Why Does Your Hair Hurt During a Migraine Attack?

Brushing your hair should not hurt. Neither should wearing glasses or resting your head against a pillow. Yet during a migraine attack, these ordinary sensations can become surprisingly painful.

People often describe this experience by saying that their hair hurts. The pain is real, but it does not come from the hair itself. It happens because the nervous system begins processing normally harmless touch as pain.

This symptom has a name: allodynia.

What Allodynia Is

Allodynia means feeling pain or discomfort in response to something that would not normally hurt. A light touch, fabric moving across the skin, or a mild change in temperature may suddenly feel painful.

This differs from feeling unusually intense pain after something that is already painful. With allodynia, the original sensation would not normally hurt at all.

Allodynia can occur with several conditions involving the nervous system, but it is common among people living with migraine. Research estimates that cutaneous allodynia affects approximately 60% of people with migraine, although results vary depending on the population and how researchers measure the symptom. [1,2]

Some people experience mild tenderness. For others, everyday contact becomes difficult to tolerate during an attack.

Why Your Hair Can Hurt

Moving your hair also moves and presses against the skin of your scalp. Under ordinary circumstances, the nervous system recognizes this contact as harmless. During allodynia, the same contact may register as pain.

This is why brushing, combing, washing, or tying up your hair can hurt during a migraine attack. Some people describe soreness or tenderness. Others report burning, prickling, or a sensation similar to sunburn.

Migraine involves changes in how the brain and nervous system process sensory information. During some attacks, pain-processing pathways can become sensitized, meaning that they respond more strongly to incoming signals. Researchers often call this process central sensitization. [1,3]

The mechanisms behind allodynia are complex and not yet completely understood. However, the experience does not mean that the pain is imagined. The nervous system is producing a genuine pain response.

What Else May Become Painful

Allodynia can affect more than the scalp. It may involve the face, neck, or other areas of the body.

The experience is generally described in three ways:

ALLODYNIA

When contact or temperature that usually feels harmless becomes painful

Pressure
Glasses, a headband, or a pillow

Movement
Brushing your hair or clothing touching the skin

Temperature
Comfortably warm or cool water

Pressure or Light Contact

Sometimes called static or tactile allodynia, this can make the pressure of glasses, jewelry, a headband, or a pillow feel painful.

Movement Across the Skin

Mechanical or dynamic allodynia can make brushing your hair, shaving, or clothing moving against the skin uncomfortable or painful.

Temperature

Thermal allodynia occurs when a mild temperature feels painful. Even comfortably warm or cool water may suddenly become difficult to tolerate.

A person may experience one form of allodynia or several during the same migraine attack. The location and intensity can also change between attacks.

What Allodynia May Tell You About an Attack

Allodynia can develop as a migraine attack progresses, although its timing varies. Some people notice touch sensitivity early in an attack. For others, it appears after the head pain has become more intense.

Research has associated allodynia with more frequent or severe migraine attacks. It is also reported more often by some people with chronic migraine. These findings show an association, but they do not prove that allodynia causes migraine to become more frequent or chronic. [1,2]

Researchers have also examined whether allodynia affects the response to acute migraine medication. The findings are mixed. Some studies have associated it with a poorer response, while others suggest that pain intensity and treatment timing may be more important than allodynia itself. [1]

Allodynia should not be used on its own to decide when to take medication or which treatment to use. Follow the treatment plan you have discussed with your healthcare professional.

If touch sensitivity frequently accompanies your attacks, tell your healthcare professional when it usually begins, where it occurs, and how long it lasts. This information may help them understand how your attacks develop.

Making Ordinary Contact More Comfortable

There is no single comfort measure that suits everyone with allodynia. Reducing pressure or movement against a sensitive area may make it easier to rest until the sensation eases.

Depending on where you feel the pain, you may prefer to:

• Leave your hair loose instead of using a tight hair tie
• Wait until the sensitivity eases before brushing or washing your hair
• Remove a tight headband, hat, or piece of jewelry
• Change your resting position to reduce pressure against the scalp
• Choose soft, loose clothing if fabric moving across your skin hurts
• Skip heat or cold if temperature changes make the pain worse

These adjustments do not treat the migraine attack or the sensitization behind allodynia. They simply reduce contact that may feel uncomfortable.

What feels manageable can change between attacks. A soft pillow may feel comfortable during one attack and painful during another. Pay attention to your response rather than forcing yourself to tolerate a particular sensation.

What to Track and Discuss

Allodynia can be difficult to remember or explain once an attack has ended. Recording a few details may help you describe the experience more clearly.

Consider noting:

• Where you felt the sensitivity
• What type of contact or temperature felt painful
• When the sensitivity appeared during the attack
• How long it lasted and whether it changed as the attack progressed

You can also record whether the sensitivity continued after your other symptoms eased.

Tracking cannot prove why allodynia happened or determine which treatment will work. It may help you notice whether the symptom tends to follow a similar pattern and give your healthcare professional a clearer account of your attacks.

Touch sensitivity can have causes other than migraine. If the pain is new, changes significantly, appears frequently between attacks, or becomes harder to manage, discuss it with a healthcare professional rather than assuming that migraine is responsible.

If brushing your hair, wearing glasses, or resting against a pillow becomes painful during a migraine attack, you are not imagining the sensation. Allodynia is a recognized symptom, and knowing its name may make the experience easier to record and explain when speaking with your healthcare professional.

The information in this article is for educational purposes only. It does not replace diagnosis, treatment, or advice from a qualified healthcare professional.

References

[1] García-Azorín D, et al. Cutaneous Allodynia in Migraine: A Narrative Review. Frontiers in Neurology. 2022;12:831035. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.831035

[2] Lipton RB, et al. Cutaneous Allodynia in the Migraine Population. Annals of Neurology. 2008;63(2):148–158. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.21211

[3] Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society. Definition of Terms: Allodynia. International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition. https://ichd-3.org/definition-of-terms/

[4] American Migraine Foundation. What Is Allodynia: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments. https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/what-is-allodynia/