The World’s Longest Hair Extension

longest hair extension world record

Thousands of women across the world are big fans of hair extensions, and reach for them whenever they want to add some extra volume to their natural locks. However, staff and students at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College have taken the trend to the next level, and broken the existing world record for the world’s longest hair extension.

Teachers Sally Hathaway, Alison Pannett, Ayeshea Knapp and Rita Trott worked with pupils Ellie Stuart and Anna Watkins to create the extension, which ended up reaching a staggering 361.4 metres in length. The extension was attached to the hair of Sally’s 22 year old daughter, Jade, and measured on stage during The Skills Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

The previous record was held by a citizen in Sydney who wore a 294.49m extension in 2010. Sally, from Portishead, Somerset, commented, “I wanted to attempt this challenge a couple of years ago when the record was 30 metres” and now she has achieved her goals with an extension more than ten times that.

More Harm Than Good?


Whilst the hard work of Sally and her colleagues was all in the spirit of fun, and certainly not intended as an everyday hairstyle, extensions do pose a threat to the health of your hair that many everyday wearers are not aware of.

When hair extensions are worn on a regular basis, they add extra weight and tension to the natural shafts of the wearer’s hair. This tension can cause damage to the follicles, which causes them to produce more fragile, brittle hair, or in more extreme cases stop growing strands altogether. This condition is known as Traction Alopecia. Many celebrities, including actresses Lindsay Lohan and Jennifer Aniston and supermodel Naomi Campbell have experienced thinning hair or receding hairlines as a result of Traction Alopecia from regular extension wear.

Can It Be Treated?


The first step for anyone who has noticed symptoms of hair loss due to Traction Alopecia is to remove the cause of tension from their hair shafts. Whether it's extensions, a tight bun, braids or a weave, your hair cannot recover unless you ditch the cause of the damage. In cases that are caught early enough, this should allow the follicles to repair themselves and grow thicker, stronger hair from now on.

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However, in more long term or badly affected cases, specialist hair loss treatment may be required to stimulate growth, usually using our unique high strength minoxidil 10% azelaic acid cream. If Traction Alopecia has been present for many years (usually signified by shiny bald patches on the scalp where hair has stopped growing) treatment may not be effective, but it may still be worth trying a 3 month programme to see how the hair responds.

The Belgravia Centre has had many years of experience treating all levels of hair loss from Traction Alopecia, as evidenced in our online success stories archives. For more information about how our treatments could work for you, get in touch today.

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The Belgravia Centre

The Belgravia Centre is a world-renowned group of a hair loss clinic in Central London, UK. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation from anywhere in the world for home-use treatment.

View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which includes the world's largest gallery of hair growth photos and demonstrates the level of success that so many of Belgravia's patients achieve.