16-month-old Lock Samples is one of just 100 individuals known to have the highly unusual disease that causes his hair to be fragile but else leaves him healthy.
Locklan Samples, now 16 months old, was born with jet-black hair that was a close match to his mother Katelyn’s. That dark hair, however, had been replaced by what Katelyn and her husband Caleb affectionately referred to as “peach fuzz” by the time he was six months old.
“Uh, what is this?” we asked. She describes Locklan’s, also known as Lock recent blond, silky hair. “Although we were aware of the difference, we were unsure of how. After that, it continued to expand.”
By the age of nine months, Lock had white-blond, incredibly soft hair that was sticking straight up from his head. Although the color matched that of his 3-year-old brother Shep’s hair, the texture could not have been more dissimilar.
As Roswell, Georgia native Katelyn, 33, laughs, “People were definitely noticing it.” Additionally, at that time, she received a post on Instagram from an unknown person asking if Lock had been given a diagnosis of “uncombable hair syndrome.”
“Oh my God, what the heck is this? Is my infant experiencing a problem? “she claims. On Google, “I spun out of control.”
Katelyn contacted their pediatrician, who informed her that they were unaware of the syndrome and gave her the contact information for a specialist at the neighboring Emory Hospital.
Katelyn explains, “When we went to visit her, she stated she’d only seen this once in 19 years. Because uncombable hair syndrome is so uncommon, “she didn’t think it was uncombable hair syndrome,” but they obtained samples and a pathologist examined it under a special microscope.
And after examining Lock’s hair’s structure, they were able to determine that she had uncombable hair syndrome, a relatively unusual ailment that results in hair that grows with a very soft and easily breakable texture. Of the 100 cases of the condition that are known, Lock is one.
At first, it came as a shock to learn that Lock had this illness.
“Going about your normal routine, you assume everything is good and that your child might have curly hair because it does run in the family. And then, to learn that your child has a rare syndrome, that was wild “said Katelyn.
Fortunately, it only appears to affect Lock’s hair.
“They said we didn’t need to be worry about anything else being an issue because he was developing properly in every other part of his life,” she recalls.
Katelyn tried to find out more about the syndrome, but there isn’t much information online or among professionals due to the rarity of occurrences. However, she did discover a Facebook group for parents of children with the syndrome or those who themselves have it.
We exchange images and have a variety of conversations, she says, adding that it has been a great source of comfort. It’s interesting to observe how the hair of the older children has evolved with time. For some, it remains, while for others, it gets a little bit easier to handle.
Katelyn is currently content to leave Lock’s hair “simply be in its free shape.”
She claims that because it doesn’t get greasy, she rarely has to wash it, unless he is actually playing in the dirt. “People are constantly drawn to touch it because it is so soft. Because it’s so delicate, I hardly ever brush it. I just try to handle it delicately and avoid intervening unless absolutely necessary.”
And as Lock matures and the inevitable remarks and inquiries regarding his hair persist, Katelyn hopes to teach him to embrace his unmanageable hair.
She asserts that “I would say that 98% of people are really kind and enjoy it.” “They compare him to a young rock star. It makes people’s faces grin. And right now, when he’s young, he enjoys and doesn’t mind the attention. However, we aim to instill in each of our children a sense of self-assurance regardless of any differences.”
“And that standing out a little bit is cool.”
