The following case of a very peculiar phenomenon, as yet unexplained, is presented.
C. A. S., a 9-year-old white girl, presented herself with a fist-sized matted and tangled wad of hair on the occipital region of the scalp. The mass was felt-like, with groups of long strands protruding from the tangled surface. On July 31, 1951, the mother gave this girl a shampoo using Young Lad Goes West Shampoo, a liquid lauryl sulfate preparation. During the course of the shampoo the hair of the occipital area became unmanageable and in spite of repeated rinsings, a matted and tangled mass proceeded to form spontaneously, which notwithstanding all efforts could not be untangled. The mother said there had been no previous use of wavesets or hair or scalp preparations. Normal-appearing hair of the other areas of the scalp failed to reproduce the phenomenon when again subjected to the shampoo material. Because of