Scalp Sensitivity and Tender Scalp

Welcome to Locs Talk, where I talk about all things Locs and Loose-Natural hair. This week I am going to discuss the topic of scalp sensitivity and tenderness, the possibility of its causes, when you should consider seeking medical help or psychotherapy and finally, some helpful home remedies to help with treatment of sensitive scalp and tips to desensitize the scalp. As a Loctician and Stylist, one of the biggest challenges I've had to handle with clients are clients with tender and sensitive scalps. Some reasons for scalp tenderness can be caused by underlying medical conditions you may know nothing about or may not know can affect your scalp. So, let us begin and look into what sensitive scalp is and how to identify it, and some of the helpful tips and remedies to treat it.

Sensitive Scalp

Common symptoms of sensitive scalp are, burning, stinging, dry scalp, vague discomfort in the scalp, and sometimes, the trichodynia. Trichodynia is defined as discomfort, pain, or paresthesia of the scalp, often perceived as unpleasurable coming of the hair. According to research, ethnic variations are noted in scalp sensitivity. A study from French population has shown that 44.2% of population suffers from scalp sensitivity. The main triggering factors identified were pollution, heat, emotive factors, and shampoos. Research has also shown that scalp sensitivity, probably belongs to sensitive skin syndrome and most patients declared sensitive skin in another area other than their body. Scalp dysesthesia is a cutaneous (affecting the skin) condition characterized by pain and burning sensation without objective physical examination findings. The pain is often described as burning. Often there is an underlying psychosomatic cause, such as stress, depression or anxiety. This hasn't been hard for me to identify with some of my clients. Often times when I have a client who has scalp sensitivity and describes the pain as burning and physically reacting to it, (without my physically handling their hair), that gives me a sign that they may be feeling something in relation to a psychosomatic cause for their pain and not from their hair being handled. Psychosomatic means the discomfort is caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict of stress.

Now this is not the same factor when it comes to children and often times it can seem very similar. Children naturally have a more sensitive scalp than adults do. Babies' scalps are extremely sensitive, but as children grow, their scalp sensitivity lessens a little each year. For some children, sensitivity does not reduce, due to Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) which means they find it difficult to process sensory information such as sound, movement and touch causing them heighted reactivity. This is a case of sensitive scalp for children (and some adults) that you can work on desensitizing. Desensitizing simply put is to make less sensitive. It is a process that takes time and patience in order to build the trust and their confidence in you not to hurt them. If desensitizing with adults is unsuccessful, it may be due to psychosomatic causes or tenderness in relation to underlying medical conditions, which we will soon get to in this discussion.

Some helpful home remedies to help aid in desensitizing the scalp is using shampoos that are helpful in soothing the scalp. There are a number of shampoos on the market that are healthy and helpful. One of my favorites is shampoo that contains Tea Tree Oil, oat milk, or or brands specially formulated to treat eczema (a very common cause for sensitive scalp in both children and adults). Aloe gel is a God send for helping sooth sensitive scalp. For Loose Natural clients, it is important to detangle the hair prior to shampooing with the use of a good detangling moisturizer that is formulated for sensitive scalp and either a wide tooth comb or a specially designed detangling brush for sensitive scalp. Working with a small section at a time, it is imperative to hold the hair in your hand as you detangle the hair as to not put too much pressure and tension on the scalp. Scalp stimulation and massage with the use of essential oils can be very helpful to aid in sensitivity. But most of all, take your time, and communicate with your client, keep them involved with the process and decision making for each step, this helps tremendously in gaining their trust. With my children and some adult clients who request it, I often sing to them while I detangle and wash their hair. We would often have very healing and therapeutic conversations to help keep their stress levels low as well. It is crucial to have the trust of a client who suffers from scalp sensitivity and keep them involved throughout the process.

Scalp Tenderness

Scalp tenderness is slightly different from scalp sensitivity and is most often caused by an underlying medical condition. Many of these conditions can go untreated because it is often misconstrued by the client who simply thinks or says, "Oh, I'm just Tender Headed." But if it is consistently tender, long after your hair has been treated and it isn't over tightly done, then there may be cause for concern and you may want to seek medical attention just to be sure. Let's take a deeper look at scalp tenderness and its causes. Scalp tenderness is defined as pain, inflammation, tingling, numbness, irritation, itching, throbbing, or sensitivity to scalp. It may be linked to immune processes in response to a variety of conditions. Some scalp tenderness is caused by conditions affecting the blood vessels, nerves and tissues below or surrounding the scalp. Scalp tenderness can accompany common conditions such as headaches, allergies, psoriasis, eczema, and hair loss.

Scalp tenderness is linked with many forms of headaches involving the nerves that run from the back of the neck to the forehead. As previously noted, tenderness can be linked frequently to a range of skin conditions including, rashes, sunburn, insect bites, and head lice. These skin conditions can cause inflammation pain, tenderness, flaking of the skin, pulling and even make the scalp pus or bleed. More causes for scalp tenderness are, acne, allergic reactions caused by contact allergens and viral infections that cause skin sores such as shingles and measles, tight hair styles, head bands, and helmets, regular or improper use of products that cause scalp sensitivity, hair dryness, flat irons, and hot curlers. Over-brushing your hair or using a hard bristle brush can also affect the sensitivity of your scalp. General scalp discomfort can sometimes be linked to your hair styling habits.

Scalp tenderness is a fairly common complaint, linked with several medical conditions that affect many people. Migraines, tension headaches, and autoimmune disorders, and scalp infections are some of the top causes for scalp tenderness aside from simply having hypersensitive scalp. Let's look at some of those conditions. Folliculitis is a bacterial staph infection in the hair follicles. Furunculosis and Carbunculosis scalp are skin infections I like to describe as giant scalp pimples. They are skin infections that form lumps and pus, called furuncle and carbuncles. A furuncle (abscess) forms when a hair follicle and the skin surrounding it becomes infected. A carbuncle is made up of a cluster of furuncles and goes much deeper into the skin.

Scalp tenderness occurs also when the hair is dirty, when the scalp is not cleaned properly or often enough. When you go too long without shampooing your hair, oil and dead skin cells can start to build up around the hair shaft at the root and cause sensitivity. While a little oil can be beneficial for your hair, too much oil can suffocate the hair root and lead to inflammation. Also, LADIES, when you are on your cycle, you produce a hormone that increases pain sensitivity, which causes your scalp to become tender and sensitive to everything.

There are a number of autoimmune disorders that aid in scalp tenderness as well. But before I get to that, it's important to know that hair loss, as mentioned previously is also a cause for scalp tenderness. Alopecia Areta (when the hair falls out in round clumps from the scalp and sometimes the body) occurs when the immune system attacks hair follicles and may be brought on by high levels of stress as well. Other factors that can cause hair loss in addition to scalp tenderness include, poor diet (especially one lacking in protein and iron), Lupus, Hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto's Thyroid Syndrome, and therapies in relation to Cancer treatment such as chemo and radiation treatments.

So, think back to when you were a child. You may have been tender headed and may have outgrown it. But then suddenly, it came back with a vengeance. Perhaps it did not, perhaps you may have developed a condition that is causing the tenderness, or you may have some healing to work through Psychologically, but your resistance to it is taking an effect on your scalp's sensitivity. Yes, resistance to shadow work absolutely DOES affect your physical health, which includes scalp tenderness. Before treating any severe scalp sensitivity, it is very important to focus and look at what may be causing the tenderness. A routine physical exam and blood work can help you find that. If there is no physical evidence as to why your scalp is so hypersensitive, it is a strong possibility it may be caused by psychosomatic causes which may require some psychological therapy and healing. Be kind to your scalp, give yourself grace and don't just assume you are just "Tender Headed" you just may be missing the link connecting you to a treatable medical condition. Listen to your scalp if it's trying to tell you something. If you find there is an underlying medical condition, please follow your doctor's advice on treatment.

I really hope this blog on scalp sensitivity and tenderness and its possibility of being an affect from underlying health issues has been helpful to you. Until next week, have a happy and healthy hair journey.

Pammie