Renu Dhariyal, a woman from Uttarakhand, India, has achieved a Guinness World Records title after growing her hair to an extraordinary 271.5 centimeters (8 feet 10 inches).

Her hair is now longer than most people are tall.

Dhariyal’s journey began in 2015, when she decided to stop cutting her hair and let it grow. Nearly a decade later, that decision resulted in a record-breaking transformation. Her enormous length eventually surpassed the previous Guinness record held by Aliia Nasyrova of Ukraine, whose hair measured 257.33 centimeters (8 feet 5.3 inches).

Maintaining hair of this length is far more complicated than simply refusing to cut it. Dhariyal has described a routine built around patience, consistency and careful maintenance. Washing, drying, detangling and managing several meters of hair can take considerable time and effort.

Her achievement is particularly remarkable because Guinness had previously recognized Smita Srivastava, another Indian woman from Uttar Pradesh, for the longest hair on a living person at 236.22 centimeters (7 feet 9 inches) in 2023. Dhariyal’s new measurement represents a substantial increase over that figure.

What began with a simple decision in 2015 eventually became a world record.

Nearly nine feet of hair later, Renu Dhariyal has turned years of patience into one of the world’s most unusual records.