Do you remember crazy hair day at school? You know, where you'd go to school and make your hair as messy as possible. You'd fluff your hair up like a poodle or maybe even wear a wig. But once crazy hair day was over, you defrizzed your hair or the wigs came off, and you were back to normal. That's not the case for this little girl. Crazy hair day is every day.
Sara Lamb, 29, wasn't quite sure what she was doing wrong with her daughter's hair care. She spent hundreds of dollars on almost 20 different types of hair products, trying to tame her daughter's unruly hair. But nothing was working, and her hair remained as tangled and frizzy as ever.
Then her daughter, Jaili, who's only two-and-a-half, finally got the correct diagnosis from the doctor. She has "uncombable hair syndrome," and yes, that's a real thing. You thought your hair was difficult. This take it to a whole new level.
The syndrome "is a rare disorder of the hair shaft of the scalp. It is usually characterized by silvery-blonde or straw-colored hair that is disorderly; stands out from the scalp; and cannot be combed flat." Her mom thinks that "she looks like a dandelion."
Jaili's mom is a trainee nurse, and had read about a pair of twins who also had uncombable hair syndrome. She thought that her daughter might also have it, and it turns out, she was right. They did testing to make sure that was the cause of her daughter's unusual locks.
Jaili's mom and dad sent DNA samples over to the University of Bonn's Institute for Human Genetics. It was confirmed - this little girl's hair was uncombable. "It's very strange, but I love it," her mother said. We love it, too.
"Our other little girl has hair that is straight as a board. They are polar opposites," she went on to say of her other daughter. "Jaili is such a beautiful, happy little girl with this crazy hair." It seems like this syndrome doesn't really run in the family.
"She has a quirky personality and her hair is an extension of that," her mom described. The hair usually shows signs of the syndrome at three to twelve months of age. That's right about when Jaili's hair started to become noticeably different.
Albert Einstein was also thought to have had uncombable hair syndrome. That makes a lot of sense, now that we think about it. We always kind of thought he was just messing around with electricity and science.
We can't go anywhere without at least three or four people stopping us to say something," said her mom. "It's usually, 'Oh my God, her hair is so cute. She is adorable." She definitely has quite the built in conversation starter with her wherever she goes.
"It's also so bright white that when it catches the sun her whole head is iridescent. It's almost like a little rainbow," her mother continues. This little girl will never need to sit at the salon for hours getting highlights in her hair.
Yet sometimes, the remarks aren't all positive, from people making assumptions about the rare syndrome. "[I] have had people make snobby remarks and scold me thinking I had put chemicals on her and burnt her hair," explained Mrs. Lamb. That's definitely an example of needing to think before you speak.
"We tried everything. We had a lot of suggestions from people who recommended I try products for ethnic hair, but that didn't work. They were too heavy," said her mom of trying to calm down her young daughter's hair. Now they know that that bright dandelion hair is there to stay, and there's little to nothing that they can do to make it lay flat.
The intensity of the syndrome is said to calm down as Jaili gets older, so as she grows up, she'll grow into her hair. Biotin treatments are also said to help make the hair lay flat. There are only about 100 other reported cases of uncombable hair, which makes Jaili's condition extremely uncommon.
Still, we think Jaili and the other girls with the syndrome are rocking it. They never have to spend time doing their hair, because they literally can't. When they get older, that will save them some extra time in the morning. Maybe it's even a blessing in disguise.