A Modern Day Rapunzel..?

Soliel185

New Member
A Modern Day Rapunzel..? Could You Handle Hair This Long?

We always see Caucasians or Asians going for the Guinness Record so I thought this was a nice change of pace.


(GEORGE SKENE, ORLANDO SENTINEL / October 18, 2008)
Asha Mandela lets her hair down Friday in Longwood after her dreadlocks were measured at 8 feet, 9 inches. She hopes to win the Guinness record.


Asha.jpg



Nobody has hair like Asha Mandela has hair.

Mandela is to hair what Paul Bunyan is to tall. Her hair is like Medusa on Miracle-Gro.

Mandela's dreadlocks, which she started growing 20 years ago, are longer than she is tall. She cradles her locks in her arms like a baby. She wraps it around her neck like a scarf. She lets it hang down her back and trail behind her like a bridal veil.

Asha Mandela, of Davenport in Polk County, has world-record hair. Or so she hopes.



Mandela has submitted her hair to Guinness World Records as the Longest Dreadlocks, the first entry in a new category. To meet the Guinness requirements, she had to have her three longest locks measured and verified by witnesses.

Ryan Spinella, executive assistant to Longwood's city administrator, was one of them. He watched the unfurling and measuring of Mandela's hair.

"I couldn't say what to compare it with. Just a lot of hair," Spinella said. "You don't believe it until you measure it, really."

The longest of her locks -- which would have been 11 inches longer if she had not accidentally stepped on it and broken a piece off -- was 8 feet, 9 inches long. She carries the broken strand in her purse.

Mandela's hair is impressive. But it's not as long as the tresses of Xie Qiuping, the Chinese woman who set the record in 2004 for the world's longest hair: 18 feet, 5.54 inches. Mandela's dreadlocks are, however, quite a bit longer than the world-record holder for longest leg hair or nose hair.

Originally from Trinidad, Mandela started growing her dreads when she decided to stop using chemicals on her hair while she was living in Brooklyn, N.Y. She cut it all off and, as it grew back, began corkscrewing it into curls that in turn were twisted together into dreadlocks. Before her dreads were long enough to hang down, they stuck out from her head like long black fingers.

She sent her mother a picture. Her mother said not to send any more.

"She said, 'I took such good care of your nice curly hair, and this is what you are doing with it?' " Mandela recalled. "She called it a mop for five years."

Mandela's hair is her pride. It is much like a child she has raised from infancy for 20 years. She even calls it her baby.

But like a child, eight feet of hair is both a blessing and a burden. It takes one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of conditioner every time she washes her hair.

She wrings out the water as you would a wet beach towel. When the days are hot, and she takes it out by the pool in the backyard, it takes two hours to dry. When it's humid and cloudy or cool outside, it might take all day for her wet hair to lose its dampness.

"I try not to have any errands that day," said Mandela, 46. "I used to wash it three times a week. Now I do it once a week. It's very tiring. Sometimes I don't have the energy."

It might take a few weeks before Guinness verifies that Mandela's dreadlocks are world-record worthy. And then she'll have to defend her title against all those other people -- heretofore unknown -- with superdreads. She fears the Rastafarians of Jamaica the most.

She has thought about cutting her hair. But if she becomes the official Guinness Record Holder for the World's Longest Dreads, it would be kind of hard to go back to being just an ordinary person with long hair.

In that respect, Mandela is a prisoner trapped in her own hair.

"As much as I love it, I get frustrated with it," she said. "But then I realize I'd feel naked without it."
 
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Wow!!! Go head, girlfriend!!! That's amazing, and wonderful, and dang but that's gotta be heavy - though I know her head is used to it, after 20 years!
 
WOW. The first thing that popped into my mind was that she better watch out for the Rastafarians too. They don't have the salon dreads we have that are so popular here. They let theirs for naturally usually, even if one sticks up in the middle lol, and let them grow longggggggggg. Most don't use scissors, though it varies. :spinning:

That's AMAZING though. I was thinking that if she stepped on it and it broke off like that, it must have consisted of mostly shed hair at that point, right? Or the hairs left still attached to her scalp couldn't handle that weight. Man.

And I didn't like the line about Medusa on Moe Gro. Why Medusa? :nono: :( ... But hehe whatever, I'm just nitpicking. I like the article.
 
WOW. The first thing that popped into my mind was that she better watch out for the Rastafarians too. They don't have the salon dreads we have that are so popular here. They let theirs for naturally usually, even if one sticks up in the middle lol, and let them grow longggggggggg. Most don't use scissors, though it varies. :spinning:

That's AMAZING though. I was thinking that if she stepped on it and it broke off like that, it must have consisted of mostly shed hair at that point, right? Or the hairs left still attached to her scalp couldn't handle that weight. Man.

And I didn't like the line about Medusa on Moe Gro. Why Medusa? :nono: :( ... But hehe whatever, I'm just nitpicking. I like the article.

:look: Supposedly, the myth of Medusa actually was inspired by a woman with dreads....but yeah, he coulda left that out all the same, as she has nothing but negative connotations now a days.
 
Whats wrong with mentioning mixed heritage?

I don't think there is anything wrong with mentioned mixed heritage, but to say it has something to so with her ability to grow her hair goes against what most believe in Black Hair Board World. I did not read the article, just posting on the comment.

About her hair, I don't care for it. :ohwell: Long dreads - longer than she is tall? :look::ohwell:
 
I didn't know that locks that long were shocking to everyone. I grew up think that locked hair = long hair basically.

I grew up next door to a family that all had knee, ankle and beyond length locks. I think on son only had classic length and that was the shortest. The father had the longest hair, he was a tall man and it dragged behind him on the floor. That's the main reason I thought that way.

Isn't it funny how she has one really long one? Or at least it looks like that in the pic.

Good for her :yep:
 
WowWowWow!!! That's some loong hair!! I hope she wins. I think it would be even more exciting if others with dreads chimed in to challenge her though...Now THAT would knock the myth out the door.
 
WOW! I was expecting to see that Asian lady and started to by pass this. I know a Rasta who has had his locs for 22 years and they're just ankle length. She must be really taking care of her locs. He keeps his wrapped around his head, so how's that for protective styling! Thanks for sharing this!
 
I didn't know that locks that long were shocking to everyone. I grew up think that locked hair = long hair basically.

I grew up next door to a family that all had knee, ankle and beyond length locks. I think on son only had classic length and that was the shortest. The father had the longest hair, he was a tall man and it dragged behind him on the floor. That's the main reason I thought that way.

Isn't it funny how she has one really long one? Or at least it looks like that in the pic.

Good for her :yep:

Just saw this after I posted...exactly. I've seen locs that drag the floor but not like hers!
 
my question is....what's up with that one long loc....when will the others catch up?

honestly, idk if i'm shocked. dreads are mostly shed hair, she she probably grew right through her terminal length until the growth phase started back or somethin...i guess:look:
 
I didn't know that locks that long were shocking to everyone. I grew up think that locked hair = long hair basically.

I grew up next door to a family that all had knee, ankle and beyond length locks. I think on son only had classic length and that was the shortest. The father had the longest hair, he was a tall man and it dragged behind him on the floor. That's the main reason I thought that way.

Isn't it funny how she has one really long one? Or at least it looks like that in the pic.

Good for her :yep:

I agree with the bolded:yep:
 
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