September 10, 2026
The women in the Huangluo Village of Guangxi, China are famed and record holders in the Guiness World Records as the Long Hair Village. They grow their hair up to 2.1 meters or 6.8 feet and cut it only once in their lives, at age 17 or 18 when they have a "coming of age" ceramony. We visited the village and went to a performance where they showed us their history and customs.
The ladies in the front with the scarfs over their heads are the single ladies, currently of age and awaiting their husbands. The ones behind us are the wives. If they have a bun at the front of their head, they have children and if they don't have a bun, they have not been blessed with children yet, even though they are married.
All the women unvailed their hair at the end of the performance; a rare showing, as generally it is always up and under a scarf. They also have a museum in the village and below shows some of details on some of the ladies, along with their World records and practices. The use a special water to wash their hair that comes from rice and this helps keep the hair strong and dark in color.
We walked around the village and some of the ladies were very persistant in their sales tactics. The prices were so low, I was inclined to indulge them and bought both earrings and a lovely red shawl with hand embroidery that I don't need but I wanted to support them.
After visiting the village we went to lunch at a local place known for the traditional dish of chicken and rice cooked in bamboo.
