Meet Asha Mandela: the woman with the longest dreadlocks in the world

Despite being warned by doctors that her 55ft long dreadlocks that are longer than a bus and weighs three stone could paralyse her, Asha Mandela said she will never cut them.

The mother-of-one from Atlanta, Georgia, said: 'My hair has become part of me. It is my life. I will never cut it.

'Cutting it would be equivalent to suicide. It would be like being a zombie.'

Mrs Mandela, 47, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest dreadlocks.

Her incredible hair has also brought her fans across the world and she has launched her own secret hair formula on the back of her success.

It takes two days to wash and dry her hair, which weighs the same as a reception-age child, and is even heavier when wet.

It can also get easily trapped in doors or snag on bushes.

She has to wind it up into a baby sling when she leaves the house which gives her a greater degree of freedom.

But Mrs Mandela worries that 'someone with a hair fetish' will cut off a lock of her hair when she is not looking.