Meet the baby girl who boasts a mop of hair so impressive she needs a blow-dry every day.
Little Millie Mitchel stunned doctors when she was born five weeks prematurely with thick, dark tresses.
Her luscious locks have continued to grow and now, at the age of 11 months, they flow all the way down her back.
Parents Meg O’Halloran and Marc Mitchel, both 27, say some people even mistake her hair for a wig.
Healthcare assistant Meg, of Barnstaple, north Devon, said: “We were definitely surprised when she was born.
“They held her up over the curtain to me after I had my C-section I just went, ‘Oh my God.’ She had this mop of thick, jet black hair.
“Everyone who saw that was there first commented that she has lots of hair but since then it has just grown and grown and grown.
“My family and friends kept saying to me, ‘It’s going to fall out’ but it’s grown longer and longer – it’s all the way down her back.
“I even have to blow dry it because if I leave it it’s so thick, it takes ages to dry. I’ve been doing that since the day she was born.
“Compared to other babies her age she looks older than she is because she’s got all this hair and they are just starting to grow hair or are bald.
“Everyone comments on how long and thick it is. People can’t believe it. I even got asked once if it was a wig and I said, ‘No, it’s her hair!”
Millie was born on May 2 2016 with hydrocephalus, a build up of fluid on the brain.
She’s since undergone two rounds of surgery at Bristol Children’s Hospital, including having a shunt fitted to drain the excess fluid to her stomach.
Millie made a good recovery and luckily – even though surgeons were operating on her brain – they didn’t have to chop her locks.
Mum-of-one Meg said: “I was really afraid they were going to have to cut it off. They had to shave bits off but it has grown back remarkably well.
“It’s especially surprising because mine is fine and dark and Marc’s is thick but he wasn’t born with hair like that either.”
Meg and Marc, a sales adviser, have decided not to chop Millie’s extraordinary mane, which is so voluminous they have had to blow dry it since day one.
They use baby shampoo and conditioner as well as a special Tangle Teezer to keep it under control – because the baby brush can’t cope.
But despite it being a knotty nightmare at bath-time, Meg said the tot’s tresses make her unique.
She added: “Nobody forgets her – if I go to the doctor I just say, ‘The baby with all the hair.’
“It’s lovely that it’s a little bit different.
