Scalp tenderness or sensitivities can be caused by conditions affecting the tissues, blood vessels, and nerves below or throughout the scalp. Other reasons for scalp sensitivity include sunburn, alopecia, dermatitis, and head lice. But being tender-headed isn’t a medical term. Rather, a cultural one. Trichologist Bridgette Hill explains that the level of a person’s scalp sensitivity can even be attributed to something as simple as repeated excessive tension of a particular hairstyle, improper use of styling tools, or symptoms of more extensive scalp and nerve conditions such as occipital neuralgia. “Occipital neuralgia is scalp tenderness due to the nerves that run from the back of the neck to the forehead,” Hill says. “Though this condition is rare, if scalp tenderness is pervasive and severe without any visible symptoms, considering the nervous system would be the next logical step.”