Teen breaks Guinness World Record with hair that’s more than 5 feet long

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA/Gray News) - A Native American teenager says he’s proud to represent his tribe after breaking the Guinness World Record for “longest hair on a male teenager.”

Reuben Looks Twice Jr., 17, has been growing out his hair since he was just 2 years old. He had a fear of hair clippers, so his parents just decided to let it grow. Now, the teenager says he likes having long hair, and he doesn’t plan on ever cutting it, KOTA reports.

“I think it all started when my parents told me to not cut my hair. I saw a lot of people liked it so much; they say, ‘I like your hair’ or ‘Your hair is very long,’” he said.

Looks Twice Jr. was recently named the Guinness World Record titleholder for “longest hair on a male teenager.” His hair measures 5 feet and 3.3 inches. He normally wears it in a long braid, according to Guinness. It takes the teen about 20 minutes to wash his hair, an hour to dry it and 10 more minutes to untangle, brush and braid it.

The 17-year-old says he’s proud to represent the Lakota tribe, and he said he hopes his world record will make his family and tribe proud of him.

“It’s not every day you can call yourself a Guinness World Record holder. It brings a lot of pride to me and, I’m sure, to our home reservation, which is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,” his father, Reuben Looks Twice Sr., said.

Looks Twice Sr. says hair represents strength and connection to their ancestors.

“Lakota tradition says when you grow your hair out and put it in knots and braids, each one of these knots represents a family member, and when you wear it, it gives you strength in whatever you do in life or wherever you go in life,” he said.

He adds that having long hair is a part of his son’s identity.

“It’s part of his identity; it’s who he is, with long hair and stuff like that. So, they’ll see his last name and his long hair, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, that boy is Native American’ or ‘that boy is Lakota,’” he said.

Looks Twice Jr. told Guinness he likes that his hair has inspired others to grow their own hair. The only negative to having long hair, he says, is when it gets stuck in car doors or on shower knobs.

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