Record breaking cut - how this stylist went above and beyond
Published
17th Jun 2021
by kieran
US-based hair stylist Heather Werner has broken the record for highest altitude hair cut during her summit of Mount Everest not only once, but twice!
The owner and stylist for Foundations Hair Studio in Campbell, California completed the “highest elevation haircut” during her first acclimatization climb through the Khumbu Icefall.
Heather’s recent high altitude haircutting journey began at Everest base, where she performed her first cut at Everest Base Camp 5600 metres (18373 feet) above sea level.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COPbOH8BVEe/
From there, Heather provided four hair cuts to team members and Sherpa at Camp 1, which is 6,065 metres (19898 feet) above sea-level. The cuts included long layers, bang trims, tousled pompadour and blunt ends with a middle part.
Continuing her journey, she gave the team’s expedition leader Jonathan Schrock a fun “faux-hawk” cut when at Camp 2 to keep team spirits high, which was 6,399 metres (20,997 feet) above sea level.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_60XFnrZH/
Heather shared the story of how this impromptu additional record breaking cut happened on Instagram: “Our Camp 2 cook, Tashi Sherpa, asked if he could get a clean-up while we lounged around camp. A classic men’s cut with a really long top. My wife hates it, but that’s okay.
With the help of Pega Sherpa, they were also able to offer the cook a “Romney”- a dark top with a sprinkling of gray left at the temples, described as “just enough so nobody suspects it’s haircolor.”
The previous record for highest altitude haircut went to a French-Candian stylist Maurice Fiorio, founder of Fiorio salons and Canadian spokesperson for Revlon Professional products, who completed a cut on top of Mount Kilimanjaro at a height of 5,895 metres (19,341 feet).
Heather took to Instagram to document the achievement saying: “A huge thank you to my models, who were brave enough to let me work when my brain was slightly oxygen-starved. If the weather holds and I’m not a wreck at higher camps, we may try to boost our number as we climb. But for now, it feels damn good to be a world record holder.”