Want to cultivate calm while getting a lusher head of hair? Try a scalp massage.
Body massage has many benefits. Most notably, it eases tight muscles and brings on relaxation, studies show. It also has lesser known advantages, including keeping your immune system in tune and
easing fibromyalgia symptoms.
Likewise, research specifically on scalp massage suggests it offers under-the-radar perks — including thicker hair. Read on to get answers to questions like, “What is scalp massage?” “Does scalp massage help hair growth?” And read step-by-step instructions detailing how to massage your scalp.
What is Scalp Massage?
Scalp massage is much like a massage for your neck, back, legs or whole body. In all cases, pressure and movement are applied to skin — it's just that the skin on your head includes hair.
Of course, massage can range from very gentle to deep tissue, which goes well into muscle and fascia. So here's a key distinction for scalp massage: It should be done with a light touch.
Vigorously massaging your scalp might induce a headache, tangle your hair or stress your hair follicles enough to lose strands (more on
losing hair from scalp massage in study #2 below). Also, if you have skin conditions such as psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis, it’s a good idea to check with your medical provider on whether a scalp massage is right for you.
Otherwise, scalp massage has characteristics similar to any other massage:
- Finger pads or massage-specific tools can be used.
- You can massage yourself or have someone do it for you.
- An oil or serum can be applied, or you can do it dry.
Does Scalp Massage Help Hair Growth? (+ More Answers from Scientific Studies)
Let’s chew on three studies to uncover the upsides of scalp massage:
Study #1
A
study in Korea looked at scalp massage’s benefits to the nervous and cardiovascular systems. It included 34 female office workers, aged 20 to 49, some of whom got scalp massages for 15 or 25 minutes twice a week over the course of 10 weeks.
Researchers took all kinds of readings, from blood pressure to heart rate, and found that “scalp massage can be used for stress control with no spatial or time limit.” In other words, it doesn’t matter where, in what way or for how long you get a scalp massage in order to reap its health-related dividends.
The study showed that scalp massage lowered stress hormones, including cortisol, lowered blood pressure and lowered heart rate.
Now let's look at the most unique potential benefit of scalp massage: increased
hair thickness. The following studies aren't the final word, but they're still worth a look.
Study #2
Researchers wanted to see how scalp massage could affect hair count, hair thickness and hair growth rate.
Their
study, published in 2016, was small. It looked at only nine men. Researchers deemed them all “healthy,” and noted that they had “no obvious hair loss.” The men were 25 to 46 years old, with an average age of about 35.
Researchers applied an electric scalp massager (Panasonic EH-HM75) to one side of each man's scalp every day for four minutes. They didn't use it on the corresponding spot on the other side of their scalps (they chose each man's massage and control sides randomly).
After 24 weeks, the massaged side had a “significant increase in hair thickness,” according to the study.
Massaging had stretched the scalp skin, creating a healthy stress on the scalp's tissues. That, in turn, caused the DNA of the scalp's cells to change how they expressed themselves, researchers said.
This might sound wacko, but studies have documented changes in gene expression in other ways:
through meditation, for example. This is a newly emerging area of science known as
epigenetics.
Hair count and hair growth rate didn't go up — actually, hair count
decreased in the massaged area at 12 weeks. Researchers said this “might have” happened due to the physical stress on that part of the scalp and noted that the loss would have been temporary.
Study #3
The next
study, published in 2019, looked at whether scalp massage could improve hair thickness on
people with male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss.
This study had more participants: 319. But participants assessed changes themselves, as opposed to scientists taking measurement like they did in study #2; results were self-perceived and self-reported.
The group was mostly male. They were instructed to follow certain self-administered massage techniques for 20 minutes, twice a day, and do them for at least 10 months. Some participants fell far short on duration for each session, while others massaged their heads for 40 minutes per session. Generally, the longer the scalp massage, the better the results.
The upshot: About 37% reported that their hair loss had stabilized, and 32% said they’d had “slight” or “significant” hair regrowth. Researchers said the results didn’t vary across age, gender or a host of other factors. But people who had a lot of thinning in their crown and the front of their scalp didn’t see as much improvement.
How to Massage Scalp
Giving yourself a scalp massage isn’t complicated. Here how to do it, courtesy of Nicole Gordon, a licensed massage therapist in Ponte Vedra, Fla. As noted earlier, you don’t need to use oil, scalp specific or otherwise, but if you want to, go ahead. And it doesn’t matter if you're sitting, standing or lying down.
- Spread your fingers and open your palms to create a cupped shape with each hand. Place your thumbs just above your temples, and place the pads of your fingers (not fingernails) on the sides of your scalp.
- Apply gentle to medium pressure — not deep pressure — as you move your hands in small circular motions (this, in turn, makes your fingers and thumbs move in small circles). Do it for as long as feels comfortable (likely not more than a minute), and then reverse the direction of the circles. Throughout the process, your fingers will stay in place, but you’ll be moving the skin (and fascia) of your scalp.
- Maintain the shape of your hands, and move your thumbs to the base of your scalp while placing the pads of your fingers on the back of your scalp. Repeat the small circular movements as noted in step 2.
- Continue to move around your scalp for as long as you like, following the pattern in step 2.
You can give yourself a scalp massage as often as you’d like — or apply the guidelines in the studies above to see if you get similar results.
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