Hair-grooming syncope (also known as hair-combing syncope) is a form of syncope (a fainting disorder) associated with combing and brushing one’s hair. It is most typically seen in children aged five to sixteen.

Hair-grooming syncope typically manifests as presyncopal symptoms during hair combing, brushing, braiding, trimming, curling, or blow drying.^[1][2] These symptoms are followed by loss of consciousness and convulsions.^[2] Migraines, abdominal pain, “feeling funny” or blurred vision may also occur before or after seizures.^[1][3] Possible causes of the condition include pain or nerve stimulation on the scalp (similar to parade-ground syncope), or compression of blood vessels or nerves resulting from neck flexion or extension.^[2] A 2009 study identified 111 pediatric cases of hair-grooming syncope in the United States, almost three-quarters of which were in female patients; that study found that the condition is most associated with hair cutting in males and brushing in females.^[4]

Hair-grooming syncope may be misdiagnosed as epilepsy, but is better described as a “paroxysmal non-epileptic event”.^[1] It may also be related to orthostatic hypotension.^[3] The condition is not associated with heart abnormalities.^[5]

This form of syncope is a possible explanation for hair-brushing syndrome, an extremely rare condition in which static electricity is said to interrupt brain or organ function.^[6] Only two cases of hair-brushing syndrome have been reported worldwide, one of which garnered media attention in 2011 when the Daily Mail announced that hair brushing could cause death.^[7][8]