A Louisiana woman has set the world record for the largest Afro for the third time in 13 years.
Aevin Dugas, 47, started growing her hair in 1999 with the initial intention of promoting the beauty of natural hair.
Dugas says she coveted the Guinness record for longest hair, especially since some cultures historically associate beauty with straight hair.
“I decided not so much to grow an afro as to go natural,” Dugas shared Guinness World Records. “It’s about pride in textured hair that leads to self-love.
“Once I strove to get her straight and now all I want is for it to be big and fluffy.”
Aevin Dugas has broken the Guinness world record for largest afro three times in the past 13 years with her hair now 5’5″ wide
Dugas, from Louisiana, said she wanted to promote the beauty of natural hair by breaking the record and grew up wanting the longest hair record
She started growing the afro hairstyle in 1999, which is now her trademark, although it requires regular trimming and styling to maintain it
In her twenties, she began to admire natural hairstyles that many black women wore as a means of expressing identity and pride.
It was after a failed trip to a hair stylist, she started braiding, perming and coloring her own hair, learning how to cut her hair without much effort before growing her trademark afro.
She recently revealed about her TikTok account, which has nearly 48,000 followers, how a stylist once braided her hair so tightly that even the bottoms of her feet hurt, so she removed the braids within hours.
“From that day on, I knew, ‘You know what? If you want to do your hair, do it yourself—learn it yourself,'” Dugas said.
In 2010, she broke the Guinness world record for the largest afro at 4ft 4in (132cm) in circumference.
Dugas is an advocate for natural hair and has received international recognition for her impressive afro – although she often wears it tied up
Aevin Dugas says, “I decided not so much to grow an afro as to go natural.”
Dugas says she has embraced her natural hair texture and broken the Guinness world record for largest afro three times
Dugas says she strives to promote self-love and pride in textured hair
Eleven years later, in 2021, she broke her own record at almost 157 cm before setting the current record of almost 165 cm in September 2022.
Her record-breaking afro is also over 10 inches long and 10 inches wide.
Even though size is everything, the record-breaking afro still requires frequent trims and a strict styling regimen to maintain.
Her breathtaking looks attract her attention wherever she goes, but it also has its drawbacks, as she often gets caught in trees, car doors, and people’s earrings.
It can also take up to two days to wash and dry and is so big that she has trouble seeing clearly under it – meaning she can’t drive with her ‘hair up’.
To get her hair ready for a night out, she shampoos it and uses up to five conditioners.
She then puts her hair into two French braids and from then on it takes about two days to dry.
But the positives far outweigh the negatives and she has become a hero in her hometown Reserve, about 35 miles west of New Orleans.
Her greatest joy is inspiring young girls to stop using chemical hair straighteners, which can cause long-term damage to hair.
She said, “I don’t know why, but there’s something really important to me about little girls who appreciate my hair and then want to wear the same hair.”
“I tell them there’s nothing I’ve done in particular, there’s no magic formula, we’re born with our hair like this.”
Dugas’ bad experience with a professional hairstylist forced her to take matters into her own hands
Dugas emphasizes that she wears her hair in different styles to adapt to the hot and humid weather in southeastern Louisiana
She gets a mixed reaction from the public, with some people admiring her hair while others make inappropriate comments or try to touch her hair without permission.
Dugas said she began to admire natural hairstyles that many black women wore as a means of expressing identity and pride in her 20s
Aevin was originally inspired by a photo of her mom Deborah Dugas wearing an afro back in the 1960s — and she’s still one of her biggest fans.
Ms Dugas, 72, who runs a care home, said: ‘I’m humbled by the fact that she did this because she liked my natural hair long before she was born.
“It was about half the size of Aevin’s and everyone loved it.”
She added, “Her hair has definitely had an impact on the community.
She made her decision when wearing your hair was considered unattractive in the black community, of course.
But despite that, she started wearing her hair naturally years ago. I’m really proud.’
Dugas commented that she cannot drive while her hair is afro style and thus has to wear it tied up
Dugas learned to cut her hair without much effort and began growing her signature afro in 1999 and broke the record for the world’s largest hair for the first time in 2010
The record-breaking afro requires frequent trimming and styling regimens to maintain
Dugas learned to style her hair herself, which eventually led to the birth of her iconic afro
Sometimes Dugas just chooses to wear dreadlocks in combination with beads
Dugas says she gets a wide range of reactions from members of the public when she lets her afro loose in public with everything from words of admiration to even pulling her hair without asking permission.
“I’ve learned to just nudge them with a few words of your choice that I won’t repeat,” Dugas told Guinness.
While Dugas says she likes that her signature hair helps her become a standout figure in a room, she also wears her hair in several other styles. to survive the scorching Louisiana temperatures.
‘It’s hot. It’s not something you just wear out in the Louisiana heat,” she said.
“When my hair is stretched and squeezed to its full length, it falls to my buttocks. But I don’t wear it like that because it looks weird.’