There once was a woman who had magnificent long hair, fine as spun ginger, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress called fame and fortune, she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round her body during photo shoots, and started to climb up the ladder in her modeling career.
Darya Gubanova, aka Dashik Freckle, hasn’t had a proper haircut since 2003.
“I have good genes – my Mom and Granny have long hair as well,” Gubanova told RT of her luscious brown hair, which currently measures around 150cm in length.
The woman from Barnaul, Altai Krai in Siberian Russia has clocked up over 140,000 followers on the photo-sharing site Instagram for her long flowing locks, as well as receiving attention from press around the world.
To keep her hair healthy and aid its growth, Gubanova says she has some specific routines, as well as tips for others who would like to have such long hair.
“You should groom your hair, use masks,” she says. “For example, I often use my Granny’s remedies – oils, sour cream. Sour cream is the most nourishing mask, to my mind.”
While her hair currently reaches her calves, Gubanova hopes to continue growing it until it reaches her feet, which she says “will take about three or four years because now it’s not growing as fast as it was before.”
Gubanova says she hasn’t had her “hair cut properly for 13 years,” but does cut it twice a year, removing 10 or 15cm.
Gubanova says it’s been “pleasant” to get all this attention, but there were some downsides.
“They didn’t even conduct an interview with me,” Gubanova explains. “Lots of people say that I’m a fan of the famous cartoon character ‘Rapunzel,’ but I’m not.”
Gubanova still has a long way to go, though, if she wants to take the Guinness World Record for the longest hair.
The current record is held by Chinese woman Xie Qiuping whose hair in 2004 measured a staggering 5.63 meters (18 feet 5.54 inches).
Qiuping hasn't cut her hair since 1973, when she was only 13 years old.