new thread
MON NGA, Thailand (AP) -- An 85-year-old Hmong tribesman in northern Thailand claims to having the longest hair in the world, with his closest rival being his 87-year-old brother.
Hoo Sateow, officially measured Friday by a judge from the Guinness Book of Records, hasn't shorn a lock on top for almost seventy years. It's now 17 feet 2 inches long.
"I cut it when I was 18 and I got really ill. So I decided I'd never do it again," he said. "Since then, I've been able to call up ghosts to help heal the sick." Fellow villagers in Chiang Rai province regard him as a shaman, or medicine man.
He said he washes his hair just once a year, using fabric cleaner, and dangles it on trellis work to dry it.
His older brother Yi, whose last haircut was in 1957, also bests the current record-holder, an Indian woman whose hair is about 13 feet 8 inches long.
The long hair may look both impractical and uncomfortable, says Hoo, but high in Thailand's cool mountains, it has advantages.
"I just wrap it up here and put my hat on top. It helps keep me warm,' he said.
Hoo says his locks will be cut only when he's dead. The village will then keep them as a totem.
"This is definitely a new record, unless there's somebody somewhere else in the world who's doing something similar with longer hair," said Adam Flinn, the judge for the Guinness record book.
well, that answers my earlier question.... maybe by the time these two die I
might have hair long enough to compete, unless I've maxed out (I haven't
noticed much growith in the past six months, but I've also been trying out
different shampoos and conditioners) it'll be about four years until mine's
touching the floor.
-Coyote Pup