The Man with the World’s Longest Hair

The Man with the World’s Longest Hair

Although he never got his hair officially measured and acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records, Vietnamese herbalist Tran Van Hay was known as the man with the longest hair in the world.

According to his wife, Tran hadn’t gotten a haircut in over 50 years, after getting seriously sick after cutting his hair, when he was 25 years old. And, in half a century, he only washed it a few times, the last time being 11 years ago.

Tran Van Hay died of natural causes, at the age of 79, at his home in Kien Giang province, after dedicating his life to curing people, for free. His wife, Nguyen Thi Hoa, says Tran’s personality changed completely after he stopped cutting his hair – he became inspired by the local Buddhist monks, and lived a content life, as a herbalist.

At the time of his death, Tran Van Hay’s hair was over 6.8 meters long and weighed around 10.5 kilograms. As impressive as that sounds, the hair was a real problem for Tran, who couldn’t even catch a motorcycle taxi or work as a farmer, because of the giant pile of hair he had to balance on top his head.