Woman with longest nails loses them in a crash

Lee Redmond's 28-foot-long fingernails broke off in a February car accident

Ranald Mackechnie / AP

Lee Redmond, right, former record holder for longest fingernails (28-ft 4-in), poses with with Melvin Booth, the male owner of the longest finger nails (29-ft 8-in). Unforutantely Redmond's nails broke off in a car accident in February.

Slideshow

Guinness World Records
See the biggest rubber band ball, oldest bungee jumper, longest ear hair and much more.

more photos

updated 2:49 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY - A Salt Lake City woman who held a Guinness World Record for her long fingernails before they broke off in a car crash says it was the most dramatic event of her life.

But Lee Redmond, who lost the fingernails in February, says it's now much easier to do things and her hands seem to fly with the weight of the nails gone.

The 68-year-old won't grow her nails out again, saying it took 30 years the first time and she may not live for another 30.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Redmond hadn't cut her nails since 1979 and entered the Guinness World Records book in 2002 for longest fingernails on a woman.

The Guinness Web site says her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 2 feet, 11 inches.

More in fashion & beauty
8 craziest beauty treatments of the decade
Video: Top beauty mistakes to avoid in 2010
Slideshow: Victoria’s Secret feisty fashion