The fairy tale of Rapunzel is usually remembered as just that – a fairy tale. But in the village of Huangluo, China, the Yao women have been maintaining an incredible hair regimen for thousands of years. Believed to symbolize beauty, wealth and longevity, long hair is considered sacred, and women in the village only cut their hair once in a lifetime when they are ready for adulthood and marriage.
Huangluo Village is found in the Longji Scenic Area near the city of Guilin. It is widely known as the “Longest Hair Village”, due to the ancient custom of the Red Yao women, over 200 of whom continue to live there and celebrate it to this day.
“Since ancient times we have believed that long hair is a symbol of beauty,” Pan Yongan, one of the Yao women, explained. The tradition has meant that Huangluo sees year-round tourists, “who will always see long-haired women combing their hair in the village”.
Each year there is a festival in the region, known as the Longji Long Hair Festival. Over 250 Yao women usually come together for it, with people from surrounding villages also participating. As well as the impressive hair, participants dress in traditional costumes, and stand in the river singing the “Long Hair Ballad”.
Growing their hair requires more than just patience. The Yao women have an extensive beauty technique that has been perfected over thousands of years.
“When we are young, we wash our hair with fermented rice water,” Yongan continued. “That’s why we don’t have white hair, even at 80 years old. We add herbs, pomelo peels and tea bran into the rice water, and then boil the water.” This washing process takes place every three days.
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Unmarried girls wear their hair in a spiral on top of their heads. It is wrapped in a scarf which they take off on their wedding night.
The Yao women continue to preserve a now three-thousand-year-old tradition that they consider sacred. They look at the custom as a type of inheritance, bound to be passed on from generation to generation.
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