The American Erin Honeycutt, 38 years old, from the state of Michigan, has just become the living woman with the longest beard in the world, with 30 centimeters, according to the Guinness World organization.
The previous record of 25.5 cm was held by Vivian Wheeler, 75, also from the United States. To reach this length, Erin stopped shaving for two years straight.
She has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which causes a hormonal imbalance and can result in irregular periods, weight gain, infertility, and excessive hair growth.
According to Erin, her facial hair started growing when she was 13, which led her to use a variety of methods to deal with it, such as shaving and waxing.
“I probably shaved at least three times a day,” she says in an interview for the Guinness website.
This was not, however, the only health problem she had to face. In 2018, Erin injured her foot. In the hospital, she developed necrotizing fasciitis in her leg, a rare bacterial infection that causes soft tissue parts of the body to die.
Erin’s leg became septic and gangrenous, prompting the decision to amputate the lower half of the limb.
In addition, Erin tells the Guinness website that her blood pressure rose to such a high level that she suffered an eye stroke.
“It took away all my central vision,” she explains. “But I have a perfect peripheral.”
Erin says her doctor told her that if she kept thinking positively, she would heal 3% faster, so she says she became the “most positive person in the entire world.”
Even with the partial loss of her sight, Erin continued to shave every day, until one day she got tired of it.
With the support of her wife, Jen, Erin made the decision to grow a beard during the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine.
“It really gave me a chance to boost my confidence in growing a beard,” she said. “Wearing masks really helped boost my confidence to go out in public.”
On the positive side, Erin says the beard helps hide her “double chin,” but she ends up getting hung up on a lot of things, like food.
She also says that although it doesn’t bother her, she and her wife still get stares from people when they’re out in public. “We deserve to be able to go out and not have anyone judge us for who we are,” she says.
Erin says it’s amazing to achieve a world record for something she used to be ashamed of.
“I never thought I’d be able to reach or achieve a goal that would allow me to be in a book, and it’s a nice thing to be recognized, even though it’s something that comes naturally to me,” she says.
Source: CNN Brasil
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