A Tennessee woman earned a world record for sporting the longest female mullet in the world August 31, according to the Guinness World Records.
Tani Manis, 58, from Knoxville, received a certificate from the Guinness World Records (GWR) for the “World’s Longest Competitive Mullet (female)” for her over 30-year-old mullet measuring 5 feet, 8 inches long, according to a GWR news release.
“When I opened it, I thought, ‘This is Amazing,'” she said, per the news release.
Manis, a public health nurse, reckons her mullet’s birthday to be February 9, 1990, as she has been growing it since then, the news release noted. She was reportedly inspired by the 1985 single “Voices Carry” by American music band ‘Til Tuesday, in which the lead singer, Aimee Mann, sports a mullet and sings about being true to oneself in spite of a lover’s passive aggression.
“The girl had a rattail and I really wanted one of those,” Manis said of Mann. (RELATED: ‘Extreme Hairstyle’: Australian School Receives Backlash For Banning Mullet Hairstyle)
Having regretted cutting off her mullet in November 1989, Manis resumed growing it out in 1990. The mullet “has become quite the conversation piece” between her and her friends and family. “I’ve had people recognize me from 20 years ago because I’ve kept the same hairstyle,” she said, per the news release.
Manis reportedly chalked her mullet up to her good genes and argan oil-containing Hask hair products. Maintaining her mullet is challenging, as it is longer than she is tall, and she has it braided once a week and keeps it braided until it is time to wash it, the news release noted.
Having finished second in the “Femullet” division of the 2022 US Mullet Championships, losing to Michigander Alexa Lindsey, Manis felt encouraged to vie for the top spot in the GWR “longest competitive mullet” record category. It was a long process that entailed photography and filming sessions but was worth the effort, Manis believes.
The GWR called Manis’ mullet “astonishing.”
Manis and her mullet are featured in “Guinness World Records 2024,” which will be on sale soon, per the news release.