There is something a little strange about having a cat.
You can spend the whole day wondering where they are, and then, when they finally come over, they decide that your hair is the most interesting thing in the room.
Maybe your cat licks your hair while you are lying in bed. Maybe it happens after a shower. Or perhaps your cat starts grooming your hair while sitting next to you, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
So, why does your cat lick your hair?
In many cases, your cat is grooming you as a social behavior. Cats use grooming not only to keep themselves clean, but also as a way to interact with cats they trust. When your cat licks your hair, it may be treating you as part of its social group.
But there can be more behind this unusual habit.
Your Cat May Be Grooming You
Cats spend a surprising amount of time grooming themselves. Their tongues are specially adapted for this job, with tiny backward-facing structures called papillae that help remove loose material from their fur.
But grooming is not always something cats do alone.
Cats that have a close relationship may groom one another. This behavior is known as allogrooming, or social grooming. It can help reinforce relationships between cats that live together.
So when your cat turns to your hair and starts licking, it may not be thinking about your hairstyle at all.
It may simply be doing something that feels familiar:
grooming someone it trusts.
That can be one of the sweetest explanations for this strange little habit.
Why Does My Cat Lick My Hair?
There is usually no single reason that explains every cat.
Your cat may lick your hair because of a combination of social grooming, your scent, curiosity, and the comfort of being close to you.
Here are some of the most common explanations.
1. Your Cat Feels Close to You
Social grooming is associated with relationships between cats.
If your cat already enjoys sleeping beside you, rubbing against you, following you around, or sitting near you, licking your hair may simply be another way of interacting with you.
It does not necessarily mean that your cat understands your hair as “hair” in the way you do.
From your cat’s point of view, you are a familiar member of its environment, and grooming can be part of that relationship.
2. Your Hair Smells Interesting
Cats experience the world heavily through scent.
Your hair carries your natural scent, but it can also smell like shampoo, conditioner, styling products, sweat, or whatever else you have recently been around.
That can make your hair especially interesting to a curious cat.
Sometimes the behavior may even become more noticeable when you change products or wash your hair.
Your cat may simply be investigating a smell that suddenly seems different.
3. Your Cat May Be Responding to a Change in Your Scent
Have you noticed that your cat sometimes pays extra attention to you after a shower?
There is a simple reason this can happen.
A shower changes the smells your cat normally associates with you. Shampoo and conditioner can replace or cover some of your familiar scent.
For a cat, that change can be noticeable.
Licking or rubbing against you may be one way your cat interacts with that new smell. In some cases, your cat may also be reinforcing its familiar scent through contact.
So if your cat suddenly becomes fascinated with your hair after you shower, it does not necessarily mean your cat loves the smell of your shampoo.
Your cat may simply be noticing that you smell different.
4. Your Cat Likes the Attention It Gets
There is another possibility that is easy to overlook.
What happens when your cat licks your hair?
Maybe you laugh. Maybe you turn around. Maybe you pet your cat or start talking to it.
From your cat’s perspective, licking your hair may have become a reliable way to start an interaction.
Cats can learn from what happens after a behavior. If licking your hair consistently leads to attention, your cat may have another reason to keep doing it.
That does not mean your cat is deliberately manipulating you.
It may simply have discovered:
“When I do this, my human responds.”
Why Does My Cat Lick My Hair While I Sleep?
This one can feel especially strange.
You are peacefully asleep, and suddenly you wake up because your cat is grooming your hair.
But the timing itself may make sense.
When you are sleeping, you are relatively still and quiet. Your cat may already be comfortable lying near you, and your hair is right there.
For a cat that enjoys social grooming, this can create a very easy opportunity to interact with you.
It can also become part of a routine.
If your cat regularly sleeps beside you and starts licking your hair at night or in the morning, the behavior may simply be connected to that familiar period of closeness.
Your cat is not necessarily trying to wake you up.
Although, if it works every time, your cat may eventually learn that it does.
Why Does My Cat Lick My Hair After a Shower?
This is one of the more interesting versions of the behavior.
After a shower, your hair smells different. It may also be wet, warmer or cooler than usual, and covered with the scent of shampoo or conditioner.
Your cat may investigate those changes through licking.
There is also the social side of grooming. If your cat already grooms you, the change in your scent may make your hair particularly interesting.
So if your cat comes running after your shower and starts licking your hair, there is no need to assume something is wrong.
Your cat may simply be thinking:
“Something about you smells different today.”
Why Does My Cat Lick My Hair and Then Bite It?
Some cats do more than lick.
They may lick your hair and then give it a small nibble.
This can happen because grooming and gentle biting can occur together during normal cat behavior. When cats groom themselves or another cat, their mouths are involved in more than simply licking.
The important thing is to notice how your cat is behaving overall.
A gentle nibble during a relaxed grooming session is very different from aggressive biting, pulling hair, or becoming intensely focused on chewing it.
If your cat is calm, relaxed and otherwise behaving normally, a small bite may simply be part of the interaction.
But if your cat is repeatedly trying to eat your hair, that is worth paying closer attention to.
Is It Safe for My Cat to Lick My Hair?
An occasional lick is generally not the same thing as deliberately eating hair.
The bigger concern is what may be on your hair.
Shampoo, conditioner, hair treatments, oils, sprays and other products are not necessarily things you want your cat ingesting. This is especially important if your cat repeatedly licks freshly treated hair.
There is another distinction worth making:
licking is one behavior; eating hair is another.
If your cat repeatedly chews and swallows hair, rather than simply giving it a few licks, it is better to discourage the behavior and discuss it with a veterinarian if it becomes persistent.
You do not need to panic over a cat that gives your hair an occasional lick.
But you also do not need to let your cat turn your head into a snack.
Should I Stop My Cat From Licking My Hair?
That depends on what your cat is doing.
If your cat gives your hair a few gentle licks and you do not mind, there may be no reason to make a big issue of it.
If your cat is pulling your hair, chewing it, swallowing it, or bothering you while you sleep, you can calmly redirect the behavior.
Move your hair away, offer another form of interaction, or give your cat something appropriate to focus on.
There is no need to punish your cat.
Remember, your cat may not understand that this behavior is annoying. From its perspective, it may simply be grooming a member of its social group.
What Your Cat May Be Saying
We often expect cats to show affection in obvious ways.
They do not always cooperate.
A cat may show its attachment by sleeping beside you, following you from room to room, rubbing against you — or, apparently, deciding that your hair needs grooming.
When your cat licks your hair, the simplest explanation is often the most interesting one:
your cat may be treating you like family.
That does not mean every cat that licks hair is expressing affection. Cats are individuals, and the behavior can have several causes.
But when it happens alongside relaxed body language, closeness and other friendly behaviors, social grooming is a very reasonable explanation.
So the next time your cat starts licking your hair, you can look at it a little differently.
You may think you need a hairbrush.
Your cat may think you need a little help with grooming.