Hair is a precious thing to us. Whether you get it dyed and styled on the regular, prefer to treat it au naturale, or even shave it all off for a bold "no-do" do – hair can make up a lot of our identity. So when this Russian woman started noticing her hair fall out at only the age of 18, she started feeling a bit more down than usual.
Anastasiya Sidorova found out that she was suffering from the debilitating condition androgenetic alopecia, also known as spot balding and something that can cause permanent hair thinning and balding. But luckily, alopecia is treatable and so Anastasiya went to a trichologist (a scalp and hair derm) who helped her to gradually cure the alopecia.
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Fast forward to now, and Anastasiya at age 23 shows not only no more signs of balding but has a
crazy amount of hair. Almost 4-feet of it in fact – that's 42 inches. She currently lives in Moscow together with her sister and has an Instagram page with a whopping 422,000 followers, who are probably all there for the hair. She posts some seriously impressive photos with her long, red mane (and what a gorgeous shade of red it is, btw).
Seriously, will you look at how long it is?!
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And it looks even longer from this angle
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Yeesh, get a load of those braids
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Her whole Instagram is in Russian, and she gives lengthy captions for each photo which – if you bother to put into Google translate – are usually hair-care related. She talks about hair loss, stimulating hair growth, and rejuvenating formulas and supplements. Anastasiya even experiments with at-home masks, and I'm talking ones made from eggs and vodka.
The real-life Rapunzel says some key things she does to get her locks so long is that she never straightens it and lets it air dry 60 per cent before doing the rest with the hairdryer. Plus, Anastasiya says she uses a keratin hair mask after every single wash. Phew! That's dedication.
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She manages her hair condition herself, which she said requires patience as well as hair stimulation therapy and lots of hair masks. Everyday lifestyle changes can also help stimulate hair growth, like not smoking cigarettes, sleeping at least 8 hours a night, and not walking in the sun without a hat on.
After working so closely with the trichologist, Anastasiya decided to train as one herself, which is probably why she's so knowledgeable about hair. And as well as dishing out hair advice and running her popular Instagram page, the 23-year-old has also landed a few modelling gigs, one of which was for a Pantene shampoo commercial in Russian magazines.
As to how much she gets off when going in for a trim? Anastasiya says that she usually gets 5-7cm lopped off to keep hair looking healthy (although it doesn't help it grow faster because duh – hair grows from the roots). She says she's toyed with the idea of changing it up by getting bangs, but that idea was immediately shut down by fans.
Rapunzel with bangs? That doesn't sound right...
