A Vietnamese man who hasn’t cut his fingernails in three decades earned a Guinness World Record when they were measured at a total 19 feet and 6 inches long.
Lưu Công Huyền earned the record for longest fingernails on a pair of hands (male) when his nails were measured at longer than the height of an average adult giraffe.
“These fingernails originally started because my father was a shaman,” Huyền told Guinness World Records. “I wanted to become a teacher, so I grew them to look more majestic.”
Huyền said he gave up his dreams of teaching at the urging of his father, but kept growing his nails.
“So, I just kept growing them from then on and they just kept getting longer. In short, if I were to trim them off I’d feel really uncomfortable and exhausted, both mentally and physically,” he said.
He said maintaining his long nails is a lot of work.
“If it rains, I have to keep them dry. If they get wet, they will soften and fall right off,” he said. “In a crowded place, if someone bumps into them, they’ll be broken for sure, so I have to protect them. Furthermore, when working I have to be extremely careful. Climbing up and down the scaffolding, every move has to be deliberate. And I mean really careful.”
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