by A Girl Has Rare sʏɴᴅʀᴏᴍᴇ Which Makes It Look Like She Has Constant Bedhead And You Surprise When She Has Normal Hair
A MUM has been left unable to brush her little girl’s hair due to a rare ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ that leaves her looking like she has constant bed head.
Zoey Freda, five, has uncombable hair sʏɴᴅʀᴏᴍᴇ (UHS) – an extremely rare genetic ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀɪsᴇᴅ ʙʏ Fʀɪᴢᴢʏ, ᴜɴᴛᴀᴍᴇᴀʙʟᴇ ʟᴏᴄᴋs, which grow out from the scalp in multiple directions and are fragile, slow growing and very difficult to style. Now mum Tiffany Lequieu, 35, of Toney, Alabama, who works at her school in the virtual learning team, to start a Facebook account called The Chronicles of Zoey, to raise awareness of UHS, ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴄᴀɴ be ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀɴɪᴇᴅ ʙʏ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ sʏᴍᴘᴛᴏᴍs including heart trouble.
Oddly, Zoey was born without “a lick of hair on her head,” according to Tiffany, who said “peach fuzz” then grew, but fell out when she turned one. When it grew back it looked crimped, like one of those dogs with really ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ Fᴜʀ. It looked like I had taken a crimper from the 80s and crimped every single hair on her head. I was perplexed, because no-one in my family had hair like hers – ours is all brown or black.” laughed Tiffany
Taking ages to grow, Zoey’s hair could not be styled – making it impossible to tie in girly bows without handfuls snapping off. While she realised it was unusual, it was not until her daughter was two and she read about another child with UHS, that Tiffany realised this was what she had. Brushing Zoey’s hair is a risky business. Recalling an incident when she was two and a round brush became entangled in her unruly mop, Tiffany said: “Her hair was matted from sleep, so I tried to untangle it, but the brush got sᴛᴜᴄᴋ. I managed to get it out very carefully, but there was a lot of hair loss and breakage that time.”
Aged three, the playful toddler had another run in – this time with a pot of toy slime.
Tiffany said: “Zoey was given a slime-making kit as a Christmas present. We had already made one type of slime with no problems. I was cooking dinner and left her unattended, because I thought a three-year-old would never think to put slime in their hair. I was so wrong.”
HᴏʀʀɪFɪᴇᴅ when she saw Zoey’s gloopy hairdo and fearing she would cause irreparable damage, leaving bald patches that would take years to grow back, Tiffany managed to clean it out using washing up liquid Dial – used by environmentalists to clean up seabirds after oil spills.
She said: “It was terrifying for me, because I got gum in my hair once and I had to cut it out. I thought this might be the equivalent for Zoey. It wasn’t a big deal for me, because my hair grows out – but if we cut her hair, we see the effects of that for years to come. Thankfully, now she is a bit older her hair has become slightly more manageable, to the extent she can wear ponytails.”
