Tender-headedness

[estherbeth]

I've always been terribly tender-headed, to the point that it's a chore to comb or brush my hair every single time. I've sat and cried while combing or brushing my hair before. In the past, I've broken brushes by whacking them on the counter because of frustration caused by the pain. It isn't even because of pulling at tangles -my tangles aren't that bad! I hardly get any (I keep my hair up in buns or braided 90% of the time), and those I do get are just around my nape, where it doesn't hurt to coax them out. It's just my from about my crown up that hurts. Around the nape of my neck, I could yank all day long without much pain. My scalp isn't inflamed or anything. It's just been this way all my life. Does anyone else have a problem with your head being so sensitive? What do you do to minimize the pain when combing/brushing or styling?

[virgo75]

I'm so sorry you have such a hard time with your sensitive scalp.

My daughter is the same way.
It doesn't help that her hair is super thick - like the thickness of 3-4 heads of hair and tightly coiled/curly.

There are several things I do with my daughter's hair to make it easier to detangle and less painful for her:

1)Wash her hair in loose braids so it doesn't tangle while wet - her hair curls up on itself and tangles terribly if I leave it loose while washing. >_<

2)Use a slippery leave-in conditioner to detangle. Often, just adding some water to regular rinse out conditioner works well. I also add some oil because her hair tends to be dry, but you don't have to.

3)To brush - I keep her hair in sections(at least 6) and when I'm working on an individual section I'll add the leave-in detangler or conditioner, twist it at the root then keep my hand there while I detangle the length working from the bottom to the top. This keeps her from feeling as much of the brushing. When I get to the roots I try to brush the tangles down towards the middle of the hair then twist and hold the root again to brush the root tangles out from the middle.

This seems to work pretty well. She doesn't like anyone else to do her hair because most people just try to rip through her hair since it's so thick.

Finally, another thing I recently started doing that is working well is to detangle her hair after I've blow dried it while pulling it taut. If your hair is already straight you probably don't need this step. I let her hair towel dry for about 30 minutes, take down one(1) braid, spray it with heat protectant, then blow dry it while pulling it taut. This seems to decrease the amount her hair curls up and tangles on itself. Then I can just use a detangler and/or leave-in conditioner to detangle and it doesn't curl back up on itself while I'm in the process of brushing it out.

Hope that helps. :flower:

[spidermom]

It helps to hold your hair firmly in one hand while you use your other hand to comb the area below where your hand is gripping. That way it doesn't pull against the scalp. I have to comb my granddaughter's hair this way.