{"id":720,"date":"2015-01-06T02:54:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T02:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/?p=720"},"modified":"2026-02-25T01:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T01:15:27","slug":"the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/01\/06\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\/","title":{"rendered":"The twisting tale of woolly hair: a trait with many causes (Contributed by Dr. Yuval Ramot)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Woolly hair is a unique hair phenotype, which is characterized by extremely curly hair. While this type of hair is common in black people, it is extremely uncommon in non-blacks. When woolly hair appears together with thickening of the skin of the palms and soles, it should immediately raise the concern of Naxos or Carvajal syndromes, which are characterized by life-threatening cardiomyopathy, and should necessitate immediate referral to cardiac evaluation. The factors which control hair curliness are still obscure, but it is thanks to the recent discovery of the genes responsible for some of the woolly hair syndromes that these factors start to reveal. In this review we provide summary of the cell structures and factors which control woolly hair, and provide a unifying mechanistic pathway for the control of hair texture. Furthermore, this review provides an algorithm for directing the diagnosis of the patient with woolly hair. (<a href=\"http:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2015\/01\/05\/jmedgenet-2014-102630\">http:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2015\/01\/05\/jmedgenet-2014-102630<\/a> )<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Woolly hair is a unique hair phenotype, which is characterized by extremely curly hair. While this type of hair is common in black people, it is extremely uncommon in non-blacks. When woolly hair appears together with thickening of the skin of the palms and soles, it should immediately raise the concern of Naxos or Carvajal [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/01\/06\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The twisting tale of woolly hair: a trait with many causes (Contributed by Dr. Yuval Ramot) - JMG Contact blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/01\/06\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The twisting tale of woolly hair: a trait with many causes (Contributed by Dr. Yuval Ramot) - JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Woolly hair is a unique hair phenotype, which is characterized by extremely curly hair. While this type of hair is common in black people, it is extremely uncommon in non-blacks. When woolly hair appears together with thickening of the skin of the palms and soles, it should immediately raise the concern of Naxos or Carvajal [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/01\/06\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-06T02:54:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T01:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HuiQiQu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/06\\\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/06\\\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hqqu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be0250f8d5b52412c3e7c222dabd591b\"},\"headline\":\"The twisting tale of woolly hair: a trait with many causes (Contributed by Dr. Yuval Ramot)\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-06T02:54:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T01:15:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/06\\\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":172,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/06\\\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/06\\\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/06\\\/the-twisting-tale-of-woolly-hair-a-trait-with-many-causes\\\/\",\"name\":\"The twisting tale of woolly hair: a trait with many causes (Contributed by Dr. Yuval Ramot) - 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