How common is naturally beaded hair?

Each individual hair was like this on its own, or several together?

Every single strand of hair was like this. So if you looked at his head from a distance, it looked like normal, straight hair. Up close, every single hair on his head had this beaded texture to it. It was really fascinating.

I’ve had beaded hair my entire life and I’m 42 now. It runs in my family and has mostly just been a curiosity with hairdressers always calling each other over to have a look at it. I always thought it was just striped but one hairdresser told me each strand of hair is actually thick, thin, thick, etc. and that this type of hair is prone to breakage. This explains why my sister and I have never been able to grow our hair past shoulder length despite many attempts to do so.
This is the first time I’ve actually looked it up online and have learned that this is a rare condition known as Monilethrix. Apparently, in more severe cases, it causes mild to extreme hair loss, so I guess I’m lucky. My mother did lose her hair several times growing up until finally, in her 20’s it never grew back. I’m wondering now if Monilethrix might have been the cause.

Thank you so much for that very descriptive & informative answer. Sorry to hear about the problems that come with having such a unique hair pattern. The friend of mine who has it, I haven’t seen in him a very long time, so I’m not sure how he looks today. But thank you for searching online & answering my question. I thought I would never know the details about that hair. Thank you!