At 16 years old, a girl from Gujarat, India, Nilanshi Patel, broke the world record for longest hair on a teenager in 2018.
She had beautiful, long brown locks that measured 170.5 cm (5 ft 7 in) long and, two years later, she grew them even longer, reaching the jaw-dropping length of 200 cm (6 ft 6.7 inches).
That’s when she attained her second record title, longest hair ever on a teenager!
And that was when, to everyone’s surprise, she cut it all off…
It was just before her 18th birthday, and she hadn’t cut it since she was just 6 years old.
That’s 12 years without cutting her hair!
So what made her decide to go for it?
She told us: “All these years, my hair has been my lucky charm. It gave me a lot… now it’s time to give it something back.”
Long story short, she decided to donate her unique hair to a museum, with the hope that it would inspire people to attempt the impossible and shoot for the stars.
By then, her locks weighed 266 g (9.4 oz).
That’s heavier than a hamster.
It was first displayed at Guinness World Records Museum in Hollywood and later, at Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Hollywood museum.
And the good news is that, even though she was nervous at first about such a huge change, Nilanshi ended up loving her shorter hair!
You might be wondering… what is Nilanshi up to today, over two years later? And how long is her hair now? Well, we had lots of questions too!
So we contacted Nilanshi, who is now a busy 20-year-old student with many talents and passions.
“With hard work and dedication, I fulfilled one of my dreams of being an IITian – a student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, which is India’s best university.
“I am also a national-level table tennis player; I like to play musical instruments like the keyboard and harmonium. My biggest passion is dancing, acting and modelling.”
In fact, we discovered that just last year, she was a semi-finalist on Glamanand Supermodel India, a beauty pageant broadcast on TV!
When we asked her what the secret to her success was, she said:
“I have seen many ups and downs in the family, which made me stronger and more passionate about achieving my goals.
“I started believing in myself and [that is how] I have been able to achieve whatever I did until today.”
Even though she has accomplished so many things since then, attaining a world record title is still one of Nilanshi’s favourite memories.
“It was like a dream come true! It brings me pride, satisfaction, and recognition. It is a source of motivation to pursue new goals and challenges in life!”
We love Nilanshi’s way of thinking.
As for whether she will grow her hair that long again…
“Having long hair is such a beautiful and satisfactory feeling, but it came up with a lot of care which was time-consuming. I couldn’t handle it on my own, so my mom was helping me all these years. I want to focus on my other interests and passions and [would like to] break other records!”
Well, even without their record-breaking length, her hair is still stunning.
It is around 45 cm (1 ft 4 in) in length, so still quite long!
Unfortunately, Nilanshi still hasn’t visited Ripley’s museum to see her beloved hair on display: “When I cut my hair, that was COVID time; all the transport and international flights were shut down, so I couldn’t visit then.
“Now, my parents and I are immensely looking forward to the invitation from the museum. [We can’t wait] to be there, see my hair and click pictures with it; I want to finally meet my buddy! Hoping it will happen soon.”
