Baldwin City man's 5ft 3in beard lock wraps round his waist like a belt

Need No-Shave November inspiration? Try a beard long enough to wear as a belt.

Matthew Hey, 54, of Baldwin City, Kansas, USA, has been awarded the Guinness World Records title for the longest natural beard locks on a living person (male). His lock measures 5 ft 3 in (1.603 metres) – beating Rudolf Martino’s previous mark of 3 ft 6 in (1.06 metres) by nearly two feet.

Real photo: downtown Baldwin City, Kansas (17 Mar 2026) – not Matthew Hey. Photo: Ian Ballinger / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).

Real photo: a church in Baldwin City, Kansas (17 Mar 2026) – not Matthew Hey. Photo: Ian Ballinger / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).

Hey estimates he really started growing it out about 20 years ago, after children asked him to braid his beard and he liked the look. The braid eventually matted into a lock and grew roughly 3–4 in (7–10 cm) a year – until it was long enough to tie round his waist like a belt. He was measured on a giant wooden board in Independence, Missouri. Because it touches the floor, he usually folds and ties it up for daily errands.

AI illustration – imagined measuring scene; not a likeness of Hey. (Spot Gaz, our gorilla, hiding somewhere in this picture.)

Asked by a teenage girl whether the beard defines him, he told Guinness World Records: “I answered not at all.” He added: “The beard came not because of what I did, but because of what I did not do.” On the prospect of a trim: “I do not plan on cutting my beard – or dying – but sometimes stuff happens.” His advice for No-Shave November and beyond: be tolerant and kind to people regardless of their appearance.

AI illustration – imagined floor-length facial-hair mishap; not a likeness of Hey.

Reported by Guinness World Records (Katherine Gross, 2 Nov 2026); also India Today (6 Nov 2026).