Real-Life Rapunzel: Uttar Pradesh Woman Bags Guinness World Record For Longest Hair

With hair measuring 7 feet and 9 inches, 46-year-old Smita Srivastava has bagged the world record. Washing, drying and detangling her hair is no mean task as Smita reportedly takes three hours each time she washes her hair.

Smita Srivastava's long hair (Pic: guinnessworldrecords.com)

Smita Srivastava from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has created a new world record. With hair measuring 7 feet and 9 inches, 46-year-old Smita has claimed the world record for the longest hair on a living person. “In Indian culture, goddesses traditionally had very long hair. In our society, it is considered inauspicious to cut hair, so that is why women used to grow hair,” Smita said, according to guinnessworldrecords.com. She added, “Long hair enhances the beauty of women.”

The Guinness website also reports that Smita washes her hair twice per week. And naturally, the process is a long one, given the length of her hair. The whole process - which includes washing, drying, detangling, and styling includes – takes up to three hours each time. When it comes to simply washing her hair, it takes around 35-40 minutes. 

After that comes the drying process, and the whole process of drying her hair using towels and detangling her hair using hand takes about two hours. Because of the length of her hair, Smita says she lays down a sheet on which she detangles her hair while standing on her bed. When her hair is finally detangled and dried, she combs her long tresses. Sometimes, she ties it into a bun while others make braids. 

The report also mentions that Smita is very attached to her hair, even those strands that have fallen. She has said that she has never thrown away her hair in the past 20 years. This mainly started when she experienced major hair loss and Smita said that the idea of throwing away her hair deeply saddened her. It was then that she started collecting her hair and now she has a huge collection of hair.

Smita's long tresses have evoked several reactions on social media, with many netizens calling her the real-life Rapunzel - a character from a German fairy tale who had impossibly long hair. Some netizens even expressed wonderment and asked if her hair was indeed real.