What does it mean when a guy scratches his head?

If a guy recently scratched his head around you, this post will show you likely reasons why and what would make them more likely.

So, what does it mean when a guy scratches his head? A guy scratching his head could be a sign that he is attracted to you especially if he only does it around you and he does it repeatedly. It could also be that he is nervous, feeling stressed, he has an itch, he disagrees with what is being said or he is mirroring your own body language.

What does it mean when a guy scratches his head?

Below are likely reasons why a guy will scratch his head and what would make them more likely.

He’s attracted to you

It could be the case that he was slightly anxious and he was scratching his head due to being attracted to you.

The reason why scratching his head could be a sign that he is attracted to you is that it suggests that he was anxious to make a good impression on you and it was causing him to show some signs of anxiousness.

If that was the case, it would be likely that he would have been showing a number of the signs of nervousness that I’ll mention in the section below.

It would also be likely that he would show a number of signs of attraction when around you which can include:

• Showing more dilated pupils than usual when talking to you
• Standing in your personal space when talking to you
• Finding excuses to touch you
• Talking to you and asking you more questions than other people when in a group
• Positioning himself to be near you when you’re both in the same room
• Asking your friends about you
• Touching you back when you touch him
• Glancing at you when you’re not looking then quickly looking away if you notice or smiling
• Talking with a deeper voice than he usually does
• Standing or sitting more upright when he notices you
• Pointing his feet at you when you’re in the same room as him
• Adjusting his hair or clothing when he first notices you
• Mirroring your body language
• Looking at your lips
• Holding prolonged eye contact with you
• Getting anxious when you’re with other men and sticking around while you are

He was nervous

It is possible that he was scratching his head due to being nervous in some way.

It could be that he was attracted to you and it was causing him to feel nervous. If he was, it would be likely that he would have shown signs of nervousness and attraction in his body language.

Alternatively, it could be that something else was causing him to feel nervous. Perhaps, it was that he had some social anxiety in his case he would have shown signs of nervousness when talking to everyone, it could have been that you were causing him to be nervous in some other way or it might have been another person that was in the room.

If he was nervous then it would be likely that he would have done things such as:

• Self-hugging
• Fidgeting
• Speaking at a different pitch
• Rubbing the face, arms, legs or neck
• Touching the front of the neck
• Scratching the back of the neck
• Tapping the feet up and down

He was feeling stressed

People often scratch their heads when they are feeling stressed and it might be why he was scratching his head.

It could be that you were arguing with him about something and it was causing him to get stressed or it might be that he was stressed about something unrelated to you such as an exam or forgetting about something.

If he was scratching his head due to feeling stressed it would be likely that he would have shown other signs of being stressed such as:

• Wringing the hands
• Rubbing behaviors
• Interlocking the ankles
• Self-hugging
• Redness of the face
• Tensing the jaw
• Hiding the lips

He had an itch

It might be the case that he simply scratched his head because he had an itch.

If that was the case, it would be likely that he would have done it more vigorously and he would likely have only done it over a short time period.

He disagrees with what’s being said

If he scratched his head after you said something, it could be a sign that he disagreed with what you were saying.

If that is the case, it would be likely that he would only have done it when you were talking about the thing that he disagreed with.

It would also be likely that he would have shown other signs of disagreement such as:

• Tightening the lips when you were talking about what he disagreed with
• Tightening the eyebrows slightly
• Crossing the arms or legs
• Scratching the neck
• Pupil constriction

He was mirroring you

It could be the case that he did it because he was subconsciously mirroring you.

If that was the case then it would be likely that you would also have scratched your head at some point.

Mirroring can also be a sign of attraction. If he was mirroring you due to being attracted to you, it would be likely that he would have shown other signs of attraction in his body language.

If he was mirroring you then it would be likely that he would have mirrored you in other ways such as:

• Talking at a similar pitch as you
• Showing similar facial gestures as you
• Showing similar hand gestures as you
• Standing or sitting with the same stance as you

Consider your relationship with him

It would help to consider the type of relationship you have with him.

If it was a guy that you were meeting for the first time then it would be more likely that he would have done it due to being attracted to you but anxious, nervous in some way or that he felt threatened in some way. It would be likely that he would have shown the exact reason with other aspects of his body language.

If it was your friend then it would be more likely that he was either showing attraction to you, stress or that he disagreed with what you were saying.

Consider the timing of when he scratched his head

The timing of when he scratched his head would also likely give you some clues as to why he did it.

If he did it as soon as he noticed you then it would be a sign that he is attracted to you unless he showed other signs of distancing himself.

If he did it after you said something questionable then it could be a sign that he disagreed with what you were saying.

Think about how he interacts with other people

It would also help to compare how he interacts with other people with how he interacts with you.

If he shows signs of nervousness around other people and he doesn’t change his body language around you, it would make it more likely that he has some social anxiety.

Whereas, if he only seems to show rubbing type behavior around you, it would make it more likely that he is attracted to you. However, it might also be that he feels threatened by you or that he feels stressed at the same time as when he sees you so it’s still important to consider the other body language that he shows.

Consider who else was around

The reason why he scratched his head might not have anything to do with you.

If he tends to act normally around you but he tends to scratch his head when other people are around, it would be likely that he does it due to them. It could be that he feels threatened by them, that he doesn’t want to see them or even that he is attracted to someone else.

Look for multiple signs

When trying to observe the body language that he was showing when he scratched his head it would be helpful to look for multiple different body language signals.

The reason for that is that there are usually many different reasons that a guy might show a single body language signal as seen with scratching the head. This means that it would usually be unreliable to draw a conclusion based on a single body language signal.

Whereas, if he shows a number of different body language signals that can all have the same meaning then it would be likely that it really is why he is showing them.