A mum whose daughter has the same ultra-rare condition as Albert Einstein reveals her unruly hair is treated like a 'tourist attraction' - with strangers grabbing it and asking if she's wearing a wig. Laura Lamont said that when her daughter Zoe Lamont was 15 months old her hair began growing outwards and looked like it had been crimped before thickening 'like candy floss'.
But as she got older it constantly appeared static - giving the illusion that she'd brushed against a balloon - and tiny tight corkscrew curls also began to appear in her bright blonde mop. The secretary said that although Zoe's never officially been diagnosed, she believes she has uncombable hair syndrome (UHS) - a rare disorder meaning her hair won’t lie flat, no matter how much it’s brushed or combed.
Since the age of two Zoe's unusual locks have seen her become somewhat of a celebrity, with people stopping her daily and some even touching her hair without asking. The 10-year-old used to get annoyed by how people reacted, but she now confidently embraces her one-of-a-kind mane.
Lauren, from Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, said: "I'm proud of her hair, she really does love it now. There's one photo of her and her hair is just standing on end. When her hair is static she looks like Albert Einstein."
The mum-of-three said that when her daughter was around 15-months-old her hair began growing outwards and looked like it had been crimped. Laura said: "She was roughly around two when she was like a tourist attraction. It started getting thick like candy floss and was just standing on end - like if you'd just held on to a balloon and your hair sticks up.
"Her hair continued to grow out and it would never grow down until she was around five and tight corkscrew curls started coming. Her hair is bright blonde, very, very, very curly and wiry. Her hair is still crazy and she's at the age now where she's like 'I want long hair like my sister' but it can't be straightened. It really soft. It feels like candy floss."
The secretary said that her ten-year-old has only had her shoulder-length hair cut around four times in her life given that it grows outwards, rather than down. It also cannot be straightened and after trying endless products, the only thing that they use is water and a little conditioner.
This helps maintain the curls in her hair as it constantly appears to look static. Lauren said: "She's like a celebrity where we live because everybody knows her for her hair. She went through a phase when she hated it and didn't like it and people were looking at her and one of her friends said that she had 'hair like a sheep', and she got a wee bit annoyed at that.
"Since she was like two or three, people asked 'is that a wig?' It got to the point where she was like 'people just come up to me and feel my hair, it's really annoying me'.
"It was because she felt different. People were just coming up to her and touching her hair. Even in the shops, grown women were just walking over and touching her hair because nobody had ever seen it and they'd ask 'oh my god is this real?'
Laura said that she spends around 45 minutes tending to Zoe's hair every day. Every morning it's either washed or soaked with conditioner and water from a spray bottle. It must be washed every day otherwise it begins to clump together meaning they sometimes need to cut the matted hair out.
Lauren said: "We've contacted GPs everywhere and nobody seems to know what to do or what it is, they sort of go 'what?' I 100 percent think she has uncombable hair syndrome. If I knew where to go or who to speak to, I would go private just to find out but she has every characteristic of it.
"There's not a day that we go out and don't get stopped with compliments. Nobody would ever say anything negative about it, you would just maybe get strange looks. You see the kids pointing, 'mummy, look at her hair, look at her hair' and she'll just smile at them."
Zoe, who's now learned to love her locks, said: "I love how there's so many curls and it's big puffiness. My friends love it and they say that they wish they had it, even the boys like it. I'd tell others [with the condition] to just learn to love it.
"Everyone with straight hair wants curly hair and everyone with curly hair wants straight hair. So you just have to really be positive with it and accept it. It's unique and it's you."
