretty fast since you'll have a plan of action.
Does Hair Cause Headaches?
Long story short, yes. Hair can cause you some headaches, however, the common misconception is that this is unique to longer hairstyles. The reality, however, is that these pesky follicle migraines can happen to anyone, anytime, at any hair length. So let’s take a close look at what's going on here.
Most of your issues arise when a few simple bad habits form when treating your hair that can cause some pain, and discomfort and lead to headaches and migraines.
What Causes Hair Headaches?
There are a few things to consider when it comes to trying to narrow down what is causing your hair headaches. Below we have a list for you to begin your elimination techniques to decipher what the root of the problem is, no pun intended.
Heavy Hair Headaches
Most people tend to think that it’s the weight of their hair that causes them these hair headaches or migraines. A closer look at the facts will however tell us otherwise…
The weight of an individual's hair even when super long, let's say, able to reach the floor in length, is not actually all that heavy. In addition, hair grows roughly about ½” to ¾” in 30 whole days. This means that as your hair slowly, and I mean slowly, increases its lengths all the muscles nerves, and tissue has plenty of time to calibrate themselves to the new “Do” every time you wake up. Now if our hair where to go from one day being very short, to the next day below our waistline, this is the most probable scenario where the very weight of our hair may cause a bit of discomfort in the cranial region.
Weight is not likely to be the reason for your hair unless you're carrying egregious amounts of weight on top of your head, then in that case it’s likely but not certain, there are a few more aspects we can look into about what's causing your hair headaches.
New Hair Style
Instead of the actual weight of your hair being the main focus here, we should turn our heads to another more likely culprit of your scapular migraines. New hair Do or styles have been known to cause some discomfort in your head. This can be from applying new products to your hair in the shower. Brushing your hair in a new irregular way that your follicles are not used to.
Most likely if this sounds relatable. If you brush your hair follicles in a new path, ie., a direction that they're not used to in hopes of creating that part you’ve always wanted or to get rid of a new recently discovered cowlick, this can be a prime suspect as to where your headaches are coming from. Anything to do with tugging or pulling of the hair follicles against their normal positions is reason enough for them to cause a bit of irritation and mind-numbing discomfort. Go easy on yourself next time you stand in the mirror and brush your hair to achieve a new look. This could have just solved all your problems.
Ps. Another thing to look out for is how often you clean or wash your hair in the shower. Not enough scrubby and your scalp will surely suffer from oil, dandruff, or bacterial buildup on your roots. If it’s been a minute since you’ve put your luscious locks under some warm water with shampoo and conditioner, this also could be the main reason why you suffer from these headaches.
Leather Facing
This one, is what we call, leather facing. Typically happens when you have mangled or pulled or styled your hair so tight and mercilessly that it affects your resting facial structure to give you a new vogue look. Yea, sorry, while you look perfect for a potential cast slot in the new 2020-never Zoolander movie coming up this practice alone can and will cause you to get headaches. Imagine the constant stress your putting on your scalp with all of these hair clips and ties, heck, even baseball caps can be a major culprit here. To combat this you should start practicing the “free fall”, where you just let your hair do its thing in the wind, trust me the “free fall” is a migraine savior and it will bring out your most natural and unique look. Who doesn’t love a bit of individualism?
On that same token though, sometimes we have corporate jobs or put ourselves in a certain setting where wearing your hair up is a must. Look for ways that you can lighten the strain on your scalp when it comes to doing so. Don’t wind your hair ties up so tight next time, Give yourself some breathing room when adjusting your cap, and please for the love of God, do not apply so much hairspray that your follicles begin to resemble more of a paper machine sculpture than actual hair strands. Let it all hang loose and enjoy a migraine evening more often.
Pay Attention to Your Neck
Whatever happens, you’ll know if a certain hairstyle I meant for you if you're not walking around with an L-shaped neck all day. Pay attention to how your neck feels after styling your hair up. Too much weight on one side and not only are your roots screaming for mercy from being pulled out of their nutrient-rich home. But your neck is begging to be put out of its misery from having to support the weight from your very impractical hairstyling decisions. With all this noise going on you will begin to feel the effects of a not so friendly or convenient headache or migraine.
Make sure you can take your neck through its full range of motion when putting your hair up or this can lead to some pretty disastrous outcomes. Ps. don't apply your hair buns so tight.
Here’s how to Avoid Hair Headaches
If you’ve made it this far down the list, it’s not so uncommon that many of these hair headaches cause reasons you’ve experienced alone or all together at the same time. Don’t feel overwhelmed here is the way we can simplify this equation by following these tips down below that will address everything we’ve covered thus far and make your hair headaches a thing of the past.
Distribute Your Hair Evenly
A good rule of thumb when it comes to how your hair should feel as you carry out your day-to-day activities is that you shouldn't notice your hair. It should feel weightless and be out of your conscious thought patterns for the most part during the day till you, take a shower, or go to sleep.
One way of ensuring your hair isn't getting in the way of things is to make sure it is evenly distributed on your head. Life’s all about balance and this includes hair. Not too much hair on one side or the other. It should be able to comfortably sit without any attention to it at all. How you wear your hair is mostly what can cause severe headaches. Strive for balance and reap the benefits.
Tight But Not Too Tight Buns
If your go-to hairstyle is a bun, be sure that it doesn't dangle as much as possible. The constant swaying of a loose bun contributes to stressing those poor roots right out of their pores and in turn, continues to damage your scalp. You’ll know your buns to be loose or too tight when your scalp starts screaming at you in the form of a headache to fix and re-adjust your hairdo. Buns should be anchored respectfully close to the head, otherwise, it becomes a sort of makeshift wrecking ball dangling and swinging around in the wind, ouch! This will most likely cause you some headache issues going forward but always know the solution is just a simple re-twist away from a blissful hair experience. If hair ties aren't your thing consider using a hair stick or chopsticks! These properly secure your hair to a very aesthetic-looking position and have been tried and true through millennia of human history. Maybe those hair headaches are just simply a call from your scalp to reboot your hairdo.
Ponytail Headaches
Ponytails can and will cause you to have severe headaches or migraines depending on how you wear them.
If you’re planning on sporting a very classy ponytail for the day yet don’t want to undergo any hassle whatsoever of their headaches follow these easy steps.
To begin, start by parting your hair by taking roughly half on the top leaving some extra hair towards the bottom to dangle and hang free.
Next, wrap up the initial quantity of hair using a hair tie or whatever you feel comfortable with using. This ponytail should be sitting wherever you like it on your head given that it’s not overly stressing any hair follicles from your scalp.
Then, take the remaining dangling portion left on your hair and bring that up to the initial ponytail. Gently wrap those up together and voila! You’ve made yourself look stylish, practical, and very comfortable. With this style of the ponytail, you can pretty much set it and forget it and carry on about your daily ventures knowing that when you return home you will be headache free. You’ll notice there is no dragging or obnoxious movement of your hair, and this is exactly what we’re striving for.
Pain In the Roots
If you’re not experiencing any pain or discomfort from wearing your hair too tight or in a new way altogether. The likely cause of your hair headaches is coming from either your scalp or your roots.
To combat this, you’re going to need to take a shower. However this time we’re going to be giving you some professional insights on how you can wash your hair effectively and comfortably to minimize the discomfort you are feeling in your head.
Start by turning on the water, and raising the temperature, not to steaming levels but lukewarm enough to feel comfortable.
Ps. heating your hair can dry out your scalp and roots leading to dry brittle hair follicles that can fall out easily if not treated with hydrating oils and moisturizers so it's best to avoid turning up the heat too high.
What you’re likely experiencing, in this case, is a buildup of sebum, the oil secreted from the sebaceous glands in your scalp covering your roots and providing you with a whole heap of cranial discomfort. Not to worry, this is one of the most satisfying and gratifying ways to treat your hair, leaving you feeling like a new person upon exit.
Take your shampoo of preference and keep it handy. Soak your hair in the lukewarm water until all of your hair is wet down to the scalp. Apply a generous amount of Shampoo to your hands and scrub them together to produce the suds. evenly apply the shampoo starting from the scalp down to the tips of your hair creating a nice satisfying lather on your head. For the next few moments think of a song to jam to or start washing the rest of your body while the suds on your scalp do their work to loosen the buildup on your scalp.
Once a few moments have passed, take your head back under the warm water and gently with your fingertips begin to massage away all of the suds from your scalp. You should be overwhelmed by a feeling of relief and comfort upon doing so and this means your doing it right. Apply conditioner as instructed and essentially follow the same steps as before. Once you're all rinsed off, apply a dose of cold water to your scalp and hair to lock in the moisture, this goes very far by the way. Once you exit the shower, gently press down on your hair to soak up all of the excess water and let it air dry. You should be able to observe a difference in your hair quality and a decreased amount of lingering discomfort coming from your roots as your headache gradually diminishes into oblivion. Great job! You’ve just washed away your headache.
Find Your Balance
Finding your balance when doing your hair is imperative to a comfortable do. No one likes to be kept up all night because of a too-tight ponytail, that just sucks. Find your balance whenever you decide to fix your hair and know that hair ties should never be too tight or too loose on your head. Always strive for the weightless feeling on your scalp and you’ll be set!
Mix Things Up a Bit
Sometimes your hair headaches are just a simple cry from your scalp to mix things up a bit. Switch up your hairstyles, it might be the case that your scalp is getting stressed from the normal messy bun look and needs a pull in a different direction altogether.
Just keep in mind the tips and tricks we’ve mentioned before in this article when finding a new hairstyle that suits you and in this case, you can wave goodbye to those pesky hair aches, also no pun intended but kinda.
Do Your Tests
You know how your hair feels the best. Play around with it. Try different styles and styling methods that don't diminish the integrity of your hair and see what causes you the most pain. This is a sure-fire way of knowing exactly what causes your hair to give you headaches and make a note to yourself to apply some sort of modification to the style to find your preferred level of comfort. Try side buns if the old-fashioned ponytail isn’t working. Or by all means, let your hair be free to settle as it pleases leaving you with the weightless feeling hair should give you without much input or effort from your end at all.
How To Cure Hair Headaches
That’s all Folks. Thanks for tuning in on how to cure You Hair Headaches, we hope this article helped you out and if you’ve found anything to be of use to you consider sharing it with a fellow hair headache sufferer to save a life!
