₦airaland Forum

Nigerian hair stylist Mary Chinonso usually spends her days in the salon making others feel beautiful – but last March, the accomplished braider truly put her hands to the test when attempting the Guinness World Records title for the most heads of hair braided in 24 hours

Ever since she was a child, Mary has loved braiding hair, and she always dreamed that one day she might be able to achieve something honourable with her skills.

Therefore, once she found out about the competitive record title – at the time held by Indian Vasugi Manivannan, claimed after braiding 167 heads of hair in Chennai – she knew she wanted to try her best to take the crown.

“My goal is to prove that with talent, focus, consistency, speed and endurance… inspiration and innovation is born,” she said on Instagram before the event.

So in the early hours of 24 March 2024, Mary arrived at her salon at Cherub Mall in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria and started preparing for her attempt.

Event organizers and certified witnesses, as well as a slew of volunteers and supporters, showed up early too – along with a long line of women with freshly-washed natural hair, eager for their chance to get their tresses braided and take part in Mary’s quest for a record.

Almost all of them were also wearing Guinness World Records T-shirts, which was a fun way to participate in the spirit of the day and inspire Mary to keep going.

Yet despite the pressure of the event, the determined stylist was confident she could beat the record, saying: “The preparation for this event has started a long time ago – since 10 years ago I engaged fully in hairdressing and styling practices, preparing my body and soul for the challenge of a Guinness World Records title.”

And once she started her task, Mary hardly made any stops – for 24 hours straight, she kept her fingers moving quickly across the scalps of her volunteers, guiding them through the hair wash process and detangling their fresh locks with a comb.

Every four hours, she’d take a quick 20-minute break to relax her body or scarf down some food, then shortly after she’d return to the styling chair, ushering in the next guest with an urgently professional air.

After a model would enter the salon, Mary would escort them over to the hair wash bowl, where she would drench their hair and rub in some shampoo before washing out the bubbles.

She’d then take them over to the styling chair, where she’d plant a palm at the top of their head and use a wide-toothed comb to detangle their hair painlessly, before grabbing three ends of their tresses and twisting them into a neat braid at the back of their neck.

The model would then slide out of their chair and make way for Mary’s next ‘client’, and the hairstylist would repeat the process over and over again for hours.

By the time night approached, it was clear Mary was fatigued but powering through – but her friends and supporters did everything they could to keep her up and going, including playing music on the speakers of the salon, and singing and dancing outside to keep morale up.

But soon enough, Mary’s 387th client was perched in her chair, ready for the final styling of the day!

At the end of those exhausting 24 hours, Mary had braided 387 heads of hair, averaging an incredible rate of one style per every four minutes.

“Our joy knows no bounds,” she posted on Instagram after taking the title. Despite the long day and all the hard work, Mary was incredibly delighted to become an official record holder, saying: “Go, super girl!” on her page, and celebrating with all her loved ones.

Congratulations on this tremendous achievement, Mary – you are Officially Amazing!

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/11/nigerian-woman-braids-387-heads-of-hair-in-a-day-averages-one-style-every-four-minutes?fbclid=IwY2xjawN73kRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR54PkrYH9xxIolfMIdaBkPnUc18IO7tyvMEHo_qsqt-6tYUk8cM2HMErXX6Xw_aem_d6qFoAPcBYYAOiE4QEjKlA

.
387 vs 167 of the previous title holder. Nlfpmod, is this not commendable?
.

Omo
She really try
Kudos to you

Wow...congratulations ma!

what are we celebrating here

Guinness go tire. The truth is that there are loads of talents in Nigeria but the enabling environment to thrive. If only government can provide Power and security and exempt taxes from businesses that makes less than 50 million annually. Especially in tech, you need to see young champs coming up with solutions

Nigerians are innovative and are going places due to their hard work and resilience

Jubrilv:
what are we celebrating here

The hair on her 2T 2T makes it 310... please can I lick 2t 2t

Well, that's her own way of being on the record. Whatever you know how to do, do it well and give it optics.

Congratulations.


But but... Where is the hair?

lagos people no allow mandy kiss brake record for us

A Nigerian with talent and an unrelenting spirit. But it's so unfortunate that we don't have good leaders.

Very good for the Nigerian girl.

Jubrilv:
what are we celebrating here

She plaited the hair of 387 women in 24hrs

Celestialsword:
Nigerians are innovative and are going places due to their hard work and resilience

If sense dey Europe... Nigeria is currently heading to Asia where sense is only needed for loans... please is anyone available so I can lick their 2t 2t

Does Nigeria have the luxury to be celebrating this?

This is why I use them for ONLY recreational purposes.

I pity whoever take them serious

That's some serious work...

Kudos

This Guinness book of records don suffer for Nigerians hand. Na wa o

congrats. May u NOT get tired/retired

Congratulations to her!

But wait, what kind of braided hair took her an average of 4minutes?

Or I don't what a braided hair is?

Jubrilv:
what are we celebrating here

A salon that doesn’t accommodate Cho Cho
Unlike the others that will spend the whole day making hair, meanwhile na gossip dem Dey gossip oh

I'm sure what she did is very simple braids or the type they call shuku

Jubrilv:
what are we celebrating here

Help me ask them

Other countries are breaking relevant records we're breaking cooking and braiding records , are we okay at all. Athletic records I can even celebrate but this , this is useless. I laugh when some of these Nigerians come online saying anything we get involved in we rule it and that very soon we will take over the Guinness records , yeah I agree if it's records like braiding or cooking , academic or athletic records cannot be broken by Nigerians in the Guinness records.

Not like other countries like the US do not partake in these useless records as well but they also participate in relevant records which is the difference between Nigerians and other serious countries

Jubrilv:
what are we celebrating here

March 2024 accomplishments. 😁

Jubrilv:
what are we celebrating here

Business visibility.. Which will convert into bottomline.