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Eat your heart out, Rapunzel. Professional wigmaker Helen Williams recently set the record for the world’s longest handmade wig.
The hairpiece measures 351,28 metres in length – that’s longer than seven Olympic swimming pools.
Helen, from Lagos in Nigeria, took 11 days to complete the wig.
She spent over 2 million Nigerian naira (R44 600) and used 1 000 bundles of hair, 12 cans of hairspray, 35 tubes of hair glue and 6 250 hair clips.
Helen has been a professional wigmaker for eight years, and typically makes between 50 and 300 wigs per week.
“Finding the materials to make the longest wig was not easy,” she says. “My experience as a wigmaker helped a lot.”
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She also provides classes, in-person and online, to teach people how to make wigs.
“I have trained hundreds of students and have made thousands of wigs,” she says.
But this was her biggest feat by far.
Once the wig was completed, Helen was faced with the challenge of finding the perfect place to lay the wig.
It needed to be laid out in a straight line for accurate measurements. She visited several venues, including running tracks, which were not long enough to accommodate the wig and finally decided to do it beside the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, a long road that connects two cities, Lagos and Abeokuta.
She now keeps the wig in her office, where she invites anyone to come and look at it “whenever they want to”, she says.
Helen grew up reading the Guinness World Records book and now that she's been recognised by the global record-breaking authority, she couldn't be more proud.
“It will take a while for me to digest,” she says.
“This achievement is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I still cannot believe it.”
Despite having such extensive experience, creating the record-breaking wig was a challenge for Helen.
“At some point, I felt exhausted,” she shares.
“However, friends and family encouraged me. I did not want to let them down, so I maintained my focus. The outcome is the longest handmade wig in the world.”
Taking to Instagram, she devoted her record to diligent people.
“I dedicate this to every hardworking person out there who is resilient and refuses to give up on his/her dreams despite the obstacles. Thanks to everyone who supported me, I couldn't have done this without you all.”
SOURCES: GUINNESWORLDRECORDS.COM, BBC.COM, INSTAGRAM.COM, MIRROR.CO.UK, JACARANDAFM.COM, ALLAFRICA.COM
