hairy situations

Uncombable Hair Syndrome Is Real, and This Girl Has It

Shilah Calvert Yin. Photo: Courtesy of Instagram/shilahmadison

There are health syndromes that are serious and deserve the full weight of medical resources. That’s a story for someone else to write. This is about a young girl’s cool hair.

Shilah Calvert Yin is a seven-year-old with a rare condition known as “Uncombable Hair Syndrome.” Uncombable Hair Syndrome isn’t real, you say? Well it is, according to the National Institutes of Health. Look, here’s Science magazine devoting an entire article to it.

The syndrome is caused by a collection of gene mutations, and it’s very rare: Around 100 cases have been reported worldwide. It manifests in young children and is categorized by blonde, supremely frizzy hair. In essence, this is a condition that causes white people to grow afros. I think it looks pretty cool. So does Shilah, who told the Daily Mail: “My friends wish they had hair like mine.”

Scientists say there is no cure, but come on. This is nothing that an afternoon of YouTube tutorials and coconut oil can’t cure.

Uncombable Hair Syndrome Is Real, and This Girl Has It