Meet the little girl whose rare genetic condition leaves her with permanent bedhead

After a night on the tiles the bedhead struggle is oh so real. But next time you’re using all the products to try and tame your unruly mane, spare a thought for adorable tot Phoebe Braswell.

Thanks to a genetic condition, known as Uncombable Hair Syndrome, the 21-month-old from North Carolina has permanent bedhead that makes her frizzy locks impossible to brush.

Phoebe is believed to be one of only about 100 children in the world who have the rare scalp and hair shaft disorder, which leaves her hair sticking up in such a way that it cannot be smoothed down.

“Every morning it is sticking straight up, and throughout the day I try and spray stuff in it to keep it down, but within 30 minutes it’s spiky again.” Phoebe’s mum Jamie Braswell told SWNS.

Though most people have round hair follicles, Phoebe’s are kidney-shaped which makes her locks fine, coarse and constantly static.

Phoebe’s mum first noticed mother first noticed something different about her daughter’s hair when she was three months old and strands of straw-like hair started to sprout from her scalp.

But, it wasn’t until her doctor took note of it at a one-year check-up that Jamie started wondering if it could be a medical condition.

“Then a few months ago we were looking through Facebook and saw an article about a little girl with Uncombable Hair Syndrome,” she says.

“My mum said, ‘Look at this,’ and I said, ‘Oh my gracious, that is Phoebe.’ I called the doctor and we ended up getting the diagnosis.”

According to National Institutes of Health, UHS is inherited not everyone who has the gene mutation, which causes the syndrome, will develop it. This may explain why Phoebe’s older sister Raegan, 5, and her mother don’t show any signs of the syndrome and have thick, smooth, darker hair.

But, Phoebe’s hair may one day become more manageable, as experts say the condition often regresses in late childhood.

“There is no medical treatment for uncombable hair syndrome but it is reported to improve with age,” explains Dr Andrew Messenger, consultant dermatologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield.

Until then, Phoebe’s mum will continue to try to keep the little girl’s hair off her face by using a headband or putting her hair in a half-up ponytail, which are the only options she doesn’t find painful.

But despite her mum’s best efforts to tame her daughter’s locks it doesn’t stop strangers making unkind comments.

“Whenever we go out it’s not ‘Oh, she is so cute,’ it’s ‘Oh my gracious, her hair is crazy. You got a hold of a balloon, didn’t you?'” Jamie said. “We were in the grocery store once and a lady said, ‘She is going to hate you when she looks at her baby photos because you let her go out in public like that.'”

‘Despite the unwelcomed remarks, Jamie loves her daughter’s unique hair and so does Phoebe. The little girl’s favourite cartoon character is Poppy from the movie Trolls, whose pink hair sticks up just like hers.

“I do worry about her going to school because kids can be so cruel and Phoebe is the most tender-hearted little girl I have ever known,” Jamie says.

“It’s hard for me to anticipate that people might make nasty comments, but I am going to teach her that we are all different in every way and it doesn’t matter.”

“I have never seen anyone with hair like hers. It’s beautiful. It makes her unique.”

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