There was an interesting article that I found in a local paper about people with long hair in my state. For anyone living on Oahu, you can find this article in the July 15, 2005 weekend edition of Midweek.

This article is a bit too long for me to type in one sitting, so I'm breaking it up into parts. Sorry! Bracketed comments and spelling errors are by me.

Pretty but Perilous

Hair is both a personal statement and a social symbol, and for some people who can't get enough hair, their theme song is a takeoff on the Christmas classic, 'Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow'

by Linda Dela Cruz

Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there, hair!
Shoulder length, longer (hair)
Here baby, there mama, Everywhere daddy daddy
Hair! (hair, hair, hair, hair, hair)
Flow it, Show it;
Long as God can grow it, My Hair!
--From the song 'Hair' from the musical of the same name that played Broadway from 1967 to 1972

The fairy tale character Rapunzel and Samson from the Bible would agree--people with long hair have their share of perks and problems. Jane Seymour, the star of the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman television show, along with songstress Crystal Gale, are both celebraties with signature long hair. Xie Quiping made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest hair, which when measured on May 8, 2004, was 18 feet and 5.54 inches long. She's been growing her hair since she turned 13 in 1973.

Midweek talked with several women and men about their joys and predicaments.

Barbara Brandold has had quite a few perilous adventures with her pin-straight knee-length hair that she's had since high school. She accidentally leaned into a fan, and her hair wound up in the fan's rotor. It took about two hours to unravel the whole thing.

"And one time I was running to catch an airplane and my hair got caught in a gentleman's button," says Brandvold. "He ended up giving me his button."

Her hair is a bit shorter now, but for a while it was three inches longer than her 5-foot-5-inch height, which caused a problem when it got caught in the back of her shoe.

When she's working at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where she's been a waitress since 1976, she normally wears two French braids that join together at the bottom. Kids sometimes try to get her attention by pulling on her braids, she says.

"The tourists like (my long hair)," she says. "That's the main reason I kept it. They say it's the longest hair they've ever seen. Long hair is so Hawaii."

Tourists like to take photos with her, and she gets lots of compliments and questions from the guests. For example, a bald man sat at her table and gave her a bag. "He said, 'I saved all my shampoo and conditioner for you.'"

Brandvold, a Kapahulu resident, gushes that her husband loves her long tresses. The red, sun-kissed hair grows about an inch a month, and she gets it trimmed every three months. Brandvold, who has been growing her hair since 1976, says she tucks it under the pillow when she goes to sleep. She once donated a foot and a half of hair to children with cancer.

Okay, part 2 coming soon!

I really enjoyed reading this...Thank you for posting. Cant wait for part two!  ;)

You're welcome and thanks, Atlantis Allure!

Um, can one of the mods delete the first "pretty but perilous part 1" topic, posted just before this version? I hit the "Post" button twice on accident. :-/

I wish my hair grew "about an inch a month!"

wrote on Jul 19^th, 2005 at 12:24pm:

I wish my hair grew "about an inch a month!"

Don't we all!!!!  :o My hair would be trailing behind me at this point and I'd need those hair minions we all want.

wrote on Jul 18^th, 2005 at 9:21pm:

"And one time I was running to catch an airplane and my hair got caught in a gentleman's button," says Brandvold. "He ended up giving me his button."

I enjoyed this visual. Buttons from gentlemen (or ladies), another reason to have long hair.

Anais