A woman from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has set a Guinness record for having the longest hair on a living person.
Smita Srivastava has been growing her seven-foot-nine-inch-long hair since she was 14 years old. The 46-year-old’s mother inspired her to grow her hair, as also Indian actresses from the 1980s, who had long and beautiful hair.
“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. Long hair enhances the beauty of women,” Smita told Guinness World Records (GWR).
According to GWR, Smita washes her hair twice a week, and then dries it with a towel before detangling and styling it. She has to stand on a bed to detangle her hair, keeping a sheet underneath.
After entering into the record books, Smita posted on social media: “God answered my prayers.” The post had been viewed by more than 3.9 lakh people within hours, besides garnering more than 20,500 likes and scores of comments.