Locklan Samples had dark, soft hair, like any baby, until he turned 6 months old.
That was when his hair began to change without warning: it lost its color, turned whitish blond, and stuck up in every direction. His mother, Katelyn, wet it, dried it, and brushed it, but nothing helped: as soon as it dried, it stood on end again. His pediatrician in Roswell, Georgia, couldn’t explain it either.
The answer came from an unexpected source. A stranger messaged her on Instagram to ask if her son had been diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome.
Katelyn had never heard of it. Specialists at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta examined hair samples under a microscope and confirmed the diagnosis: a genetic condition with about 100 known cases worldwide.
The dermatologist confided that she had seen something like it only once in 19 years of practice. Today, little Lock has his own Instagram account, and his mother says they can no longer go anywhere without someone smiling and asking to touch his hair.