The Lo Down: Guinness Book of (Beauty) Records

1.   World’s longest hair

The world’s longest documented hair belongs to real-life Rapunzel, Xie Qiuping from China. At a length of 4.20m, Xie has been growing her hair since 1973 when she was just 13 years old. Known as the ‘Queen of Hair’ in China, it takes her two hours to comb out her locks and five hours to wash her tresses which she does every two weeks. I wouldn’t want her monthly shampoo and conditioner bill.

 2.   Most number of piercings

The world’s most pierced person is Elaine Davidson who was born in Brazil and is currently living in the UK. As of last year, Elaine has been pierced a total of 9000 times with metallic jewellery on her face and body as well as 1500 piercings that are internal. Elaine has said she never removes the rings and studs which are estimated to weigh a total of three kilograms.

 3.   Most extensive coverage of tattoos

Lucky Diamond Rich is the world’s most tattooed man who was declared “100% tattooed” in 2006. His tattoos cover his entire body, including the inside areas of his foreskin, mouth, between his toes, and behind his ears. With no free space on his body, he is now having multi-layering tattooing done where he has white designs tattooed on top of his old tattoos and then coloured tattoos on top of these white ones. In total, he estimates having spent 1500 hours (thus far!) in tattoo parlours.

 4.   World’s largest afro

Aevin Dugas lives in New Orleans in the States and is the proud owner of the world’s largest natural afro with a circumference of 1.32m. It has taken her 14 years to grow it and takes her two days to wash and dry it. Aevin’s afro often gets caught in car doors, trees, and even passerby’s earrings, and because it is so big, she is forced to tie it back every time she drives so that she can see clearly from beneath it. Aevin says she is proud of her hair not only because it is breaking records, but because it is inspiring African women to embrace natural hair and avoid chemical straightening processes.

 5.   World’s longest fingernails

Chris Walton, who stopped cutting her nails in 1993, currently holds the title for the world’s longest fingernails which measure in at a combined 6 metres. Chris’ nails curl in all directions but this doesn’t stop her from cooking, cleaning, using a computer, and even playing the piano.

* Leigh is a beauty, fashion, and lifestyle blogger. Follow her on twitter @Le1ghLo or visit her blog www.Le1ghLo.com.