The thing is, this is a LAST RESORT. (source: I'm an autistic who grew up with headbanging behavior)
Let me explain with something a little more relatable.
When I was a kid, I accidentally cut myself with a knife. When we got to the hospital, I had to get stitches. If you've ever had to get stitches, it sucks and hurts a lot.
Since the knife was metal, I also had to get a tetanus shot.
I was having a Very Bad Time with those stitches, but then when they gave me the tetanus shot, THAT HURT A LOT. And...suddenly the stiches didn't.
Because my brain had a NEW stimulus to focus on. The shot. And while it was focusing on the shot, and how much it hurt, it WASN'T focusing on the stiches.
I got RELIEF from the pain of the stitches because of the pain of the tetanus shot.
This is how all brains work; even neurotypical brains work this way. This is why you'll see in movies they put a stick in the guy's mouth right before they have to pull the bullet out or whatever. Because ANOTHER stimulus, such as biting, gives your brain RELIEF from the other bad stimulus.
In the case of an autistic hitting their head on a wall?
You're experiencing a stimulus SO HORRIFIC that the pain of HITTING YOUR HEAD feels LESS BAD.
It's providing RELIEF. You're ALREADY hurting at MAXIMUM, whether it's internal (thoughts or emotions) or external (horrible sound, bad lights, bad tactile sensation, etc).
It's an EMERGENCY TACTIC. You don't WANT to hit your head on the wall; instead you're feeling something SO HORRIBLE that hitting your head feels NICER.
Just pulling me away from the wall isn't going to help. You've got to STOP THE BAD THING THAT CAUSED ME TO NEED TO DO THAT.
Every autistic person is an individual, so figuring out what it is means listening to that person in the way that they communicate. What was happening just BEFORE? What was the last thing they said (it was probably STOP). What was the last action they took? (it was probably to get AWAY from something). Use those clues.
And yes, when the emergency is over, you can try to work on changing the stim to something less harmful, but more importantly, you've got to not let the situation get to that level in the first place.
In my case, I only ever got to that level from emotional abuse from my parents. There's never been another level of stimulus that was THAT bad, except for my parents being horrifically abusive towards me.
So for me, the answer was to move out. The bad stimulus was my parents.
If you care about an autistic person who is doing head banging behavior, please understand they are trying to get RELIEF from something that hurts WORSE than hitting your head against a wall. After the emergency is over (preferably on another DAY, let them rest), try to communicate with them. Try to figure out what they were experiencing that was THAT horrible, and then you can work on preventing them having to feel that again.
And lord almighty if it's something as simple as not burning that particular candle scent anymore, DEAR GOD PLEASE JUST STOP.
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