Uncombable Hair Syndrome (UHS) is a rare structural anomaly of the hair shaft
and usually appears in childhood
It is characterized by dry, frizzy, silvery-blond or straw colored hair that’s disorderly
It stands out from the scalp and cannot be combed flat, according to the National Institutes of Health.
the stiffness of Uncombable Hair has been explained by the triangular form of the hair shaft in cross section
The hair doesn’t grow downward, but out from the scalp in multiple directions, the agency notes.
Affected individuals often have negative family history
The Girl with troll hair stands smiling for the camera
Most people tend to think we’re joking, “but we say, ‘Just Google it and you will see.’ Her mother says
Only about 100 people in the world known to have this genetic condition
The family of an afflicted seven-year-old from Northallerton, England,
affectionately compares her to a Troll doll and Chucky from the horror movie “Child’s Play.”
“She’s got a temper like Chucky sometimes, too,” her mother says
The girl likes her hair and enjoys the attention she gets wherever she goes
“I asked my news director if I could stop straightening my hair.
A month after, I was pulled back into his office and told ‘my natural hair is unprofessional
and the equivalent to him of throwing on a baseball cap to go to the grocery store.”
“She often told us she was like a unicorn as they are very special and unique just like her. It brought a tear to our eye.”
It is an infrequent disease.
The condition usually improves over time, with hair returning to normal by adolescence.
He said, ‘Mississippi viewers needed to see a beauty queen.’”
She was born with ordinary brown hair, but the family noticed a strawberry blond fuzz peeking through when she was about 3 months old.
From then on, it kept growing straight out and became even blonder
Before Europeans explored the western coast of Africa in the 1400s, intricate hair was a status symbol, and only special stylists were allowed to look after it
Treatment is not necessary and unsuccessful
“Her hair is crazy.
It’s almost like it clumps together
and in the middle she’s got a million mad partings.”
During the match, the wrestler was told his hair “wasn’t in its natural state”. The teen’s dreadlocks were referred to as, “braids.”
“You really can’t get a comb through it.
For school I just grab it and stick it up in a bobble to keep it out of her way…
but doing anything else with it isn’t worth it. It’s too painful for her.”
A school official cut the student’s hair as the crowd watched and the clock ticked down
“She prefers to wear her hair loose or in braids. Clips or headbands against her scalp are painful, so ponytails are out.”
The high school wrestler, had a cover over his hair, but the referee said that wouldn’t do. It was either an impromptu haircut, or a forfeit.
The 20-year-old was fired from her job as a server at the Bar & Grill for wearing her natural hair in a bun.
The family has tried all sorts of products to manage the girl’s hair,
described as “very wiry, very matted,”
but now her mom just runs her fingers through it with a bit of oil.
The little girl hates her morning hair routine, which can last 10-20 minutes
A school official cut the student’s hair as the crowd watched and the clock ticked down
“I was told to change my hair back to the way it was because that’s what looks best.”
She was born with dark hair, but light fluff soon started to appear and the girl became completely blond.
She now thrives on all the attention
A video shows fans and coaches watching as he stands dejected
while a trainer uses a pair of scissors to cut off his hair in the middle of his high school gym.
“There’s historical precedent for black women and men to not let anyone touch their hair,” she says. “And those memories and traditions did not get erased just because Africans were captured and enslaved and brought to another land”
When we say ‘please show me your hair,’ she proudly points to it,” says her mom. “We thought it was really cute and would fall out, as most baby fluff does. But that was not the case.”
“If you are going to wear ethnic clothing, you should alert people in advance that you will be wearing something ethnic …”
‘culture day,’ Black history month or special diversity event days.
The condition is often inherited, but there’s no history of it in the family. The family didn’t even know about the syndrome until 2016.
spun-glass hair, pili trianguli et canaliculi, loose anagen hair syndrome,
ectodermal dysplasia, angel-shaped phalango-epiphyseal dysplasia
She noticed she was different when she was about 4, and the attention from other kids and adults made her uneasy. That’s when her family told her being different was awesome
Her daughters, who declined to remove their braids, have been forced to serve detention
an hour before school starts each day,
and nearly an hour afterward. They also have been kicked out of after-school sports and banned from the prom.
“She no longer feels alone or isolated,” her mom said. “There are others around the world just like her, [and] now she knows that.”
People rallied around the teen and raised questions about this treatment
You intimidate and make your colleagues uncomfortable by wearing ethnic clothing and ethnic hairstyles (Dashikis, twists, braids/cornrows). If you insist on wearing ethnic clothing/hairstyles-you should only do so during ‘culture day,’ Black history month or special diversity event days.
Many early Christians wore dreadlocks; most notably Sampson who was said to have seven locks of hair which gave him his inhuman strength.
The crowd cheers as he wins the match—which helped his school to a tournament victory
The Governor took time out from his vacation Saturday to tweet that he is “deeply disturbed” that the student “was forced to choose between keeping his dreadlocks and competing in a wrestling tournament.”
‘culture day,’ Black history month or special diversity event days.
Historically, braids and head rags carried post-emancipation cultural connotations that the wearer was less educated than someone with straight hair
The black lady that does the news is a very nice lady. The only thing is she needs to wear a wig or grow some more hair. I’m not sure if she’s a cancer patient, but its not something I think that looks good on tv.
Black hair has long been politicized in the United States.
It was only last year that the military decided to roll back hairstyle restrictions on women in the Army.
She says there’s no real treatment for the disorder, although conditioner might help tame it a bit.
Many believed that energy (presumably life force energy, chi, prana, ki) exits the body through the top of the head
She and her 12 year old daughter were catching a flight from LAX in April 2017
when TSA agents pulled her aside to search her crochet braids and began pulling them apart,
asking about the extensions added to make them thicker
having knotted hair prevents or retards the escape of energy making one stronger
even potentially imbuing a person with supernatural mental and physical abilities
Referee gave the junior two choices before the match: Cut his hair or forfeit. He opted to have his dreadlocks trimmed at the mat
And that’s how she ended up expressing her beautiful hair, her mother says.
“My hair was in locks that were pulled from my face. A woman with a bun in her hair was let through after the X ray screen.
I, with the same amount of hair in a bun, was stopped and told that the agent needed to check my back.”
They say Einstein had the same condition… so maybe she’s a genius.
The school board announced that
the high school’s wrestling coach and athletic trainer
would discuss the incident with board members
behind closed doors.
The board said the outcome of that discussion would not be made public.
I was not informed that she was going to inspect my hair.
She squeezed my bun with the same dirty gloves she had on from screening other passengers
Says she has since witnessed some airports letting customers pat their own hair
calling it, “… cruel, and humiliating”
its not something I think that looks good on tv.
“We want to explain to her that, yes, she is different and unique, but that we celebrate it and embrace it.
There’s no reason why we can’t love one another or ourselves for things that are different about us.”
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NOTES:
7) Uncombable Hair Syndrome: Author Professor Ralph Trueb September 2003