Have a Sore Scalp With Hair Loss? Here's Some Reasons Why This May Be Happening

I get an awful lot of correspondence from people who tell me that they have a very sore and painful scalp that is accompanying their accelerated hair loss. Sometimes, they also have itching, flaking, or some discoloration (red or pink scalp) that is happening also. Many people ask me why this is happening and if there is anything that they can do to fix or help with this. I will discuss both things in the following article.

Some Things That Might Cause Sore Scalp With Hair Loss: 

There are a few things that might be causing this condition. I will discuss them one by one. First up is telogen effluvium. This is basically aggressive shedding that can occur for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is seasonal. Other times, it is due to medical issues, stress, medications, or hormones.

Whatever the reason, the shedding is often very dramatic and troubling. What is happening is that your hair is changing it's life span by moving from growing to resting before it was actually meant to happen. In short,

Sore Scalp With Hair Loss

the hair cycle has been interrupted and shortened. As the result, tons of your follicles are going to be going through this change at once. You can sometimes literally feel this happening. When it happened to me, I actually had specialists tell me that my pain could have been psychological because I was so worried and concerned about my hair. I just don't buy this. I know from forums that this is quite common and the redness and pinkness that often accompany this is quite physical and evident merely by looking.

Another common cause for this is allergic or dermatological reactions of the scalp. Sometimes you use a new styling or beauty product (hair dye is a common culprit) that burns or negatively affects your scalp or causes some kind of allergic reaction. Occasionally, you will develop a new sensitivity to an old product.) The hair loss that follows is a direct reaction to this, but is often short lived once you discontinue the use of the product.

The final cause that I will discuss (and what many believe to be the most common and probable) is that the scalp is reacting to androgens. Sometimes, this is because you are at a life phase where you are genetically prone to become more sensitive to these substances. And sometimes, the hormones that would balance this are starting to wane or lessen. Other times, something in your body is over stimulating your follicles or your scalp and causing the excess androgens, oils, or sebum. Whatever the reason, the pain, redness, tightness or itching is the direct result of these androgens. And, this in turn can damage or affect your follicles' ability to retain and grow healthy hair.

An Important Question: Did The Sore Scalp Start Before The Hair Loss Or After It?: 

If you can pinpoint which action came first, this can sometimes help you to uncover why this is happening. In the case of telogen effluvium and with dermatological issues of the scalp or allergic reactions, the sore scalp often comes after the hair loss. It is the action of the follicles changing cycles which makes this happen.

But, with AGA (androgenic alopecia or genetic hair loss,) the sore scalp often (but not always) comes before the hair loss. The sensitivity or the androgens appear and then, as the result of these struggles, the hair can not sustain itself as it once could because it is being continuously negatively affected. To be fair, in all of these cases, the loss of so much hair in such a short amount of time can give rise to serious inflammation that can either make things with your scalp worse or bring on the problems that this article has discussed.

So what you can do to help this situation? Well, in terms of TE, you can try your best to lessen the inflammation and to remove any trigger that is causing the shedding.

For dermatological issues, you can remove the offending product. In the case of AGA, you'll want to address both the androgens and the sensitivity. And all of these scenarios can be helped by topicals anti inflammatories to help soothe the scalp and to stimulate regrowth, without clogging the follicles.

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