# Why do sweet foods make my scalp tingle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908 "2012-10-06T15:38:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/1 "2012-10-06T15:38:17Z")
I’ve just eaten a couple of triple chocolate cookies. These things are _really_ sweet, and. as often happens when i eat something very sweet, they made my scalp tingle, almost as if my hair was standing up on end. The feeling only lasts for a few seconds as I’m eating. Two questions: Does this happen to everyone? And what causes it? Googling didn’t bring up much, other than an [old SDMB thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=304651) in which I mentioned it, so maybe I really am alone… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/2 "2012-10-06T15:43:08Z")
Never in my life have I felt or heard of this. Both when I had hair, or now, without. Sounds like a very superficial physiological reaction to the overwhelming sweetness your tasting; kind of like when your saliva increases when tasting something sour? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/3 "2012-10-06T15:51:01Z")
Just out of curiosity, I threw this question out to my wife and two kids. My wife was like, “wha?” 😕 But my kids (my 14 yo daughter especially) jumped up and said “Yes!” I described it how you did in the OP, and she was emphatic that she feels the same if it’s something super-sweet. My 9 yo son said he felt it to, but he also claims when he eats something sour he vibrates. He’s a weirdo, be we love him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/4 "2012-10-06T15:53:08Z")
Thanks for the research! So the bad news is, I may well be very odd; the good news is, so are your kids. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/5 "2012-10-06T16:31:18Z")
I thought a scalp tingle meant a storm is a-comin’. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/6 "2012-10-06T16:56:19Z")
Just out of curiosity, do you get a similar feeling when you get a particularly sweet kiss, not the passionate sexy kind but the sweet loving kind? It very well may be the chocolate giving you a little drug rush. ---
**Author:** ![Tammi\_Terrell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Tammi\_Terrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tammi_Terrell)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/7 "2012-10-06T17:03:01Z")
Do your teeth hurt or feel weird when you eat something really sweet, like those chocolate cookies? Super-sweet foods can activate pulpal nocicepters (principally A-delta nociceptors) of the teeth. The trigeminal nerve, which contains these nociceptive fibers (with cell bodies in the trigeminal ganglion), innervates the mouth (via its branches, the maxillary and manibular nerves) and other structures of the face, including the scalp and forehead (via the ophthalmic nerve, also a branch of the trigeminal nerve). It’s possible that sweet-induced activation of pulpal nocicepters carried by the maxillary and mandibular nerves is causing some sort of referred pain or at least a referred sensation as emanating from the forehead or scalp (innervated by the ophthalmic nerve). This mix-up of neural processing could be taking place within the trigeminal nucleus of the brainstem, which receives inputs from the trigeminal nerve (coming from the periphery). ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/8 "2012-10-06T17:18:48Z")
Maybe a case of [Synesthesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) which comes in many flavors (so to speak). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/9 "2012-10-06T17:53:03Z")
> [@Tammi\_Terrell](#): > > Do your teeth hurt or feel weird when you eat something really sweet, like those chocolate cookies? No, I don’t feel anything in my teeth. Just the scalp, right on the top of my head, in front of the crown. It’s quite a nice sensation actually. It has to be something really sweet and cloying. A normal chocolate bar won’t usually do it. A stodgy sweet chocolate brownie or fudge cake will, especially if it’s the sort of dessert that sticks to the roof of your mouth. I’ve never got it from drinks, either. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/10 "2012-10-06T18:42:28Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Thanks for the research! So the bad news is, I may well be very odd; the good news is, so are your kids. 🙂 You have _no_ idea! But yeh, we’ve always known you’re weird. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/11 "2012-10-06T23:53:54Z")
The sweetness attracts flies and bees, which hover just above your scalp. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/12 "2012-10-07T00:55:25Z")
Extremely sweet foods make my face tingle around my cheeks. ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/13 "2012-10-07T17:08:58Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Maybe a case of [Synesthesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) which comes in many flavors (so to speak). Synesthesia is what occurred to me too. Synesthesia is when you experience a sensation as though it came from a a different, unrelated pathway. The most well-known form is numbers-\>colors. A synesthete might experience the number 7 as blue and the number 9 as red, for example. Other synesthetes might trade musical notes for colors or sounds for physical textures for sounds. I listened to RadioLab recently about synesthesia and one of the neuroscientists suggested a possible explanation for the phenomenon that sounded plausible to me. The divisions between modules in the brain are not as distinct as one might image and there could be some overlap or bleeding of connections between adjacent areas. If the area of the brain that experiences colors is close to the area that experiences numbers (is it? anyone?), there might be some spill-over of sensations between the two. I have a synthesthetic experience not too disimilar to yours. I sometimes feel a tingling on my scalp near the crown or behind my ear and when I scratch, it makes me sneeze. I call it my sneeze spot. My wife thinks I am nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/14 "2012-10-07T17:46:08Z")
> [@kevlaw](#): > > I have a synthesthetic experience not too disimilar to yours. I sometimes feel a tingling on my scalp near the crown or behind my ear and when I scratch, it makes me sneeze. I call it my sneeze spot. My wife thinks I am nuts. I don’t think it’s synaesthesia. It’s not like a manifestation of the flavour, it definitely feels like a physical reaction, like spicy food making your nose run, or sour food making your eyes water. I know what you mean about the sneeze spot though. I don’t have that, exactly, but it seems like the same kind of thing as when you scratch a particular spot and have a sympathetic itchy feeling in a different part of your body. I like to think it’s two ends of the same nerve, but that’s probably nonsense. E.g. if I scratch a spot in the small of my back, I can feel it on the sole of my foot, and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/15 "2012-10-07T17:59:06Z")
Funny, I used to have the same reaction, but with spicy foods rather than sweet. Maybe my spiciness tolerance has gone up or something, as I haven’t felt it in quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/16 "2013-08-22T13:33:33Z")
If it’s allowed, I’m just reanimating my own zombie here. I’ve just eaten a few Cadbury’s Caramel Nibbles (discs of chocolate filled with very sweet caramel) and sure enough, got that tingle on the very top of my head. It’s almost like a goosebump sensation, like my hair is actually lifting up, but only on the top of my scalp. Anyway, I thought of this thread and feel compelled to ask again: is there anyone else out there that gets this? ---
**Author:** ![craZman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@craZman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/craZman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/17 "2014-04-04T05:50:53Z")
Hey, I know I’m really late but, I also have the same thing. But it usually happens when I eat cake with frosting, sometimes a really strong sweet but mostly cake with frosting. Nobody else understands me and your the only one on google to be in the same situation. I’ve never smoked or done drugs but I guess that’s how it feels lol. It starts tickleing my forhead and I start feeling weird :3 I know I’m really damn late haha but I hope you read this and reply back if you know if it’s a symptom or have you found a cure of some sort. Just reply anyways. Alright ? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/18 "2014-04-05T03:13:04Z")
When I eat something that has intense sweetness, I go into a coughing spell, complete with teary eyes. It doesn’t matter what kind of sweetness it is, including artificial. I started a thread about this several years ago, and can’t find it now. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/19 "2014-04-05T03:29:26Z")
[I started a thread for something very similar, in August of 2012.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=663667) Here’s my OP: > [@Ever bite into something so good it gives you tingles?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-bite-into-something-so-good-it-gives-you-tingles/632992/1): > > **Ever bite into something so good it gives you tingles?** > Like this nectarine I just bit into. I did not expect it to be so sweet, juicy, and man is this good. Things like this give me a tingle that goes from the top of my head and down my spine. Just the first bite, usually, and once in a while the second. > > Anyone else get the tingles from exceptionally good food? Anything in particular? I think your forehead tingle is pretty much the same thing. And yes, it’s pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908/20 "2014-04-06T10:37:47Z")
Yay! A few more fellow weirdos! Do you also get the anticipatory tongue tingle just before opening a packet of salt and vinegar crisps? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sweet-foods-make-my-scalp-tingle/636908.md?page=2)