Locklan Samples: The toddler's uncombable hair syndrome will make your troubles vanish
Sixteen months ago, Katelyn and Caleb Samples were blessed with their son Locklan Samples. Locklan was born with jet black hair which was quite similar to his mother's hair. And it stayed this way for five months. As Locklan turned six months old, his parents noticed how his original hair was now replaced by what the parents lovingly labeled a "peach fuzz".
When talking with PEOPLE about her son's blonde, super soft hair, Katelyn said, "We were like, huh, what is this? We knew it was different but didn't know exactly how. And then it kept growing and growing."
READ MORE
Father of three gets paralyzed from a rare disease one day after returning from vacation in Bali
300 million people suffer from rare diseases worldwide, says study
At nine months old, Locklan's (nicknamed Lock) hair color could not be any more similar to his brother's but was poles apart in terms of texture. His hair at nine months was clear white-blond and exceptionally soft but sticking out of his head straight. Lock's brother Shep is three. "People were definitely noticing it," Katelyn, 33, said with a chuckle. Around this time, she also received a direct message on her Instagram from a stranger asking if her son had been diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome.
Katelyn said, "I was like, oh my God, what is this? Is something wrong with my baby? I went into tailspins on Google." As the search results on Google got overwhelming, Katelyn contacted Lock's pediatrician. However, the pediatrician, who had never heard of this syndrome, recommended a specialist at Emory Hospital.
Recalling her visit to the specialist, Katelyn said, "We went to see her and she said she'd only seen this once in 19 years. She didn't think it was uncombable hair syndrome because of how rare it is, but they took samples and a pathologist looked at it under a special microscope." After testing and analysis of the structure of the toddler's hair, it was confirmed that he had uncombable hair syndrome. It is an extremely rare condition where the hair that grows is super soft but also easily breakable. Lock is just one of the 100 known cases of this syndrome.
"You're just going about your day thinking everything's fine and that your kid might have curly hair, which does run in the family. And then to hear that there's a rare syndrome associated with your kid — it was crazy," Katelyn said on making this discovery. Fortunately, this syndrome only affects his hair and not any other aspect of his health. "They said because he was developing normally in every other area of his life, that we didn't need to be worried about anything else being a concern," she said. She also added that she lets Lock's hair "just be in its free form."
"I hardly have to wash it, unless he's literally playing in the dirt because it doesn't get greasy," she informed. "It's incredibly soft, and people want to touch it all the time. I hardly brush it, because it's very fragile. I just try to be very gentle with it and not mess with it unless I have to," the 33-year-old mom said.