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Woolly
hair
Woolly
or frizzy hair is simply a very tightly coiled hair fiber. It usually
has normal strength and durability with a healthy cuticle, although
sometimes woolly hair is difficult to grow long. The tight coiling
may create stresses in the hair fiber that may weaken it and lead
to more fragile and breakable hair.
Woolly hair is frequently seen in scalp hair for people of African-American
or similar ethnicity. Woolly hair is most often seen in young children.
Later in life the hair may become less tightly coiled. It is can
also seen in pubic and whisker hair for people of many races. These
tightly coiled hairs come from coiled hair follicles in the skin.
What makes hair follicles coiled is not known.
 Woolly hair is a naturally occurring hair type in some races, but
when it develops in Caucasians and Asians it can be regarded as
a syndrome. Woolly hair syndrome is quite rare so there is very
little reliable information about it. It involves tightly spiraled
hair over all or part of the scalp. When it is just on a small area
of the scalp it may be called a "woolly hair nevus". A
woolly hair nevus may occasionally develop in hair subjected to
over processing with harsh chemical treatments.
True woolly hair syndrome seems to have a genetic component and
it can run in families. There has been a suggestion that the genetic
form of the syndrome may be x linked. It can be a dominant gene
or a recessive one. When the gene is recessive it may only show
up in men but be hidden in women because they have normal x chromosome
to mask the x chromosome with the woolly hair gene. If the gene
is dominant woolly hair shows up in both men and women of the same
family tree.
For young men, it is believed that woolly hair above the ears as
an apparent extension of the beard region indicates a greater chance
of the individual developing extensive androgenetic alopecia later
on in life. There is no treatment for woolly hair although many
people use hair relaxers to reduce or remove the tightly coiled
appearance of their hair.
Woolly
hair references
- Ferrando
J, Grimalt R. Acquired partial curly hair. Eur J Dermatol. 1999
Oct-Nov;9(7):544-7.
- Carvajal-Huerta
L. Epidermolytic palmoplantar keratoderma with woolly hair and
dilated cardiomyopathy. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1998 Sep;39(3):418-21.
- Coonar
AS, Protonotarios N, Tsatsopoulou A, Needham EW, Houlston RS,
Cliff S, Otter MI, Murday VA, Mattu RK, McKenna WJ. Gene for arrhythmogenic
right ventricular cardiomyopathy with diffuse nonepidermolytic
palmoplantar keratoderma and woolly hair (Naxos disease) maps
to 17q21. Circulation. 1998 May 26;97(20):2049-58.
- Lalevic-Vasic
BM, Nikolic MM, Polic DJ, Radosavljevic B. Diffuse partial woolly
hair. Dermatology. 1993;187(4):243-7.
- Reda AM,
Rogers RS 3d, Peters MS.Woolly hair nevus. J Am Acad Dermatol.
1990 Feb;22(2 Pt 2):377-80.
- Verbov
J. Woolly hair--study of a family. Dermatologica. 1978;157(1):42-7.
- al-Harmozi SA, Mahmoud SF, Ejeckam GC.
Woolly hair nevus syndrome. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1992 Aug;27(2
Pt 1):259-60.
- Taylor AE. Hereditary woolly hair with
ocular involvement. Br J Dermatol. 1990 Oct;123(4):523-5.
- Ormerod AD, Main RA, Ryder ML, Gregory
DW. A family with diffuse partial woolly hair. Br J Dermatol.
1987 Mar;116(3):401-5.
- Bovenmyer DA. Woolly hair nevus. Cutis.
1979 Sep;24(3):322-5.
- Lantis SD, Pepper MC. Woolly hair nevus.
Two case reports and a discussion of unruly hair forms. Arch Dermatol.
1978 Feb;114(2):233-8.
- Jacobsen KU, Lowes M. Woolly hair naevus
with ocular involvement. Report of a case. Dermatologica. 1975;151(4):249-52.
- Norwood OT. Whisker hair--an update. Cutis.
1981 Jun;27(6):651-2.
- Norwood OT. Whisker hair. Arch Dermatol.
1979 Aug;115(8):930-1.
- Wantzin GL, Thomsen K. Whisker hair--a
common entity? Acta Derm Venereol. 1986;66(5):457.
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