This Woman Hasn’t Cut Her Hair in 20 Years, and It’s Now 63 Inches Long
Jason Pham
If you’ve been told your hair is long, wait until you see Monika Shah, a 37-year-old woman who claims to hold the record for the longest hair in the United Kingdom. In an interview with The Sun, Shah estimated that she hasn’t cut her hair in nearly 20 years, allowing it to grow to a lengthy 63 inches or 5.25 feet. (If you want a visual, Shah’s hair is taller than celebrities such as Kourtney Kardashian, Hilary Duff, and Lady Gaga.)
As you might expect, living with a mane that long requires some serious maintenance. According to The Sun, Shah washes her hair once a week for an hour. She spends another three hours drying it. To keep her tresses luscious and silky, Shah takes an hour twice a week to apply hair oil from root to tip.
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While she hasn’t had so much as a trim in the past two decades, Shah isn’t complaining. In fact, she estimates that she spends less time on her hair than most women, considering she doesn’t use hair tools and rarely ever styles it. “I haven’t been to a beauty parlor in over 17 years,” Shah said. “I can’t go to the shops without people stopping me to comment on how nice my hair is. It takes a while to wash it, but after that, I don’t have to style it very much.”
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However, Shah’s a long way from beating the Guinness World Record for world’s longest hair, which is currently 5.6 meters or about 18.5 feet. To Shah, it’s all about baby steps. Her next goal is to grow her hair to six feet, which is totally imaginable at this pace. “It grows so quickly, at a rate of about an inch a month,” she said. “I think it is because of my diet. I eat lots of healthy food like vegetables and fruit and nuts.”
Though she’s not a World Record holder (yet), Shah is definitely giving Rapunzel a run for her money. Needless to say, she has long hair and doesn’t care. See photos of Shah’s hair here.
