The village of Huangluo Yao, which resides on the Jinsha River banks, is a mountainous and remote place nearly unreachable until 2002 when the Chinese government decided to launch a ‘tourism reform’ program.
Huangluo Yao is home to the Red Yao people, an indigenous community originating from the Qin Dynasty (Chin). The word ‘Red’ got added to their commune because of the traditional hand-woven red jackets and shirts that women wear during festivals and carnivals. With a population of 600 tribe members making up 78 families, Huangluo Yao villagers have a very particular and famous trait. Since the day they were born, the women have long pitch-black hair that has never been cut. These villagers have been dubbed the real-life Rapunzel’s.
For the women of this village, hair is their most prized possession. They have made their way into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the ‘World’s Longest Hair Village.’ It is usual for girls to have silky black hair that is up to 1.5m long (and weigh about 1kg!), while only a handful has hair around 1.9m. The longest hair recorded in the village was 2.1m long in 2004.
The Yao women have proudly passed on this tradition of growing hair from generation to generation. The secret behind their pitch-black long hair is the simple beauty regime that the natives follow and have been practising for years. They will wash their hair in the river water every day, but they use a unique concoction to rinse their hair on the third or fourth day. This “concoction” contains fermented rice water boiled with pomelo skins (Grapefruit) and tea plant seed oil. The women first rinse their hair with this special “shampoo” and then use a wooden comb to spread the concoction evenly from root to tips. This is the reason why their hair retains its dark colour, with almost zero grey hairs, even at an old age.
For the women of this village, long hair is a symbol of longevity, so the longer the length of your hair is, the longer you are likely to live. In a unique yet strange tradition, the Yao women only cut their hair once in their lifetime, and that’s when they turn 18. Cutting hair here is a rite of passage, implying the girl is of age and ready to marry. The bundle of cut hair is not thrown away; instead, it is kept and tucked back into their hair bun after becoming mothers. This weaved hair bun serves to distinguish married and unmarried women.
Hair also plays a vital role in the indication of the social status of a woman. The unmarried Yao women can be characterised by wearing a black turban, as single women cannot show their hair in public. Another bizarre tradition of theirs until the 1980s is that no man could see a woman’s hair until her wedding day when her husband unveils her beautiful locks. Before the 1980s, men who saw single women’s hair, regardless of their caste or community, would have to stay with the girl’s parents for three years as their son-in-law. Thankfully, that tradition got chucked off.
So the states of their heads are as follows: If you see a woman’s hair wrapped around her head, that means she’s married but has no kids. Finally, if you see a woman wearing a bun on her head, it means she’s married with kids.
Huangluo village has now become a popular tourist destination. The village even has its theatre for tourists, where the Red Yao women, in their traditional red costumes, perform folk dances and songs and narrate the history of their community.
Hair has been a big thing for a lot of cultures. For example, In Hindu tradition, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. Thus at the time of the mundane (Which is one of the 16 ceremonies a child goes through). In this ceremony, the child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future. Shaving the head is also said to stimulate brain and nerve growth, and the sikha, a tuft of hair at the crown of the head, protects the memory.
In Cook Islands tradition, the hair cutting ceremony is a rite of passage for young boys. At these large gatherings, the boy sits on a chair draped with tīvaevae (quilts). As his hair is cut, members of the community plaster the boy with money or other gifts. The custom serves to maintain reciprocal ties within the extended family and community.