What it usually means
The head holds the brain, the eyes, the mouth and the face — the organs of thought, perception, speech and identity. Dreams about heads usually concern the mind: thinking, judging, deciding, controlling.
Control is the first theme. People talk about keeping their heads, losing their heads, being head of a family or company. A dream about a head often reflects how much you are trying to manage life through thought and will.
Overthinking is the second. A heavy head, a head that will not stop buzzing, or a head much too large for the body can stand for a mind working overtime — worry, analysis, plans that never end.
Separation is the third. Dreams of heads without bodies, or of a head floating free, can reflect a split between thinking and feeling: living in your head, cut off from the body and its needs.
Injury is another variation. A blow to the head, a wound or a headache in a dream can reflect a shock to your thinking — a belief shaken, a plan disrupted, a decision you cannot make.
Heads also carry status. A head of state, a head of department, the head of a table: dreams about heads can be about who leads, who decides and who is listened to in your family or workplace.
Worth saying plainly: real headaches, tension in the neck or sleeping in an awkward position can enter dreams as pressure or injury to the head. If you woke with a headache, the body may be most of the dream.
What changes the meaning
A head injury. A shock to your thinking or confidence.
A detached head. Living in your mind, cut off from feeling or body.
A very large head. Overthinking; intellect dominating other parts of life.
A very small head. Feeling your judgement is not respected; doubt in your own mind.
Shaving your head. Renewal, letting go of the past, a new identity.
Hitting your head. A sudden realisation or a painful lesson.
Someone holding your head. Support, care — or control over your thinking.
Two heads. Indecision; two lines of thought in conflict.
A crown on your head. Authority, responsibility, recognition.
Covering your head. Protection, modesty, or hiding your thoughts.
An animal's head on a person. Instinct and reason mixed; a trait taking over.
Nodding or shaking a head. Agreement or refusal — often about a real decision.
When it keeps coming back
Recurring head dreams often appear in mentally demanding periods: exams, complex projects, legal or financial problems that require constant thinking.
They also return when a person is ignoring feelings and handling everything through analysis.
People who have had a real head injury or concussion sometimes dream about it for months. Those dreams belong to recovery and usually fade with it; if they bring distress, it is worth mentioning them to a doctor.
If you keep dreaming about heads, notice what the body is doing in the dream. Often the message lies in what the head is cut off from.
In Jungian terms
In Greek myth Orpheus, the greatest of singers, was torn apart by the Maenads, the frenzied followers of Dionysus. His head was thrown into the river Hebrus and floated out to sea, still singing, until it came ashore on the island of Lesbos, where it was said to give oracles.
Jungian readers see in this story a strange double image: the head separated from the body, and yet more alive and prophetic than before. Thought cut off from the body can be a loss; it can also be a voice that continues to speak when everything else has been broken.
A head dream may hold both possibilities. It asks whether your thinking has become disconnected from your life — or whether it is the part still singing.