Girl of 5 whose amazing frizz proves there is such a thing as Uncombable Hair Syndrome
. . . NOT THAT BORIS HAS ANY EXCUSE!
YOU might think it’s just an excuse bandied about by lazy types who can’t be bothered to tame their unruly locks.
But as this remarkable little girl shows, there really is such a thing as Uncombable Hair Syndrome.
Lyla-Grace Barlow’s frizzy look is the result of an extremely rare medical condition. There are only an estimated 100 cases worldwide today, while previous sufferers include Albert Einstein.
The condition is caused by a gene mutation which means that Lyla’s hair follicles are heartshaped rather than round.
Her parents, Alex and Mark Barlow, from Derby, have tried countless products to try to manage the five-year-old’s problem but none has worked. Alex, 28, said: ‘When Lyla was little, her hair used to stand up like Sonic The Hedgehog. It’s so hard to get a brush through it and she cries when I try. But we tell her to embrace her hair because it’s so rare and beautiful.’
She added: ‘One hairdresser said to me, “Have you bleached her hair?” When I said I hadn’t she replied, “Well, I have never seen hair like this – I don’t know what to do with it.” When we go swimming it goes like a Barbie doll’s hair – all wiry and coarse.’
Scientists in Germany recently analysed a sample of Lyla’s DNA and confirmed that she suffers from Uncombable Hair Syndrome. Both Alex and Mark passed a mutated gene – called PAD13 – on to Lyla, resulting in the condition.
The couple’s other children – Emilia, seven, and Nancy-Rose, two – are not affected.
Retail worker Alex said: ‘We’ve been told it’s the same condition t hat Albert Einstein had. We dressed Lyla up as him for Halloween one year and we didn’t even have to buy a wig. There can’t be many kids who can pull Einstein off with their real hair.’
Dr Andrew Messenger, a consultant dermatologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, has seen only three such cases during a 38-year career – and said there is no medical treatment. He added: ‘The hair tends to stand out from the scalp. It is usually blond and may have a spangly appearance.’
Professor Regina Betz, of the Institute of Human Genetics in Bonn, who has been researching the condition for four years, said: ‘ Usually children have dry and frizzy hair and some parents say that it’s uncombable.
‘Today there are 100 cases around the world but there may be more which have not been reported.’
The r ari t y of t he condition makes it extremely unlikely that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is a sufferer – so he could brush his famously unruly blond mop should he ever choose to.