The hairstyle Caroline tends to wear most everyday

I know we have to be extra careful with Caroline's delicate LAS hair but I've determined that she looks best when her hair is pulled back into a ponytail (the hair sticking out the end is about 1.5 - 2 inches (estimate), and then the shorter hair around the face is contained with a cute headband.  Yes, occasionally she loses some hair when the fabric-covered rubber band gets pulled out, but overall, I think it actually saves her hair. A few observations about this hairstyle:

• It keeps other kids (girls, mostly) from touching and playing with Caroline's hair at school.  We've had a real problem with that and it's always the same offenders.  Caroline knows all about her loose anagen syndrome at this point and knows that it's such a violation for her friends to be playing around and trying to style her hair.  I might have to rant about that in a later entry although due to this hairstyle, it hasn't been as much as a problem.
• It keeps her hair mostly untangled. Er, well--as untangled as LAS hair is going to be, anyway. During the school day, Caroline's hair takes a beating from wind, weather, elapsed time, (kids' hands, as mentioned above), etc.  Keeping it smoothed back and out of her face keeps her hands off it, other kids' hands off it, keeps Caroline from messing with it too much, and helps with wind and weather.
• It makes her blend in with the other girls a little better.  This hairstyle sort of gives the impression that Caroline has longer hair which she has just chosen to pull back in a ponytail. Without this halo of blond, fluffy yet curly hair floating around her head, she looks more like everyone else (which, at age 8, she really appreciates).
• Cool headbands seem to be the rage in 2nd grade right now.  We found this funky headband with a big flower at Bed Bath & Beyond when we were buying those satin pillowcases and boy, does it give Caroline some flair.
• Oh, and I know I'm terribly biased, but indulge me on this: pulling the hair away from Caroline's face helps show off my shockingly beautiful girl. She has enormous almond-shaped brown eyes with very dark, long lashes.  With the hair pulled back, her bright blond hair is a nice contrast rather than a distraction from her pretty face (so says her proud mom!).

You might be wondering, why no picture?  As these observations came together for an blog entry tonight, I realized I don't have a good picture to post right now.  I'll update this post with a photo of what I'm talking about, and you can see Caroline's "style" as it looks most every day.

Finally, a satin pillowcase!

Behold, the satin pillow "cover" purchased today from Bed Bath & Beyond:

Finally!

So I'm about four years overdue in buying these for my sweet Caroline.  I looked at some on Amazon but the least expensive one was about $8+ and this one from BB&B was only $3.99 (regular price), so that was a deal.  I purchased three, two for her and one for me.  Maybe my hair won't look so scarecrow-y in the morning either.

I did read on the Amazon product reviews that these pillowcases can be hot, but we'll risk it! Also, I figured out that these are called pillow covers versus true pillowcases (with an open end) because the pillow insert would eventually slip out of a normal pillowcase.  This pillow cover I bought today has a zipper but it's nicely covered under a flap and won't catch in Caroline's hair.  Because that's all we need...

I hope to report good results from the satin pillow cover. Maybe it will help alleviate the crazy Einstein look that so often appears at the breakfast table.

UPDATE 3/22:
Can't say that I've seen any real results or improvement.  I think Caroline has secretly rejected the pillow with the satin pillowcase and is using something else.  I bought myself one and can't say that I'm impressed either - and I have been sleeping on it.  Perhaps this is an item where buying cheaper doesn't pay off and I'll need to try a real silk pillowcase for her (if I can convince her to actually use it).

Sensitive scalp part of LAS?

Within the last year I've noticed that Caroline says "OW!!!!!" when I help brush her hair in the mornings before school.  It seems that when the brush slightly touches her scalp, it's painful.  I can't recall this happening when she was little.  Of course I'm gentle with the brush (and use bottles upon bottles of spray detangler) but no matter what I do, she complains that the brush hurts her scalp.  The scalp is not sunburned, irritated or red.  My other girls don't complain when I brush their hair, so I'm chalking Caroline's complaints up to loose anagen.

Looking back over the symptoms of LAS, I don't see where a sensitive scalp is a usual complaint.  The hair loss with loose anagen is mostly painless. It doesn't seem to cause her pain to lose hair when pulling out a hair band (which invariably happens) but only when the brush gently meets her scalp. I suppose there's nothing to be done for this other than to be very careful and not rush styling her hair.

Yet another fun aspect of this syndrome!

Einstein in da house...

LAS hair, in my experience, is like cotton candy: light, fluffy, ethereal, weightless. The hairs themselves are so very thin, like gossamer.  It's the strangest texture too.  So every morning, I'm faced with the same  problem of unmatting Caroline's matted hair.  Because I have been a lazy bad mom, I've yet to track down and purchase satin pillowcases to alleviate her hair loss and the matting at night while she sleeps.

When Caroline wakes up, it's like Einstein has entered the building. Her hair is so weightless that it stands up on its own. Gravity has no effect. It's a crazy look. I figure at least some of you LAS moms and dads know what I mean.  I'm used to this wacky look, but at a slumber party a few weeks ago, one or two of Caroline's friends made comments on her hair in the morning which, of course, hurt her feelings.  It's moments like those that have me searching the internet for wigs.

Careful detangling with lots of spray with short, soft pulls of the hairbrush to un-mat the hair is how I deal with crazy Einstein-hair mornings.  Caroline has taken charge of her own hairstyling but I have to remind her almost every day to pleeeease be oh-so-very careful when she brushes.  Even so, she loses lots of hair in our daily styling routine.

Look familiar to anyone?

I get so anxious about brushing her hair sometimes when it's like this.

LAS means scalp sunburns!

Here's another picture, this one from late summer, 2005.  Poor little Caroline's scalp is always exposed to the brutal sun so I must either slather her head in sunscreen or make her wear a hat. As I recall, getting a toddler to wear a hat for more than 36.9 seconds was akin to impossible.  Normal-haired older sister is next to her for comparison purposes.

Unfortunately, not much has changed in the way of prepping to spend time in the sun.  I always need to make sure Caroline has some sunscreen on her part, at least.  If she's going to be at the pool for hours, I usually just end up spraying her head with greasy sunscreen, which doesn't help the texture or ease of combing her hair apres swim- it's such a catch-22!

First and last haircut, 2005

This photo (not good quality, apologies) were taken after the one and only hair trim that Caroline ever had.  You can see her scalp, as usual.  My mother talked me into trimming Caroline's unruly hair.  I guess I agreed thinking maybe it would spark more growth. Looking back, it looks terrible and took years to grow any length at all.

You can also see her older sister next to her.  My oldest has light brown hair with large loose ringlets reminiscent of Shirley Temple. Poor Caroline is now sandwiched between two sisters, one whom has long curly hair, and one who has long straight hair.  Ironically, when the three of them are out with me in public, it's Caroline who gets noticed and complemented because her coloring is so striking.  That's certainly helped Caroline's self esteem.

A family history of loose anagen syndrome?

My husband's aunt (in her sixties now) claims that when she was a child, her hair was very thin, fairly short and very blond. She thinks she remembers having the same issues that Caroline did.  In the aunt's case, her hair grew in thick and fast as a teenager -- and also changed color as it grew in (to brown).  I'm hoping that Caroline's great aunt can someday find some pictures for us because that would give me a "why" behind this situation.  It would make me feel better to know there's a reason, that heredity might be behind the LAS.  Caroline may be very small because I'm very petite and had petite grandmothers - but I have no idea why Caroline would be hit with LAS.  If I can find any more information or photos of this family member who might have had thin hair as a child, I'll post it.

What about your family history?  Are there any family members or relatives who had hair issues as a child?  Did they grow out of it?  As there's no treatment for loose anagen (other than perhaps Biotin which may produce marginal improvement in some children), my greatest hope is that a little girl can simply grow out of this syndrome.  Seeing as Caroline is almost 8 and a half with no real improvement, I try not to pin my hopes on that either.  We just work on doing the best we can do with the hair that she has, and to continue to be feel blessed and grateful that this is a cosmetic issue, not a health issue.

By 2005 I realized her hair wasn't normal

Here is Caroline at 2.5 years old.  There were a few bald patches where her hair had come out in handfuls several weeks prior, completely freaking me out.  Her scalp is visible.  Today, her hair has become significantly curlier, but the thickness hasn't changed much.  And she's still very much a striking blond!

It's my theory that Caroline's loose anagen syndrome is what makes her hair a platinum blond while her sisters have brown hair.  Her eyes are a dark brown along with her eyebrows.  It's a unique coloring. My mother always jokes that it's like Caroline took a bottle of bleach to her hair.

About the time these photos were taken, I was beginning to worry about why Caroline's hair never grew.  Never. Ever. Grew.  Our pediatricians did not seem concerned about her hair but it just seemed so odd: why would a kid's hair not grow?  For a while, I hoped it would get better on its own and so I didn't push the issue.  But when Caroline continued to be very small and not grow very quickly, I became worried that perhaps the hair issue was a symptom of a larger problem that hadn't been detected yet. She was sent for some blood tests that came back normal, except for a slightly elevated level of potassium.  Caroline's still very small for her age with a thin frame and I still think the LAS and growth are somehow related.

Welcome to the world of Loose Anagen Syndrome

If you're reading this, you're here because you probably have a child with LAS, or Loose Anagen Syndrome. Thank goodness that this syndrome is not harmful or fatal, but is only cosmetic in nature. But if you're the parent of a child (probably a little girl) with loose anagen syndrome, it can break your heart watching her struggle with it. That's the case with me. My sweet, beautiful 8 year old daughter, whom I will call Caroline in this blog, lives in a world where every girl has thick, luxurious, long hair. Caroline's two sisters have hair down their backs. LAS is always there to remind Caroline that she's different.

I knew for a long time that Caroline's hair wasn't "right." I scoured the web for information between 2005 and 2007, found the bare minimum of information on LAS but knew right away from the symptoms that Caroline had this syndrome. She was diagnosed by the simple act of a pediatric dermatologist examining Caroline's hair under a microscope. And, there was nothing to be done about it, no treatment to be had.

I created this blog because there is really no information out there. And I understand that; this is not cancer or a debilitating illness or disease. But perhaps my experience with and journey through this syndrome will serve to inform and help other parents help their kids deal with having "different" hair. In coming days and weeks, I'll post more detailed information, photos, and links to the best information I can find on the web, and continue to document Caroline's progression (or lack thereof!) and related issues (like self-esteem, etc.). I'd like to have readers (when there are some, someday) perhaps contribute some photos and/or stories of their own to share. See you soon.