A 38-year-old fashion and hair model from Ukraine is believed to be a real-life Rapunzel for her almost-six-foot-long head of beautiful light-brown hair. She hasn’t cut her majestic locks since the age of 12 and wears her hair as a badge of pride and beauty.
Alla Perkova lives in Odesa, Ukraine, where she was born and raised. Her hair is slightly longer than her overall height and it touches the ground when she stands.
A lawyer by training, she told The Epoch Times: “Since birth, I never cut my hair. My mom cut the ends of my hair when I was 2 years old, and when I was 12; the scissors have not touched my hair in almost 30 years ... Mom asks me never to cut my hair.”
Alla’s “perfectly straight and thick” hair becomes more blonde during the summer, due to the exposure to the sun. Her husband of 10 years, Eduard Usatiuk, is proud of his wife’s dedication to maintaining her locks and often helps her comb them.
Alla’s hair care routine is otherwise simple.
“My hair is shiny and healthy because I have good genetics and excellent health,” she reasoned. “I never follow a diet, I try to be calm, I comb my hair gently and slowly; I don’t do or use anything special.”
Over the years, Alla has learned more than 50 hairstyles—“variations of braids, tails, and bundles”—with which to both manage and display her amazing tresses. Her Rapunzel aesthetic has gained widespread attention from news outlets and social media.
As the self-proclaimed “first and only” real-life Rapunzel in Ukraine, Alla has also taken it upon herself to bestow her title, “Rapunzel by Alla Perkova,” upon young girls with healthy hair who take part in her international hair beauty contest, Rapunzel.
For the past five years, Alla said, her hair length has remained the same, but the quality of the ends has improved. “I never aspired to a record hair length, I just wanted to have healthy hair, and I thank my mother for teaching me the right care,” she said.
She reflected: “My mother is an example of beauty and femininity. She still has healthy long hair at 79 years old. Her hair has grown below her knees.”
Alla also claims that she hasn’t seen anyone’s hair grow to the ground.