A Minnesota woman by the name of Diana Armstrong recently broke the Guinness World Record for the longest fingernails on a pair of hands and longest fingernails on a pair of hands ever, according to the ultimate records reference book.
All combined, Armstrong carries 42 feet and 10.4 inches worth of nail as of March 13, 2022.
The combined length measures longer than a typical yellow school bus, reports Guinness.
The 63-year-old grandmother shares that she’s been growing her nails for over 25 years.
“I was really shocked about it because to me, I didn’t think they were that long. But to other people they were long. But I didn’t think so at the time,” Armstrong said to Fox 9.
She says she was shocked to receive the call and even believed she was being pranked.
“I thought someone was playing a joke on me, I really did, so I hung up on them. Then two or three days later, I told my daughter about it, she said ‘Mom you should take their phone call’.”
Armstrong said it takes 24 bottles of nail polish and two whole days for her grandchildren to get through painting her nails one time a year.
“Some people say ‘ooh, they are so beautiful.’ Then other people make faces. So I stay in the house most of the time,” she revealed.
According to the book of World Records, her right thumb comes in as the longest nail, at 4 feet and 6.7 inches, while the shortest is her left pinky nail, which measures 3 feet and 7 inches.
The Minnesota woman explained that she has a sentimental connection to the nails, sharing that her 16-year-old daughter Latisha used to always do them for her before she passed away in her sleep from an asthma attack in 1997. Now, she keeps them to remember and honor Latisha.
“Anytime I thought about cutting them off, it gave me chills like I’m going through that grief all over again. I didn’t want to go through that again, so I just kept them. It’s like keeping her close to me,” Armstrong said.
“When I started growing them, it wasn’t to be in the Guinness Book Of World Records,” she said. “Now since I am, I tell people, you shouldn’t judge people because you don’t know what people have gone through.”