Can Diffusing Curly Hair Cause Neck Pain? Here’s What You Need to Know

Do you have wavy/curly hair…and neck pain or headaches?  Tingling or numbness into the fingers? 

Do you diffuse your hair in positions like this?

A woman diffusing curly hair

Or this?

A woman diffusing wavy hair

Do you typically style your hair upside down?  Do you lay your hair dryer down and let your hair pool into the diffuser? 

A woman diffusing curly hair

These positions are actually really hard on the neck and can start to cause all sorts of problems from headaches to neck pain and even numbness & tingling into the arms and hands. 

I’ve been living the wavy/curly life for 3 years now and can easily see all of the ways that consistent styling of your hair can create neck problems.  Hanging your head forward &/or to the sides for long period of time (sometimes up to 30 min or more) is a huge strain on the neck.  To the spine, a forward head feels like it’s holding up 3 -8lb bowling balls.  It’s a big deal.  Now considering that most of us hang out in a forward head position, ALL DAY, and then we go to blow dry our hair in even worse positions.  Our necks can get deeply unhappy. 

Neck tension, at best, can just make it difficult to turn the head normally but as it worsens, it can start creating headaches, dizziness and even tinnitus.  The longer we hold our heads forward (in the day or while blow drying), we can start creating issues like bulging or herniated discs.  That, in turn, can start referring pain into the neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, arms and hands. 

So how can we combat this?  Obviously, cleaning up our daily posture is the best way.  But as most of us are not going to find ourselves in perfect posture all day, another way is by taking care of your neck.  Using a LAX ball and rolling out the sides & back of the neck.  Rolling out the upper traps (on the tops of the shoulders) and stretching the lats and pecs.  These are easy ways of improving the health of your neck, especially when you’ve been diffusing your hair for a while. 

Tired of neck pain from styling your hair?

You don’t have to choose between great curls and a pain-free neck. At Union Yoga & Physical Therapy in Annandale, VA, we help you unravel the real source of pain and build solutions that work with your lifestyle.

👉 Book an appointment today and get back to styling—without the strain.