Melo Villareal
This Red Yao Tribe Has the Longest Hair in the World
Huangluo Village, or Huangluo Yao Village, is a recognized village in Guilin City, China. Like other Yao ethnic villages along the Longji Rice Terraces Scenic Area, this village is not well-known for its stunning scenery. Large groups of visitors flock to the village to see the Red Yao women in traditional ethnic clothing and to have their long hair combed.
The villagers, called Hong Yao, wear traditional ethnic clothing in bold red and black, hence their nickname, the Red Yao. This clothing is shown off, especially during the Sun Clothes Festival. The Hong Yao live in pine cabins and thatched cottages.
Long ago, stories and superstitions said that if a man saw an unmarried woman with her hair down, he would have to serve the woman’s family for three years. Now, visitors can see the women comb their long hair from the balcony of these cabins and cottages. The Yao nationality is distributed across China, and the largest population of the Yao people lives in Guangxi Province.
However, this tradition of keeping women’s hair long does not apply to every woman. Some women abandon this tradition, but the elders are accepting and receptive to it.
Local and international visitors can see the village year-round. The best time to visit the Huangluo Village is on the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar. During this day, the Huangluo Village celebrates the Sun Clothes Festival and performs dance compositions in their traditional ethnic clothing. Mother-and-daughter duos, along with other female villagers, perform at least twice a day, depending on the number of tourists. Ticket sales at these performances contribute to the villagers’ livelihood.
Huangluo Village is a two-hour drive from Guilin City. Visitors are advised to take a private vehicle or a coach, as the village lacks convenient, direct public transportation to and from the main city.
Why Is Huangluo Village Called The “Long Hair Village”?
Huangluo Village has made its mark in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the “World’s Longest Hair Village,” with the longest hair recorded in the village at almost seven feet long back in 2004. These long locks are the most prized possession of the women in this village. It is usual for women to have their hair as long as five feet and weigh as heavy as two pounds.
The women of Huangluo Village believe that the length of one’s hair is related to their beauty and the longevity and prosperity of their lives. It is a sacred tradition that has endured for three thousand years.
Can These Women Cut Their Hair?
Throughout a woman’s life, she only cuts her hair once, at her coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen years old. After the woman’s marriage and childbirth, two bunches of hair will be added to her head; one is the cut-off hair from her coming-of-age ceremony, and the other is the hair that falls off her comb every day. Her hair will be worn in a bun, which represents children.
What Is Their Secret to having healthy, long hair?
The women of Huangluo Village wash their hair every three days using fermented rice.
In a large clay pot, rice and water are combined with boiling. Pomelo peels, tea bran, ground fleece flower root, and muddled ginger are added to the mixture. After the mixture has boiled and cooled down, the large particles are strained from a sealed container. This mixture is left to ferment in the sealed container for three to four days.
Aside from the length of their hair, the Red Yao women of the village are famous for their obsidian black hair. Even in their old age, the hair doesn’t turn grey. The shampoo made from fermented rice helps prevent their hair from turning grey and makes the scalp and hair healthier.
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