Asha Mandela is so proud of having the world’s longest locks and ensures she ‘cuddles’ her ‘royal crown’ every day – after 40 years of growth, she swears she will ‘never ever’ cut it
Meet the woman with the world’s longest locks, which she calls her “baby” and “kisses and cuddles” every night.
Asha Mandela, 62, has been growing her hair for more than 40 years and insists that she will “never ever” cut it. The Guinness World Record holder’s hair stretches out to the spectacular length of 19ft and 6.5 inches – three times the size of former England footballer Peter Crouch.
Asha bundles her hair into a sack while wandering around in order to stop it from dragging across the floor, and can’t keep her hair up for more than two hours due to its heavy weight.
Speaking on the Guinness World Record YouTube channel, she said: “I don’t like the term dread locks as I don’t think there’s anything dread about my locks. I refer to my own hair as my royal crown of love or my cobra.”
Asha said that people often assume that her hair is dirty or unhealthy – but she insists it is quite the opposite. She explained she opted for the smaller locks because she knew she wanted to be able to wash her roots with ease.
Plus, she “did not want to walk around with the stigma of people saying it is not clean”. Asha, who is based in the US, spends a lot of time looking after her locks.
She even puts it in a ball and cuddles it at night, while also showering it with kisses. She added: “Number one tip for healthy hair or locks is keeping it clean and loving it or kissing it and showing it much more love.
“My advice to people who have made the decision to grow dreadlocks is to treat it like a plant. If you don’t water it or feed it something it is going to die and not grow properly.”
Asha admits her hair growth process started as a spiritual journey. She commented: “I started having dreams or what others may refer to as visions, where the huge cobra would appear before me and start talking to me, letting me know that I’m the chosen one.
“I met my husband Emmanuel, who is a professional lock stylist from Nairobi, Kenya, and once we met and became one in union, he became my cobra trainer.”
Asha revealed she has no plans to cut her hair any time soon. “It’s never going to happen,” she added.
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