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- Dancer Rin Kambe (41) from Tokyo, Japan, moved to the US to study dance after retirement.
- Since she was 26, Rin has regularly studied dance in Los Angeles and New York and Buddhist dance form "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo."
- As a child, Rin kept her hair short, she only started growing her hair out in her twenties
Rin before she started growing her hair. All images courtesy: mediadrumimages.com/@rin_rapunzel/Magazine Features
About 15 years ago, dancer Rin Kambe (41) from Tokyo, Japan, started considering dance seriously. She had dyed her hair and decided to cut away the dyed part and started growing her hair.
Her hair became her standout feature when Rin was a pole dancer at a club in New York.
Rin grew out her hair as the men who came to watch her dance appreciated the Japanese significance of her hair in her routine
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"My hair is straight, black, and I like the fact that my hair can express the beauty of Asia. And I also like that it gives me courage. Dancing among women of all nationalities, I began to think about beauty as a Japanese person to shine in my way," she says.
"Japanese hairstyle has a history of changing as society changes. Among them, I am aiming for the hairstyle of a princess in the Heian period. In those days, the longer the straight hair with black long hair, the more beautiful it was."
Rin's hair is a nightmare to take care of and causes her all kinds of problems regardless of its beauty.
"To maintain my hairs beauty and health, I have balanced meals, sleep enough, and exercise," she says.
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She washes her hair twice a week and does a lot of treatment.
"I have heard that hair tends to get damaged when it is wet, so after washing, I dry it quickly by blowing air. It takes a lot of time to dry, and after that, I spend a lot of time and care carefully," she shares.
"Like the bathroom, changing clothes, eating noodle soup, I even hesitate to walk or sit outside. Once I was in a movie theatre, I was putting hair bun on my head, and the people in the back protested that they could not see the screen. After that, I started to make hair bun with my hair as low as possible."
Rin gets a lot of attention from men because of her hair.
"Usually, when people see my hair, their first reaction is 'is the hair real?'," she says. "There are men in the world who appreciate it, and they call me a princess or queen. But there are also people who think it is the monster of hair."
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Rin believes that natural hair leads to maximum self-expression and is very happy when people (men and women alike) enjoy seeing her dance show.
"Before the corona epidemic, I was doing a dance show for foreign visitors to Japan, where they could feel the uniqueness of Japan. I created a show called "Japang Dance Show," which is based on Japanese folklore," she says.
"It is my long hair that showed the unique beauty of Japan and incorporated it into a dance show. I want to become a performer who likes to give to enjoy for audiences with my long hair."
Now that her hair has grown to to 203cm, she spends £100 (R2 059) on hair care products a month to maintain her it.
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CREDIT: mediadrumimages.com/@rin_rapunzel/Magazine Features
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