Chinese women who only get their hair cut twice in their lives and eat shampoo (6 photos)

In China, there's a "small" (by Chinese standards, of course!) people, or whatever they call it: an ethnic group, in which all the women have incredibly long hair. Because they're only allowed to cut it twice in their lives.





Oh, how beautiful!

These people, from the Red Yao ethnic group, live in the mountain villages of southwest China. They're very easy to distinguish from any other ethnic group; everyone there has hair almost two meters long. And you've probably already guessed that a woman is allowed to cut her hair upon marriage or after her first childbirth. But no! Status has nothing to do with it. Girls here get their hair cut at 100 days of age and when they turn 18.



I think it's a show-off for tourists.

As a result, the hair of women aged 60 and older grows to at least a meter in length, and for some, even more than two meters. This is because there is a large ethnic group called the Yao, but the Red Yao used to be different from them. Besides their hair, their women always wear red cloaks, hence the name "Red Yao." Also, women here don't wear trousers, only skirts with black patterns; the dress code is quite strict. This small ethnic group had an estimated population of 35,000, most of whom prefer to live close together and preserve their traditions.





Rapunzel, Rapunzel, lose your hair

That's why their village of Huangluo on Longji Mountain was included in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2002 as home to the "largest group of long-haired women." A thousand years! They've been doing it for a thousand years, if not more. The tradition of cutting hair dates back to the Song Dynasty (960–1279), when people believed that hair symbolized longevity and wealth. And you wouldn't cut off your own wealth and life, would you?



There are so many of them here, and no one rebels.

And the weather here is perfect for beautiful hair. The climate is mild, the water is clean, and hair is in excellent condition afterward. And thanks to natural remedies, the locals' hair practically never turns gray. They also make their own hair shampoo, from berries and yeast, so if you're hungry, you can even eat it without any problem (and it's good for you). So women have beautiful hair by default. Just like in Rus' before, among the Red Yao, a woman's status can also be determined by her hairstyle.



See the bun in front? They have children.

This is how married women who already have children wear a bun on their foreheads. Married women without children are not allowed to wear such a bun, and unmarried girls hide their hair under a piece of black cloth (and who knows how exactly they braid it). It's also customary to complement their hairstyles... with the hair you cut off when you were 18! Moreover, they carefully gather the fallen hair and form it into a second bun for a beautiful hairstyle, making it look even more impressive.



Notice the little girl in the headscarf; her hair is hidden.

The traditions have been preserved so well because until the 1980s, no proper road led here. It wasn't until the 1990s that the outside world began to visit as tourists (of which there are many now).