Lakota teen who set world record with hair says he is proud to represent tribe

A Native American teen who was recently crowned as the teenaged boy with the world’s longest hair says he is proud that he can now represent his tribe and family to a global audience.

“Culturally, Lakota people have long hair,” Reuben Looks Twice Jr said on Friday in an interview published by the website of Guinness World Records, which sanctioned his mark on 7 June after his hair measure 161cm (5ft 3.3in). Invoking the Lakota word for “spirit”, the 17-year-old added: “It’s part of our Nagi. It’s who I am.

“I feel proud to represent my family and the Lakota Nation.”

Reuben told the organization, which is famous for curating a database of 40,000 world records, that he last had his hair cut when he was two years old. His parents initially let him begin skipping trims while growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota, because hair clippers frightened him.

But then, as he got older, he stuck with growing his hair out to honor the tradition of the Lakota. The Lakota, as is the case with many other Indigenous American peoples, consider hair to be a sacred cultural symbol representing the connection with one’s soul, family and community.

Reuben has since mainly worn his hair in a lengthy braid. He maintains the style by washing it every morning for 20 minutes with shampoo and conditioner, according to his interview with Guinness. Then, he dries it for an hour before spending another 10 minutes untangling, brushing and braiding it again.

The teen told Guinness he went to a hair salon to unbraid, wash and brush out his hair when he decided to go for the world record. The salon laid his hair out to find the longest strand, measured three times and the average of the measurements ended up being the official record achieved by Reuben.

He seized the title from India’s Sidakdeep Singh Chahal, whose hair in 2023 was measured to be 146cm (4ft 9.5in).

Reuben revealed his hair is so long that he sometimes gets it stuck in car doors or ensnared on shower knobs. Yet he said he plans to never cut it.

It’s not only because he hopes it leaves “my family and tribe proud” – upon turning 18, he also would qualify for the Guinness record recognizing the man with the longest hair in the world, which as of Friday was vacant.