why does it hurt when I take a different part?

[waves]

Hey everybody! After a long hiatus in which some insignificant things like exams happened, I've come back to LHC! And my hair appears to have grown! Yay!

I wanted to ask your opinion/advice on this:

I have waist length, fairly thick hair. I usually take a middle part. Today, I took a side part to bring over my too-long fringe to the other side. And the scalp hurt.

Does this mean it's weak and unhealthy or something? As you can see, I'm new to hair-wisdom, and so I turn to the experts. Please help! Thanks!!

[Gumball]

I think your hair just gets used to going one way. When you switch up the part it changes the status quo and that pain may be your scalp going "Uh oh I'm not used to this!" If you stay diligent it could improve over time once your scalp acclimates. I mean if you tilt your head to one side all day and then tilt it the other way you may notice some pain in your neck, but it goes away once you get used to the position.

[mira-chan]

In the hair follicle there are small muscles attached to each hair. They are used to a certain tension when you wear the same part for a long time. You change the part you effectively get muscle cramps in all of those muscles.

What helps is changing your part while your hair is wet and your scalp is warm. If you already have this "hair ache" arm up the scalp with massage or a heating pad. It helps a lot.

[mommy101405]

I get that too if I try to switch my part. I think its what the others have said. The hair is just used to laying one way and when you put it in the other direction the follicle gets sore. I don't think its a sign of weakness in the hair.

[heidi w.]

I can offer this addition to Mira-chan's explanation.

Hair grows in a particular direction. All people's hair does. So when you change the direction the hair is to lie in, it will put the hair follicle in some "tenseness". Some people can even get headaches from this (or heavy weighted hair) because all about the scalp skin there are capillaries, and these can swell as well.

This is not an indication of something wrong or weak hair or whatever. There's nothing to fix. It's just how it is for many, many people.

The hair follicle is in a "stressed" status when hair is drawn in a direction other than its direction of growth.

I find that when I switch parts, it's best not to go too far afield from my main, natural part. IF, for example, I go way off to one side and then draw it the other direction, opposite it's way of growing, I can anticipate even more irritation.

http://www.hairscientists.org/%20hair.htm
Hair is closely associated with sweat gland and sebaceous gland activity. Each hair-producing follicle with its sebaceous gland is known as a pilo-sebaceous unit. The arrector pili muscle joins the wall of the follicle to the epidermis and is responsible for the erection of hairs and goose flesh during cold weather or emotional stresses.

heidi w.

[MissHair]

Ive had this problem for several years, I had major headaches from wearing my hair up when it was longer so my family advised me to cut it short.. (which I also did...) because they said the pain is caused by the lenght and weight of my thick hair... WRONG...

My hair is officially now short and I still have the same awful dreadful pain in my scalp when I part my hair differently. I mean horrible pain.. I cant rub my scalp clean when I shower because I cant move the hair in different directions.. And the headache dont last just 1-2 minutes.. They can last up to two days unless I have a hot shower and take some pain meds. I get like migraine attacks from scalp pain.. Its horrible. So Ive come to the conclusion not to mess with my scalp and just keep the same part. Ive tried to part it differently everyday, like moving my hand through my hair but it dosnt help, the more I do it the more it hurts.

[jera]

This is an excellent question. My scalp always hurts when I change my part too.
But it's important to change it from time to time, otherwise you could end up with hair loss / thinness from parting your hair in the same spot all the time.

[GibsonGirlV]

This is an excellent question. My scalp always hurts when I change my part too.
But it's important to change it from time to time, otherwise you could end up with hair loss / thinness from parting your hair in the same spot all the time.

This is so true. It's one of the things that's most ingrained in my memory about hair. When I was a little girl (maybe 6 or 7) I remember my aunt complimenting me on my hair and wishing out loud about how she wished she had changed her part instead of keeping it the same for decades because her hair had thinned so much in that spot. She warned me to change up my part and it basically scared the poop out of me at the time hee hee. I actually went for years after that insisting that I not part my hair at all because I was so afraid I would go bald.

Thankfully I don't have migranes or horrible pain when changing my part (You poor thing Misshair!!!!), but i do get a little discomfort from time to time.

[Darkhorse1]

A hair dresser once told me to comb your hair back when wet(wide tooth), and then push it forwards. Your hair will naturally part itself. I think you can do it dry too--brush hair back and then push it forward a bit from the back of your head and it will fall where it wants to--that is your natural part. Hope that helps.

[helen2806]

A hair dresser once told me to comb your hair back when wet(wide tooth), and then push it forwards. Your hair will naturally part itself. I think you can do it dry too--brush hair back and then push it forward a bit from the back of your head and it will fall where it wants to--that is your natural part. Hope that helps.

my hairdresser does this too, it doesn't work for me once my hair's dry but if I do it wet then it works easily