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

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? 

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. 

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.