Handing over the crown: New York woman claims largest afro title with her six-foot hair

Inside of a hair salon in New York City, New York, USA, two stunning women with magnificent heads of hair are perched upon stylist’s chairs like thrones – in a fitting expression of unity, as Aevin Dugas (USA) handed over the crown for the largest afro on a living person (female) to new record holder Jessica “Jess” L. Martinez (USA). 

In honour of GWR Day, the pair joined Guinness World Records for a unique record-breaking experience where Aevin was able to pass over the title she held for 15 years directly to her successor Jess. Yet despite the occasion, there was no competitive spirit in the room – just smiles and laughter, as the two women bonded over their shared experiences and incredible hair.

“What I hope people will think when they see [us meet] is that at the end of the day, I love myself, she loves herself, and we’re both just trying to get people to love themselves,” said Aevin to GWR. 

“It’s not a competition, it’s literally all love.”

Jess won the new title on 23 October, taking over the record held by Aevin for over a decade.

After she had three people help her with the tape measure, her hair came out to be 29 cm (11.42 in) tall, 31 cm (12.2 in) wide, and 190 cm (6 ft 2.87 in) in circumference, making the New Yorker the proud owner of the largest afro in the world.

The distance around her afro is approximately three times the height of the world’s shortest woman living, Jyoti Amge (India)!

Jess is the second title holder for this incredible record, following in the footsteps of a true GWR ICON. Aevin – who hails from Reserve, Louisiana – made history in 2010 when she first broke the record, and she was later awarded with a certificate presentation for the largest afro (female) title on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Rome, Italy in 2012. 

With natural curls currently measuring 25 cm (9.84 in) tall, 26 cm (10.24 in) wide, and 165 cm (5.41 ft) in circumference, she firmly held the title for years, and was inducted as a Guinness World Records ICON in 2025 for her amazing messages about body positivity, self love, and cultural acceptance. 

“To be a part of the record-breaking community is very special, because I know GWR is very serious about their records,” she said. “So to be a part of it is another moment I don’t take for granted, because it really is a type of X-Men situation where y’all have all these superheroes in a book with all these different things that they do, and mine is big hair… so I love that.

“It’s like we all have our special powers!”

And despite her outstanding 15-year reign as the undisputed queen of the afro, Aevin says she actually used to pray for the day when she could hand over the title to another fabulous woman – in fact, she even saved a glittery crown from a photoshoot she did in 2020, just in case she’d have the chance to one day place it on the head of a new record holder.

“The thing is, I always wanted to pass it, not watch the thing get snatched out of my hand,” she explained. “So when the ICON thing happened… I just felt like it was the perfect transition.”

The day that Aevin and Jess finally met was therefore a bright occasion, joining each other for a photoshoot at a salon in November with GWR Adjudicator Michael Empric. 

“Meeting Aevin is just such a joy. I feel like she is the same online as she is in person – a lot of personality,” said Jess. “I just feel so blessed that I get to meet her and that she gets to be a part of this experience, because that makes me feel even more proud of myself and it feels like a special moment.”

Jess, who comes from Rockland County, New York, calls the city home – and works as a criminal justice advocate, content creator, and Founder and CEO of a brand called Somebody’s Auntie. After people on social media started flooding her comment section with suggestions to submit her iconic natural hair to GWR, she finally decided to attempt the record this year, which required lots of hard work measuring all her curls.

“When I found out that I broke the record, I was actually in shock because it didn’t quite sink in yet, it didn’t quite feel real,” she said. “But when I really started to process it, I was like ‘this is absolutely incredible,’ because the younger version of me would be so proud of myself. 

“To see someone like me, with hair like this, in the Guinness World Records book, is just so absolutely incredible. It’s not something where as a child I knew what representation looks like, but I just knew I didn’t see a lot of this [points to hair] out in the media or in the public.

“So I think it was one of those ‘on my gosh’ moments, like, ‘you did it!’” she continued. “And a part of me also felt proud of myself because I can do hard things, and this was a really really hard thing for me to accomplish. 

“And so the fact that I stuck it through, even though I had a little bit of a rocky start, and I didn’t give up, it just makes me feel like I can do anything... It’s really exciting.”

Jess explained that when she was a little girl, finding the right routine for her natural hair was a difficult task. Her mother used to do her hair, but fighting with all her curls became more difficult as she grew older, so they agreed to start using relaxers – which ultimately just damaged Jess’ hair, impacted her mother’s bank account, and influenced her self-confidence.

“I actually was super embarrassed because we were not well-off, and I would go into the salon and they would be breaking the brush on my hair…or they would say that I have too much hair so they would put two boxes of relaxers in my hair, which then I felt even worse because my mom then had to pay for two relaxers,” she said. “It was just not ever a comfortable space for me to be in.”

It wasn’t until middle school that Jess gave up the expensive, tedious, and often uncomfortable process of professionally relaxing her hair. Nevertheless, she continued to straighten it until her freshman year of college, when she finally made the decision to stop altogether.  

“And I remember I got to a point one day where I was done. I did not want to hear the sizzle, crack, pop of that flat iron on my scalp, and on my hair. And I told my mom no, I didn’t want to get my hair straightened… And eventually, I stopped wanting to straighten my hair at all,” she said.

“My last silk press was my freshman year in college, which was I believe in 2014, and I remember I straightened my hair and I looked in the mirror and it reminded me of 12-year-old Jess and I just knew, ‘this is not you. There’s nothing flat about you. You have a lot of personality!’” she exclaimed. “And after that, I just went cold-turkey.”

After spending years taking care of her natural hair, Jess finally started to notice her true curl pattern grow back – and she loved the results. Her style gave her confidence and a new sense of self, and she even said that her mother switched to locking her hair instead of straightening it after witnessing her daughter’s natural hair journey. 

And as her hair grew and transformed, so did Jess’ confidence and sense of possibility. Soon enough, when people in her community began encouraging her to go for the title, she decided she was up for the challenge – ultimately making hair-story.

Read more about our amazing record holders accepting their true selves in our Human Body section!

The hair care journey is something that both Jess and Aevin are familiar with, as they both shared horror stories about going to the salon and having their beautiful afros damaged by a stylist who is unfamiliar with how to take care of their natural hair. 

Jess almost lost her chance at the record before her attempt after a hairstylist took off a little too much of her afro in February, while Aevin remarked that she’s still waiting on someone to figure out “afro math”, which she describes as: “how much you need to take off to get the certain width that you need for your afro to look the way that you want it to look.”

In fact, one of the key pieces of advice that Aevin imparted on her new successor was to be careful about the stylist that you choose – particularly because of the hidden costs and time that taking care of Black hair can require. 

“I told her, as my mother would say, ‘keep people’s hands out your head, don’t let just anyone in your head’ – meaning don’t let just anyone style your hair,” Aevin said. “And it’s not anything more than [the fact] that not everyone can style natural hair.”

So naturally, both Aevin and Jess know a lot about how to take care of their afros – with Jess recommending to avoid tight braids and start using low-tension hairstyles like twists to maintain length, and don’t use too much gel or cream so there isn’t product buildup. Meanwhile, Aevin credits her 15-year record to the natural hair gods, and keeping with a consistent routine. 

“Something that I think is important to know is that everyone has the hair type that they were given at birth for a reason. And it’s acceptable, it’s professional,” said Jess. “A lot of people don’t feel comfortable wearing their hair at prom, or on their wedding day, and different things like that, and I hope that people will see the beauty in natural hair and continue to show up like this and inspire young people.

“I also think that for youth, little girls and boys who have textured hair, I think that it’s really important that they can know that their hair is beautiful just the way it is.”

And Jess knows that the wisdom and respect that Aevin gave her is something that she’ll always carry with her, as she navigates her new title and uses her platform to support the same initiatives of self-confidence and pride for Black hair.

“The advice I would give to Jess is to always live in the moment,” said Aevin. “Of course, when you’re doing the interviews and taking the pictures, don’t take it for granted because at any moment – and I think she knows this from having a bad haircut situation – it can be taken away for something as minor as a haircut.”

Yet besides their passion for afros, both women also agree that if you’re thinking of breaking a record, there’s no better time than now!

“If you want to attempt a record, go for it! I like to say that I would much rather try and fail, than not to have tried at all,” said Jess. 

“So if you want to attempt a world record, please get up and do it, because it will just bring you through to a whole new world that you didn’t even know was possible.”

Congratulations, Jess and Aevin, you are both Officially Amazing!