Girl sells hair for £3000, buys family a new house now has dream life

[Paranda Belle]

Another long hair article from the daily fail that may or may not interest lhcers.

There are a few things that strike me as odd in it - apparently it took her 1.5 hours every day to brush it and she had never had it cut. But she has bangs / a fringe that must have meant she cut her hair at some point. I also don't see how having long hair can prevent a person from learning English.

I've nothing against someone cutting their hair and selling it it if they want to, but she doesn't look too happy in the after photo.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2135505/Ive-got-freedom-Real-life-Rapunzel-sold-hair-3-000-buy-family-house-living-dream-life.html

[Amber_Maiden]

I can definitely see how it could have taken her an hour and a half to brush her hair, each day. It takes me about half an hour to brush mine, sometimes, because of how thick it is. The girl also seems to have pretty thick hair as well.

I remember someone posting a link to the article about how she was going to cut her hair. I could never understand why her hair prevented her from going to the beach... why not just put it up???!

[Cupofmilk]

But I have to say she. Had the most beautiful head of hair. The length and curls are an amazing combination

[DaniVerde]

I also don't see how having long hair can prevent a person from learning English. l (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2135505/Ive-got-freedom-Real-life-Rapunzel-sold-hair-3-000-buy-family-house-living-dream-life.html)

Maybe the family wasn't in the financial place to pay for English lessons, and now they are?

[afu]

i remember seeing the original article posted on here before she had it cut, i just don't understand why she couldn't put it up if it stopped her doing things!

[Madora]

Maybe the family wasn't in the financial place to pay for English lessons, and now they are?

Exactly!

She lives in an impoverish area.

[Jing]

She doesn't look happy in any of the photos. I think it's party because of her eye shape. Honestly I'm not that impressed by her length after seeing that group shot (in another thread) where one of the women had her hair braided and looped around her neck and it still reached the ground. Very thick and lovely texture, though!

Wait, she's 12? She not not look 12.

[MonaMayfair]

Am I the only one who laughed at a lot of this? Couldn't put the fan on as her hair would get caught in it??
Why not just braid it?
And if it took me one and a half hours to comb my hair every day, I'd be glad to be rid of it, that's ridiculous!

[whitedove]

I hope they brought her a tangle teaser :)

[WaitingSoLong]

I don't see why it kept her playing with her friends? Surely she could braid it? Loop it back once and tie it? And yes, she could really be 12. My daughter is 13 and it is scary how grown up they all looked at 12. Some looked like full grown women. And I think by never been cut, she just meant the length.

Beautiful hair. I cannot believe it was worth that much $ though.

[MonaMayfair]

I don't see why it kept her playing with her friends? Surely she could braid it? Loop it back once and tie it? And yes, she could really be 12. My daughter is 13 and it is scary how grown up they all looked at 12. Some looked like full grown women. And I think by never been cut, she just meant the length.

Beautiful hair. I cannot believe it was worth that much $ though.

She looks 12 to me. Most 12 year old could pass for 15, 16 or older, I certainly could when I was 12 (and frequently did when I could get away with it)

[spidermom]

In order to braid it or put it up, you have to know how. She probably didn't.

She looks adorable with the new style. Hair is a great renewable resource. She can grow it out and sell it again if she wants.

[Merlin]

I liked the fact that in the mind of Mail this story was only slightly less important than a dissident being buried alive in Syria but both were far far less important that the colour of a suit worn by one of the Royal Family!

[Henrietta]

This article irritated me almost as much as the first one, which appeared a few weeks ago. I really do not like the idea of presenting hair as something that makes you a slave and you can barely walk. Braid it and put it up, end of problem. I can see that combing can be a pain, and time of drying too, with so thick hair, but swimming, riding a bike...? We have LHCers with longer hair doing sports, right?

[MonaMayfair]

This article irritated me almost as much as the first one, which appeared a few weeks ago. I really do not like the idea of presenting hair as something that makes you a slave and you can barely walk. Braid it and put it up, end of problem. I can see that combing can be a pain, and time of drying too, with so thick hair, but swimming, riding a bike...? We have LHCers with longer hair doing sports, right?

This is why it made me laugh. The whole tone of the article was silly (but it IS the Daily Mail of course!)

[MonaMayfair]

Although.....
I don't know if anyone else is familiar with the writings of Colette.

She had a half sister called Juliette who had ankle length very thick black hair which was regarded by everyone as an affliction. It stopped her living a normal life in just this way.
Colette had very long hair too, but not super thick. There's a great photo of her at about 13 with nearly ankle length braids.
Another nice one is from when she was newly married at age 20, with one long braid down to the floor.
She cut her hair when he got married to her first husband Willy. It was his idea. Her mother was livid!

[woolyleprechaun]

Very odd article. I realy cant see why they are portraying her hair as almost a disability! Although I do love Daily Fail articles, they are always good for a laugh or ponder.....;)

[trolleypup]

Beautiful hair. I cannot believe it was worth that much $ though.Presumably sold to a private buyer who said it was for "extensions".

[henné]

I wanna sell my hair for that much money tooooooo! :D

PS: I didn't actually read the whole article. :o

[Carrie Ingalls]

Beautiful hair. I cannot believe it was worth that much $ though.
Perhaps part of why it sold for so much was because of the publicity her story was getting.


She doesn't look happy in any of the photos. I think it's party because of her eye shape.
This exactly.


In order to braid it or put it up, you have to know how. She probably didn't.
This is what I gathered, and I could see it taking a crazy amount of time to brush if you always wear it down (which is what the article made it sound like she did) and depending on the "tools" you had to use.

[Paranda Belle]

Maybe the family wasn't in the financial place to pay for English lessons, and now they are?

Admittedly I didn't think of that. But the way it was written it was if her hair prevented her from going to school to learn English.

[Paranda Belle]

Although.....
I don't know if anyone else is familiar with the writings of Colette.

She had a half sister called Juliette who had ankle length very thick black hair which was regarded by everyone as an affliction. It stopped her living a normal life in just this way.
Colette had very long hair too, but not super thick. There's a great photo of her at about 13 with nearly ankle length braids.
Another nice one is from when she was newly married at age 20, with one long braid down to the floor.
She cut her hair when he got married to her first husband Willy. It was his idea. Her mother was livid!


That sounds interesting. Where is that from?

[MonaMayfair]

That sounds interesting. Where is that from?

I can't remember, I've read all her books and all the books that have been written about her. It was probably in "My Mother's House"
She was my favorite author when I was 13 or 14.
A lot of her books are autobiographical or semi autobiographical.
Anyway, she had a very fascinating life! Her full name incidentally, was Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.

[MandyBeth]

Also being ignored is cultural differences. She's in a highly impoverished area that may as well be a third world region.

How many here didn't take good care of our hair prior to this site? The vast majority of us are far better off than this girl. Yet we made similar mistakes, not putting hair up and not knowing how to wash thick, heavy hair.

It's only hair.

[MissHair]

She is so young. Her hair is going to grow back in no time, seriously. Im happy about her decision!

[Beatnik Guy]

I liked the fact that in the mind of Mail this story was only slightly less important than a dissident being buried alive in Syria but both were far far less important that the colour of a suit worn by one of the Royal Family!
Uh huh. And, as we all know, whatever is in the Daily Mail is always entirely the truth!! :rolleyes:

Presumably sold to a private buyer who said it was for "extensions".
Uh huh. :uhh:

[Laylah]

That is wonderful that she got a house! I would do the same as she did... after all, her hair will grow back without much effort, just a lot of time. But a dry roof and comfy bed is worth more than long hair for most people!

[longcurlygirl<3]

Maybe she couldn't braid? She seems to live in an improvished area so education is very low? If she is happy that's all that matters. Probably my hair would look like that 0_0 amazing length though!

[longcurlygirl<3]

That is wonderful that she got a house! I would do the same as she did... after all, her hair will grow back without much effort, just a lot of time. But a dry roof and comfy bed is worth more than long hair for most people!


Agreed! And maybe this was the blessing of growing it out :)

[Madora]

Maybe she couldn't braid? She seems to live in an improvished area so education is very low? If she is happy that's all that matters. Probably my hair would look like that 0_0 amazing length though!

I rather doubt she was that ignorant.

[jacqueline101]

Her hair is lovely and I didn't think you could sell hair.

[Long_hair_bear]

While I'm sad that her hair is now shorter than mine, I fully understand why she cut it. Makes me cringe alittle though. What a gorgeous head of hair!

[jeanniet]

Presumably sold to a private buyer who said it was for "extensions".
Exactly what I was thinking.

I don't think being poor means you're so uneducated you don't know how to braid. That part doesn't make sense at all. Even impoverished areas now have access to the internet, and youtube, but even without that, someone in her entire neighborhood must know how to braid!

[julliams]

I'm surprised at the amount it sold for. I would not have thought hair could be sold for that much. Also it said $5000 in the title and $9000 in the text - hmmm.

[TheBluffs]

Exactly what I was thinking.

I don't think being poor means you're so uneducated you don't know how to braid. That part doesn't make sense at all. Even impoverished areas now have access to the internet, and youtube, but even without that, someone in her entire neighborhood must know how to braid!
Or even the logic of tying the hair with a string. :confused:

[MandyBeth]

Exactly what I was thinking.

I don't think being poor means you're so uneducated you don't know how to braid. That part doesn't make sense at all. Even impoverished areas now have access to the internet, and youtube, but even without that, someone in her entire neighborhood must know how to braid!

Having been to Brazil plus what I understand from friends, the areas like the girl lives in have very limited internet if any.

Add in very minimal and basic education.

Add in quitting school young to work.

Then the basic fact that English is a VERY hard language to learn.

Her lack of LHC standard of care is pretty understandable.

A friend grew up eating ONE small to US standards meal every two days. He was eating less than what many see as an appetizer, yet he says he was far better off than this girl.

I can't say what she did was so horrible because I know how bad off my friend was and he says he was better off. I've done post Katrina clean up and I was better off then than how he grew up. There is NO way I can dream how bad off this family is.

[teela1978]

I'm surprised at the amount it sold for. I would not have thought hair could be sold for that much. Also it said $5000 in the title and $9000 in the text - hmmm.

I'm pretty sure that was B$9000 - brazilian dollars. The conversion isn't quite 1:2 so it's probably about right.

[Toadstool]

That's wonderful- that she can make such a differenc to her and her family's lives, just by selling her hair.
If mine were that long and I could buy a house from selling it, I'd sellit in a heartbeat.

[kwaniesiam]

The price doesn't surprise me at all. For curly, virign hair in that color/ethnicity and length private wig and extension makers would pay top price. Most extension hair comes from India or China and needs a lot of processing to be made in to various textures and colors, by eliminating the processing required to get the color and curl pattern you can sell it for better prices as the hair is less damaged and lasts longer. Naturally blonde and red hair fetches the highest prices of all.

[AnqeIicDemise]

I don't understand how she can't braid either. I understand the lack of 'lhc education' but someone, even in a shanty town, should know how to braid hair.

I've been in really impoverished towns where dirt floors were common, people still went out into the woods to relieve themselves and roofs had to be replaced often because they had no solid material. Hell, you were considered superbly rich if you had corrugated plastic as roofing... and women knew how to braid their hair. I'm talking about teeny tiny little dots in the map locations where Spanish was not even a language anybody spoke in a predominantly Spanish speaking country.

-shrug-

I think it was part lack of education and sensationalism at its best.

[WaitingSoLong]

I rather doubt she was that ignorant.


Or even the logic of tying the hair with a string. :confused:

Agreed. Being uneducated and being stupid are two different things. Poor people are not stupid. They have the same common sense anyone else has and IN FACT are even more resourceful since they have to make do with what they have. If braiding was just an unheard of concept and something as simple as tying with a string couldn't be fathomed, WHY ON EARTH did she not cut her hair? Does her whole village have this length of hair because no one has heard of scissors? come on. Not buying it.


Her lack of LHC standard of care is pretty understandable.

I don't think anyone was saying she lacked LHC standard. Just simple braiding/hair securing common sense.



I think it was part lack of education and sensationalism at its best.

THERE we go.

[UpNorth]

I learned how to braid a regular english braid when I was five, by myself. However, even if you were by all means stupid you must in some way be able to find a way to put your hair up. It isn&#180;t rocket science:)

[Ishje]

just wondering, but are the waves we see in the picture not braid waves?

braiding is so easy to learn, I am really quite sure that wealth has nothing to do with that.
I really think it is a basic thing that is known everywhere.

of course, I think it is fine she cut her hair, but the way the article is written makes it so dramatic.
no fan because of the hair? that is so silly XD

[Madora]

just wondering, but are the waves we see in the picture not braid waves?

braiding is so easy to learn, I am really quite sure that wealth has nothing to do with that.
I really think it is a basic thing that is known everywhere.

of course, I think it is fine she cut her hair, but the way the article is written makes it so dramatic.
no fan because of the hair? that is so silly XD

Her hair displays the results of years of braiding...just like photographs of Victorian women on Rapunzel's Resource. Her hair has wavy/curly tendencies..but those are definitely braid waves from years of plaiting.

Hair of that length and beauty is the result of care and confinement of some kind. And I don't buy for an instant that it took such a long period of time to brush her hair.

[Mesmerise]

I learned how to braid a regular english braid when I was five, by myself. However, even if you were by all means stupid you must in some way be able to find a way to put your hair up. It isn´t rocket science:)

Yeah, I can't remember when I learned an English braid, but I taught myself to French braid just by studying someone else's hair when I was 7 or 8 (in Grade 3 anyway)... My mum didn't have a clue how to do anything, so I had to learn it all for myself! I did my own hair at an age when most girls had their mum doing it, I guess (mum really couldn't do much more than a low ponytail or pigtails... she never ever had long hair!).

So yeah, I don't buy that the family "couldn't turn a fan on" cause her hair could get stuck in it. Or she couldn't ride a bike, or play with friends :confused:. Even hair that long can be braided and bunned and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that stuff out!

I agree it looks like braid waves in her hair, so it seems as if a lot of the details of the story were just made up to over dramatise! I love long hair, but if it impeded my ability to live a normal life, I'd cut it to a more sensible length (not that it would :p).

[Tia2010]

Why not just say, " I had really long hair.... I found out I could make some cash and BAM no more hair." Stop with the stories of we can't turn on a fan and it takes four hours to wash :rolleyes:

Nothing wrong with just wanting the cash. :)

[christiner]

I think she is lovely, long hair or not.

some of the comments on here are surprising me. she's 12. she didn't write the article.

[GenLove86]

wow good for her and her family! She doesn't look too upset I think. She probably only cut her bangs. I wonder if they did any cool braids for her to help keep her hair out of the way? Maybe they didn't know how?

[didrash]

A 40 cm BOB??? Her hair is past shoulder and they call it a bob. This article has no credibility whatsoever to me.

[lolot]

from knee to beyond wasnt looking very good for my taste
i think is an exaggerated article, like the beach or others like if she had a mechanical arm or something, i mean is hair that she could putted up!

[heidi w.]

Well, now that her hair is gone, and she bought them a house, what's the plan for paying for the bills? One assumes they have an electric and/or gas bill. In the US you have to pay for water, waste water (which isn't overly much) and garbage. I've no idea what bills apply in her region, but something must apply. I'd be curious to know the Plan.

It's not as though she has more hair to sell. LOL

This woman was featured a while back, a number of months ago in the Daily Fail, and a lot of people then thought it was a bunch of hullabaloo. I still wonder. Look, it doesn't take 1.5 hrs to bruch or comb long hair, even thick and slightly wavy. It doesn't take 4 hours to wash this hair. UNLESS maybe it's all prep work as in carrying buckets of water from the town well. But washing it, literally, doesn't take 4 hours. When you have hair this long, you get kinda good at figuring out stuff that was previously figured out. Such as this kid said she wasn't free to do a lot of stuff because of her hair length, and had to sit and not participate. Had they never heard of braids or updos? Really? It isn't that hard to figure out. A 12 year old can figure it out, for sure, to braid it, at least. If Mom was doing all this help, why she didn't figure out braids, I have no idea. But it's kind of weird.

Just my thoughts. I wonder that this is a story exagerrated to some extent?

heidi w.

[BeckyAH]

Heidi, as much as I agree with the rest of the points, I suspect that having a roof over their head that is paid for makes all the difference. I say that not because I think it's necessarily perfect or that there may not be issues, but because frankly - I don't have a mortgage or rent anymore, and my UTILITIES are my only expenses. That dropped the amount of money required for us to live to less than half.

[Othala]

I applaud her for helping herself and her family in the only way she could, but I am sorry to see her beautiful hair shorn.

If I was a millionaire I would have paid her three grand to keep her hair long.

[heidi w.]

Heidi, as much as I agree with the rest of the points, I suspect that having a roof over their head that is paid for makes all the difference. I say that not because I think it's necessarily perfect or that there may not be issues, but because frankly - I don't have a mortgage or rent anymore, and my UTILITIES are my only expenses. That dropped the amount of money required for us to live to less than half.

I wasn't aware clearly that the hair bought a house outright. I'm sure things are far different financially where she lives, and I do applaud her effort for helping her family out. And here we have kids who won't clear their place after a meal.

Stuff we just don't know and probably never will. If I didn't have a mortgage, I could fairly easily make it on $1000 a month, so I see your point very well.

heidi w.

[WaitingSoLong]

everything I read said the money was a down payment on a house

[Madora]

everything I read said the money was a down payment on a house

And yet, the first time this story was posted, it was reported she was going to have her bedroom made over...which made absolutely no sense to me because given the limited income in her family, you'd think she'd help them out...which apparently is just what she's done, according to this latest release.

But one still has to wonder, if the money is only a downpayment, how on earth is her family going to afford to pay the balance? If they live in a "shanty town" as the article indicated, money has to be in very short supply...especially so if she's living with extended family.

[Othala]

Her hair displays the results of years of braiding...just like photographs of Victorian women on Rapunzel's Resource. Her hair has wavy/curly tendencies..but those are definitely braid waves from years of plaiting.

Madora, do you think braid waves/braiding damages hair at all?

[Madora]

Madora, do you think braid waves/braiding damages hair at all?

Speaking from over 40 years of braiding, no, I don't think braid waves or braiding is damaging to your hair, PROVIDED, however, that you don't braid tightly or braid all the way to the ends.

Also, if one favors a particular braided style, then it is a healthy thing to vary the position/place of the braid so you aren't braiding in the same "spot" time after time.

And of course it's always a good idea to be careful when removing any elastics at the end of the braid. Don't just pull them off.

[Thinthondiel]

Presumably sold to a private buyer who said it was for "extensions".

If someone offered me that amount of money for my hair, I'd shave it off in a second and let them have it, no matter what they were planning on doing with it.

[Tisiloves]

Once again the Daily Fail exibits seriously questionable journalism. Quelle Suprise.

[Beatnik Guy]

Once again the Daily Fail exibits seriously questionable journalism. Quelle Suprise.

The Daily Mail song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI) comes to mind. ;)

[jeanniet]

She's a child of the favela (slums). "House" is a relative term. I doubt they're living in anything like the average American house.

[PurplePenguin]

Her hair was really lovely but I am glad she was able to make some money from it.

[jeanniet]

Having been to Brazil plus what I understand from friends, the areas like the girl lives in have very limited internet if any.

Add in very minimal and basic education.

Add in quitting school young to work.

Then the basic fact that English is a VERY hard language to learn.

Her lack of LHC standard of care is pretty understandable.

A friend grew up eating ONE small to US standards meal every two days. He was eating less than what many see as an appetizer, yet he says he was far better off than this girl.

I can't say what she did was so horrible because I know how bad off my friend was and he says he was better off. I've done post Katrina clean up and I was better off then than how he grew up. There is NO way I can dream how bad off this family is.
I lived in Rio for a year, and my parents lived there for six years (and have visited many times since), so I have some familiarity with the culture. The article did say that she attends school, so while she might be a favela kid, she's not likely to be a street kid, and from what I understand, there is at least some computer access in schools. The street kids do have it very tough--very, very tough--which isn't to say she doesn't, but at least she's in school at this point.

But I agree with you that if selling her hair helps to buy her family a better standard of living, more power to her. I just think the article itself is misleading. There's just no way everything in it is true.

[Thenolegirl]

This article seems strange to me...Not all the facts are quite right. The last comment she made was really strange how she would nickname her daughter Snow White as it would "be more practical" ?

I doubt the stuff about her not living a normal life with long hair.

[Merlin]

There are videos of this on Youtube - guidelines prevent linking to cutting videos so you'll have to use your Youtube-Fu to find them. They look like they're from a TV program - if you're in the UK think "The ONE Show"

There are clips of what we can assume is the inside of her current house (I don't speak Portugese so they may not be) but the house she's in seems far from a shack to me even if it's not large.

[Othala]

Speaking from over 40 years of braiding, no, I don't think braid waves or braiding is damaging to your hair, PROVIDED, however, that you don't braid tightly or braid all the way to the ends.

Also, if one favors a particular braided style, then it is a healthy thing to vary the position/place of the braid so you aren't braiding in the same "spot" time after time.

And of course it's always a good idea to be careful when removing any elastics at the end of the braid. Don't just pull them off.

Thank you very much for your response and advice, Madora.

I was cringing when reading your words as I braid right to the ends and pull off the elastics. I did not even consider that I might be damaging my hair :(. Silly me.

[Mesmerise]

This woman was featured a while back, a number of months ago in the Daily Fail, and a lot of people then thought it was a bunch of hullabaloo. I still wonder. Look, it doesn't take 1.5 hrs to bruch or comb long hair, even thick and slightly wavy. It doesn't take 4 hours to wash this hair. UNLESS maybe it's all prep work as in carrying buckets of water from the town well. But washing it, literally, doesn't take 4 hours. When you have hair this long, you get kinda good at figuring out stuff that was previously figured out. Such as this kid said she wasn't free to do a lot of stuff because of her hair length, and had to sit and not participate. Had they never heard of braids or updos? Really? It isn't that hard to figure out. A 12 year old can figure it out, for sure, to braid it, at least. If Mom was doing all this help, why she didn't figure out braids, I have no idea. But it's kind of weird.

Just my thoughts. I wonder that this is a story exagerrated to some extent?

heidi w.

To be fair, it used to take a good 45 minutes to brush/comb my daughter's hair when it was waist length (and she was only 4/5 years old, so waist on her would probably not be BSL on an adult) because of how it would tangle. So, yes, I could imagine that it would take 1.5 hours to detangle hair of that length, especially if she wore it loose for any length of time (the time it took to do my DD's hair was straight after washing - and yes, I used conditioner... a lot... and let it soak in conditioner for several minutes to facilitate detangling!!).

I don't know how it'd take 4 hours to wash... but bear in mind without running water (which they may not have had) it wouldn't be as simple as just doing it in a shower? Maybe the 4 hours included drying/detangling time though?

The rest of the article (ie not being able to use a fan, or ride a bike or blah blah sounds like hogwash to me though...often impoverished people are very good at doing hair!!! They learn how to style long hair because they often don't have access to good hairdressers and stylists, and therefore end up with long hair... her family would also know how to deal with long hair... so I don't buy a lot of that stuff).

[Mesmerise]

This article seems strange to me...Not all the facts are quite right. The last comment she made was really strange how she would nickname her daughter Snow White as it would "be more practical" ?

I doubt the stuff about her not living a normal life with long hair.

As in Snow White doesn't have long hair so it's easier to care for than Rapunzel's :D. Call your daughter Snow White and she can be a princess without exceptionally long locks!

[Bagginslover]

I think she is lovely, long hair or not.

some of the comments on here are surprising me. she's 12. she didn't write the article.
This.

The way I read it, she couldn't go out and learn English because she didn't go out much as she was afraid someone would cut it off (which, from others experiences here, we know does happen). I'm sure money was a factor in that too, but the article actually says she was afraid. Same for going out to play with her friends.

Her hair look VERY thick, and with those waves, if she wore it down fo any length of time before brushing it, I can easily see it taking that long to brush carefully. You also have to remember that though long, its probablt not in tip top condition, as I doubt she would have been able to afford conditioners, oils etc, so it would be grabby and tangle at the ends, making it that much harder to brush.

4 hours to wash, including drying time (because most non-LHC people include drying as part of washing in my experience)....that seems fast to me! But then she is living in a much warmer climate to me......

Good for her I say, she has done a wonderful, selfless thing for her family.

[Othala]

I have just watched a Brazilian video about this girl on YouTube which shows the following:

~ She has a small but very nice bedroom
~ She has a computer
~ Her mother combs her hair with a wide tooth comb
~ Her hair is blow-dried and then braided
~ She does not seem to like the attention
~ Her friends are shown fiddling with her hair (grrr)

It looks like she lives in a lower middle class area, not a poor deprived area, but I have no idea about social standards in Brazil.

This video also shows another woman with very long hair. There is no hair-cutting in the video but both the girl and the woman are taken to a wig shop and it looks like their hair is being evaluated for quality.

If you want to watch the video, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8GdjfUYm3Y&feature=related

[CharleaMurphy]

I can't stand her fringe!
I just want to go up and yank it of, ick it's hideous :(

[Bene]

I think she didn't learn English because she doesn't live in a predominately English-speaking country, and learning a foreign language in a poor area doesn't rank high in the list of priorities. For something like that (to learn an extra language to a proficiency level), it takes disposable income, which her family obviously didn't have. The hair didn't prevent her from learning English, it was the lack of funding.

It's like taking a kid from a crappy area in the states and calling them ignorant because they don't speak french.

[PolarCathy]

I have just watched a Brazilian video about this girl on YouTube which shows the following:

~ She has a small but very nice bedroom
~ She has a computer
~ Her mother combs her hair with a wide tooth comb
~ Her hair is blow-dried and then braided
~ She does not seem to like the attention
~ Her friends are shown fiddling with her hair (grrr)

It looks like she lives in a lower middle class area, not a poor deprived area, but I have no idea about social standards in Brazil.

This video also shows another woman with very long hair. There is no hair-cutting in the video but both the girl and the woman are taken to a wig shop and it looks like their hair is being evaluated for quality.

If you want to watch the video the title to search for on YouTube is:

Jovem deixa cabelo crescer para se parecer com princesa de conto de fadas

Very hard for me to understand "brazileiro" with my self-taught Portuguese but I think she says she wanted to grow it that long. Her mother told her she'd chop it while she is asleep and she responded, if you chop my hair while I sleep I'll leave you, mom. LOL

PS: not only a computer she has but a FLAT screen too. :agape:

Another thing I noticed that contrary to online comments, no it's not necessary to dress like that at the age of twelve in Rio either. The other long-haired woman, interestingly, can dress up normal. I just can't imagine my kid wearing clothes like that at that age.

The other woman will not chop for the $$$$ offered (2500 BRL -- 1300 USD). She keeps it :)

Natasha doesn't get the chop there either. (She can't decide, she loves her hair) So somewhere else later she gets that chop. When that woman in the wig shop evaluates her hair for quality she says she has never seen such (quality) hair in her life.

ETA: They cut it here around 6:10 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK5yadc0vI8&feature=related)

[DragonLady]

I wonder how much of the "hardship story" was just a way to mollify her family and friends?

I once worked with a teenager who had thigh-length hair that had not been cut since she was a baby. The ends were extremely fine, and it would tangle something terrible. She hated her hair; but her parents were very fundamentalist and would not allow her to cut it. She finally started lying to everyone who would listen about how terrible it was, and making excuses for not doing things based on what it would do to her hair. When she started claiming she had migraines they finally let her cut it off to about mid-back, but they weren't happy with her over it at all.

[Othala]

Very hard for me to understand "brazileiro" with my self-taught Portuguese but I think she says........

Thanks PolarCathy for using your language skills to explain what was going on in that video.

[PolarCathy]

Thanks PolarCathy for using your language skills to explain what was going on in that video.

Welcome. Somebody with better Portuguese may be able to shed light on the details :) It's like a completely different language for me.

It's indeed very different from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal but I guess more understandable for a Portuguese...LOL I just couldn't resist.

[PrincessIdril]

ETA: They cut it here around 6:10 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK5yadc0vI8&feature=related)

Is it bad that I got kinda excited that they played a clip from Barbie as Rapunzel in that video?

[arielágua]

Ok is it me or isn't this article full of contradictories?

I speak portuguese, I am from Portugal and I understand everything it is said in the video.

Basically she says she saw a film about Rapunzel when she was even younger and she fell in love for the character's hair, so she grew her hair as well. She loves Rapunzel and is drawing her, her playing dolls also have to have long hair.

She also says she takes a half an hour to wash her hair. And four hours to untangle and dry. Her mother doesn't seem very pleased. xD Her mother says it gives a lot of work.

Her mother said she wanted to cut her hair during her sleep, but the girl replied to her that if she were to do that, she would no longer consider her as a mother.

The girl also says it gives her headaches, the weight of the hair, specially when it is braided. She says she can't swim or doesn't do it often because the salt and the sand of the beach gets trapped in her hair and tangles it, so she avoids swimming.

But in the end she really likes her hair and her friends in school, the ones who were touching her hair, are saying how cool her hair is, and comparing colors and stuff. And she intends to keep it that way.

So they took her for the first time to a hairdresser but not to cut hair, just to brush. The hairdresser is amazed, she said her hair is very beautiful and long.
But meanwhile they asked her if she did not wanted to try a hair cut, she said no, no!

Then they found another lady that does not cut her hair, called Raquel, she simply likes to watch herself with long hair and says it's prettier. She has not specific reason.

But still they went to a hair store to evaluate the quality of their hairs, Raquel and Natasha.
Raquel decided she wanted to keep it and not sell her beautiful hair for money. But Natasha is undecided because she wants to help her family with the money of the purchase. But at the same time she is sad, and very undecided, she loves her hair too much and she is afraid of the cut. So in the very end she decided no again, she isn't ready yet.

Poor girl she was almost crying. :(

And sorry for the lame english, sometimes it is hard to translate a language to another in a very literally way. Hope it helped you people. :)

[Othala]

ariel&#225;gua thank you so much for the translation. You did a good job and your English is not lame at all.

I think the newspaper article misrepresented many things. It is great to get an insight into the reality behind the press sensationalism.

[Madora]

:blossom::blossom: Bouquets to PolarCathy and Arielagua for their translations of the video!

Poor Natasha seemed near tears at the end.

[Madora]

Thank you very much for your response and advice, Madora.

I was cringing when reading your words as I braid right to the ends and pull off the elastics. I did not even consider that I might be damaging my hair :(. Silly me.

You're welcome, Othala.

I used to braid all the way to the ends too..never considering that the longer braided ends were more fragile than the rest of the braid. I thought "well, its protected because its braided"..which was dumb.

[carolinaberry]

She's 12? Why is she dressed like that?

[rachelily]

I wonder if the reason her hair was such a limitation to her lifestyle is that she was growing it out for years with the intention of selling it, so she felt the pressure to keep it long and never cut it until then? But a braid would have helped :)

She is beautiful. I am happy for her family.

[Neneka]

A 40 cm BOB??? Her hair is past shoulder and they call it a bob. This article has no credibility whatsoever to me.

I was going to say that too. Yeah...

EDIT. I read the whole thread and watched the video. Thank you for translations and for the video link. :) Poor girl.. She seems a bit shy. I feel bad for her about cutting her hair. At least she got a lot of money from it and I hope she is enjoying her shorter cut. :)

[LisaButz2001]

I like the old length. I can tell you though, no matter what age you are, sometimes really long hair can limit what you can do. Not everyone has the tools or ability to master various styles.