subject: Is It Normal To Have A Painful Burning Scalp When You're Shedding A Lot Of Hair? [print this page] I often hear from people who have been noticing an increase inhair shedding and some discomfort or pain in their scalp. I often hear comments like: "my hair has been shedding something awful for the past few weeks. And my scalp is tingling and burning. I know that it's normal for hair to sometimes be in the shedding phase and to fall out. But is it also normal to have pain in your scalp when this happens?"
It's said to benormal for hair to go through growing, resting, and shedding phases. It's said that up to 10 to 15 percent of the total strands on your head can be in the shedding phase without worry. But typically, this level of shedding and hair loss doesn't cause scalp pain or burning. Normal every day shedding doesn't typically cause a lot of discomfort or changes in your scalp.
It's usually conditions like telogen effluvium (TE,) androgenic alopecia (AGA,) alopecia areata (AA), or medical and / or inflammatory reactions that give rise to severe or drastic shedding along with a painful scalp. In these cases, you will often see quite an increase in shed or fallenhairs. This will typically be more than what isusual for you. It can be hard to miss or overlook this type of hair loss.
And when you have more follicles than what is customary going into the shedding phase all at once, you can experience some burning, tingling, tightness, itching, or even redness of your scalp. Many people will think that their scalp issue is likely causing the shedding, but it's usually (but not always) the other way around. The scalp is often reacting to the shedding and inflammatory process.
The scientific phrase for this is burning scalp syndrome but there's a lot of debate as to what causes it, how to treat it, and how long it should last. Many people agree that part of the issue is inflammation that comes along with many hair loss or shedding conditions. So treatment is often lessening the inflammation until you can figure out what is causing the excessive shedding and then addressing this also. How longthe burning or discomfort lastswill generally depend on what type of hair loss you're experiencing and how well you match up the treatment with the condition. It can sometimes be a challenge to really determine and then treat what you are dealing with as many hair loss issues can look alike and can overlap.
How do I know all of this? Because I lived it. In my quest to end my hair loss and scalp pain, I looked at my shedding triggers, my iron, my thyroid, my adrenals, my hormones, and my scalp's health. It was a long, hard, frustrating journey which all but wrecked my self esteem but I finally found something that helped quite a bit. You can read a very personal story on my blog at http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/.
Is It Normal To Have A Painful Burning Scalp When You're Shedding A Lot Of Hair?