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Uncombable Hair Gene Discovered

posted by cmn32480 on Monday January 02 2017, @11:54AM   
from the i'm-bald-you-insensitive-clods dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Some children suffer from completely tangled hair, which cannot be combed at all. In German, the phenomenon bears the apt name "uncombable hair syndrome" or even "Struwwelpeter syndrome." Researchers at the Universities of Bonn and Toulouse have identified mutations in three genes that are responsible for this. Scientists from a total of eight countries were involved in the work. The results were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Many parents know from their own experience that it is not always easy to comb children's hair. Yet with patience and nerves of steel, even the toughest of knots can usually be undone.

In the case of "uncombable hair syndrome," brushes and combs don't stand even the hint of a chance. Those affected have extremely frizzy, dry, generally light blonde hair with a characteristic shine, which successfully resists any attempt to tame it. These symptoms are most pronounced in childhood and then ease over time. In adulthood, the hair can more or less be styled normally.

Journal Reference:

F. Buket Ü. Basmanav et al. Mutations in three genes encoding proteins involved in hair shaft formation cause uncombable hair syndrome. American Journal of Human Genetics, November 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.10.004

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Original Submission

• Uhh , cowlick? Uhh , cowlick? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @02:59PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @02:59PM (#448507)

  Is this what is commonly called a "cowlick"? I've never known anyone with blonde hair to get it "knotted and tangled" in such a way; the summary seems quite confused as to whether "uncombable" and "knotted" are the same thing (I'm inclined to believe that they aren't)...

• Re:Uhh , cowlick? (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday January 02 2017, @03:49PM

  by requerdanos (5997) on Monday January 02 2017, @03:49PM (#448530) Journal

  "uncombable" and "knotted" are the same thing[?]

  Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] gives a little more detail, describing so-called "uncombable hair" as follows:

  The hair is normal in quantity and is usually silvery-blond or straw-colored. It is disorderly, it stands out from the scalp, and cannot be combed flat. The underlying structural anomaly is longitudinal grooving of the hair shaft, which appears triangular in cross section.

  This is as opposed to potentially orderly, scalp-conforming, flat-combable hair roughly circular in cross section, I would guess, but I Am Not A Cosmetologist and so may be missing some underlying nuance. But no, I don't see anything about inherent knotting like one would see with, say, for example, wired earbuds disconnected and placed in one's pockets.

  Parent

• Re:Uhh , cowlick? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @08:31PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @08:31PM (#448633)

  I've never known anyone with blonde hair to get it "knotted and tangled" in such a way;

  Well, obviously then it does not exist! Are you Francis?

  Parent