By Issy Ronald | CNN
Tami Manis is officially all business at the front and party in the back after her mullet, measuring 5 feet 8 inches (nearly 173 centimeters), was confirmed as the longest female one in the world.
The 58-year-old last cut the back of her hair on February 9 1990, according to Guinness World Records.
“A lot of people just notice it when I turn around, so most of the time it’s like they don’t realize how long my hair is until they look at the backside,” Manis said in a video posted by Guinness World Records on Thursday.
“It was the eighties and everybody had a rat tail,” she said, adding that she was first inspired to grow a mullet after watching Til Tuesday’s music video “Voices Carry.”
“The girl had a rat tail and I really wanted one of those,” said Manis.
After initially cutting off her mullet in November 1989, the Tennessee resident immediately regretted it, deciding to grow it out again the following year. Since then, she’s never looked back.
Normally, Manis keeps her mullet braided and when riding her motorbike, she just “tucks the tail” into her pocket.
A friend braids Manis’ hair for her once a week, and the mullet remains like that until she washes it again and dries it with paper towels “because otherwise it would stay wet most of the time,” she said.
Mullets, though normally associated with the 1980s, have a history dating back centuries – even the Greek poet Homer, writing in the “The Iliad” in the 8th century BC, references spearmen with “forelocks cropped, hair grown long at the backs.”
For Manis, it has allowed people to recognize her even from more than 20 years ago, and provided a topic of conversation among her friends and family.
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Last year, she placed second in the “Femullet” division of the 2022 US Mullet Championships and won the accompanying $300 prize, an experience that encouraged her to apply for the Guinness World Record.
After a long process, including filming her hair to show its length, Manis received a package on her front porch informing her of the official record.
“When I opened it, I thought, ‘this is amazing,’” she said.
