Diana Armstrong Sets New Guinness World Records For Having The Longest Fingernails

Woman grows world record-breaking fingernails measuring over 42ft after family tragedy

Diana Armstrong has broken the record for the world’s longest fingernails on a pair of hands (female). The 63-year-old lady from Minnesota also holds the record for the longest fingernails on a pair of hands ever (female) according to Guinness World Records. The body which keeps track of records being made and broken the world over said that both of her hands have a combined nail length of 42 feet – longer than a standard yellow school bus, which she was growing for over 25 years.

Her right thumbnail, which measures 138.94 cm (4 ft 6.7 in), is the longest of all her nails whereas her left pinky fingernail – the smallest of her nails – is 109.2 cm (3 ft 7 in) long. According to her, Ms Armstrong last used a nail clipper back in 1997. The reason for not using it after that is a heartbreaking accident that changed her family.

Getting her children out of bed and heading to the grocery store to buy food for her family was how Diana had begun her day, as usual, that year, the GWR release said. While at the mall, Ms Armstrong got a panicked call from her youngest daughter. “At the store, my baby daughter called me and told me ‘Ma, Tisha won’t wake up,” she recalled. Aged just 16, her daughter Latisha died because of an asthma attack while sleeping. “That was the worst day of my life,” GWR quoted Ms Armstrong.

She used to get her nails done by Latisha every weekend. “She was the only one who did my nails. She polished them and filed them for me,” Ms Armstrong told GWR. Over the years, Ms Armstrong’s children tried convincing her to trim her fingernails but that did not change her mind.

The previous record for the longest fingernails on a pair of hands (female) was held by Ayanna Williams (also from the US) before she made the decision to cut them off. Ms Armstrong broke Williams’ record by an astonishing 573.03 cm (18 ft 8 inches). Her nails have reached such extreme lengths, that each of her nails take between four and five hours to paint.