Minnesota woman sets record for world's longest fingernails measuring 42ft after 25 years

This Minnesota woman nailed the art of the manicure after 25 years of growth.

Diana Armstrong from the North Star state has won the Guinness World Records for the “longest fingernails on a pair of hands (female)” as well as “longest fingernails on a pair of hands ever (female).”

Both of the 63-year-old’s hands have a combined nail length of 42 feet, 10.4 inches.

Her right thumb is the longest of all her individual claws, measuring 4 feet 6.7 inches, while her left pinky nail is her shortest at 3 feet, 7 inches long.

The last time Armstrong used a nail clipper was back in 1997.

She stopped trimming her talons following the death of her 16-year-old daughter, Latisha, who died in her sleep from an asthma attack. Latisha was the one who had regularly manicured her mother’s nails — but after her passing, Armstrong made a vow to never cut them again.

“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 told her local Fox outlet.

“When I started growing them, it wasn’t to be in the Guinness Book of World Records,” she added. “Now since I am, I tell people, ‘You shouldn’t judge people because you don’t know what people have gone through.’ “

Armstrong’s long nails have made some simple tasks very difficult, such as picking up items off the ground and closing zippers. Her solution? Using her toes to grasp things off the floor.

“If I have to pick up money off the floor, I can pick up bills,” she noted. “But if I drop change on the floor, that will just stay down there!”

Armstrong has also stopped driving, as her fingernails have made it too hard to steer a vehicle.

The process to get a manicure is also a complicated one. She heads to the nail salon every four to five years. Her hands require about 15 to 20 bottles of nail polish and a woodworking tool for filing.

She even recruits her granddaughters to help paint her fingers, who love to color them with bright patterns and designs.

“I think she [Latisha] would be proud of me, because she’s the last one who did my nails,” Armstrong revealed. “That’s who I think of when I grow my nails, is my daughter.”

Meanwhile, the previous holder of the world record — Houston native Ayanna Williams — made headlines in 2021 when she chopped off her whoppers after growing them for 30 years.