Six-year-old Taylor McGowan has unique blonde hair that she says makes her feel like “a beautiful dandelion.”
The “bold” girl was born with very little hair in 2016, which eventually fell out and grew into what it is today.
“When Taylor was roughly six months old, we started to notice that she'd started growing blonde, fluffy hair that stood straight up from her scalp, much like a baby duckling,” Cara, a stay-at-home mom, told The Epoch Times.
“That’s when we knew something was up, quite literally.”
Taylor’s hair shafts underwent examination via an electron microscope by a pediatric dermatologist. She was then diagnosed with UHS, a rare condition that causes the shafts to be triangular or kidney-shaped, rather than round, preventing them from laying flat.
The diagnosis was confirmed by a study conducted in Germany, which discovered that Taylor had inherited a rare gene, PADI3, that was carried by both her parents.
“Taylor was lucky enough to inherit one copy of the gene from each parent, for a total of two copies,” Cara said. “Two copies of PADI3 must be inherited for a person to have the condition.”
During this time, Cara noticed that Taylor was also hitting a lot of early milestones in terms of learning, and thus the comparison to Albert Einstein—she started calling her baby “Einstein 2.0.”
Cara, who is a clinical psychology major, is currently in the end stages of completing a master’s degree in counseling practice. Her goal is to become a licensed psychotherapist specializing in health-related issues that can impact mental health.
Through her page, not only have people become more aware and reacted positively, but it has also created a connection with others from around the world who have UHS or are looking for a diagnosis, education, and guidance.
In photos that Cara receives from across the globe, many children have blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes and look so similar to Taylor that it seems they could be related.
“They’re not, however, the similarities between individuals with UHS are striking,” Cara said.
While most people have been encouraging and positive about Taylor’s hair there have been a few people on the internet who insist that her hair “is a result of neglectful hair care or her ethnicity,” but Cara has learned to ignore them.
“I think people are more comfortable making unsolicited comments about differences in young children who cannot speak for themselves versus an older child or an adult,” Cara said. “I doubt that someone might come up to an adult to ask if they had stuck their finger in a light socket due to frizzy hair, but it happened often when Taylor was younger. This is an issue that I believe deserves more attention than it receives.”
Taylor also recalled that when she was little she would be asked by people why her hair was so “fizzy and big.” However, since she has grown older that has stopped.
Certain challenges come with caring for Taylor’s hair, one of which is heat sensitivity that requires special precautions during the summer. The way the hair lays atop the head makes it like insulation and thus keeps the heat close to her scalp. The hair can also break easily so must be treated carefully—it is also extremely difficult to control.
“Caring for Taylor’s hair and styling it in a functional manner that will stay put is nearly impossible,” Cara said. “Ponytails and other styles do not last long before needing to be redone—maybe for minutes to only a few hours.”
However, now that Taylor is 6 years old, her “sparky hair” that glistens in the sun has taken on “a sort of laid-back, wavy, surfer vibe,” according to Cara, who adds that the little girl is also known for her carefree attitude and making people laugh wherever she goes.
While Taylor’s hair has settled now that she’s older, it’s a myth, her mom says, that individuals eventually grow out of the condition entirely. “She will have it for life,” she said.
When asked how she feels about her wonderfully unusual locks, Taylor said: “I really love my hair, and other kids with hair like mine have something in common with me. Even if people are mean to them, I think our kind of hair is beautiful. I think it’s awesome and beautiful.”
