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Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest

We describe a 62-year-old patient with a chronic delusional disorder who presented with severely matted hair ("plica polonica"). Until the late 19th century such dreadlocks were considered as cause, consequence and treatment of mental disease. The historical development of "plica polonica" is briefly reviewed as an example of early and once popular psychiatric disease concepts.

In his poem "Die Füsse im Feuer" Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825-1898) describes in detail the phenomenon of sudden graying of the hair. The protagonist is a Huguenot nobleman who hosts the man who has tortured to death his wife some years ago without killing him despite ample opportunities. Sudden whitening of the hair has been used as literary stylistic means with the aim to demonstrate extreme psychological stress to the world, without confirmation of its occurrence in each case.

The "Dutch DNA Repair Group" was established about 35 years ago. In this brief historical review some of the crucial decisions are described that have contributed to the relative success of the research of this group. The emphasis of the work of this group has been for many years on the genetic analysis of nucleotide excision repair (NER) and genetic diseases based on defects in this repair process: xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), Cockayne syndrome and trichothiodystrophy.

We describe a young man presenting with dreadlocks. There are remarkable similarities with the so called plica polonica, that historically had been treated with long courses of mercury. Apparently very important in the 18th century, the interest for this hair-disorder appears to be lost in specialized medical literature. In contrast dreadlocks, a recent hairstyle are frequently encountered. Lack of other sources various websites provide dermatologists with answers to questions regarding complications. Fortunately a simply haircut is today treatment enough.

The first reported episode of rapid whitening of the hair is recorded in the Talmud. This intriguing phenomenon is explained on the basis of a two-step process. The first step involves the actual abrupt development of white hair due to vitiligo or alopecia areata. The second step involves the apparent sudden whitening of the scalp hair due to either simultaneous lengthening of the white hair or selective loss of the dark hair. In fact, the hair that is perceived as suddenly whitening was already white.