Humberston boy's pride in rare 'uncombable' hair condition

Most people have a bad hair day now and then - but Sam Barley celebrates his unique unruly locks every day.

The 10-year-old from Humberston, North East Lincolnshire, has a rare condition called uncombable hair syndrome.

Scientists know of only about 100 cases of the genetic disorder, which is characterised by frizzy hair that is difficult to comb flat.

Sam said he was proud of his blond barnet, declaring: "It's ok to be different and have rare hair."

"People always come up to me and ask 'have you bleached it? What have you done to your hair? It looks like you stuck your finger in a plug socket,'" he said.

Sam said he usually smiled when people quizzed him about his hair but he wanted to raise awareness of the condition.

He said he was not bothered by the condition and liked to wear his hair quite long, sometimes using wax to slick it back.

Sam Barley, with his sister Erin and mum Helen, wants to raise awareness of the rare genetic condition

Helen Barley, Sam's mum, first noticed his hair was different when he was about four years old and said she had "never seen anything like it before".

"He's not fazed by it, there was a moment when he was four or five when he wasn't sure and he would have it shaved off," she said.

"But the more he learned to embrace it, the more he learned to love the comments people made about it and the more he grew it.

"Now I can't even get him to the hairdresser to get it cut, he loves it long."

Ms Barley said she gets asked why his hair looks different at least once a week and she was "really proud of him" for raising awareness.

What is uncombable hair syndrome?

Uncombable hair syndrome, also known as "spun glass hair syndrome," is a rare condition caused by a genetic mutation.

The shaft of the hair can be triangular or heart-shaped, compared to normal hair which has a circular cross-section, according to research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Researchers said the condition, which usually occurs in childhood, improves with age in most cases.