The world's oldest hairdresser is 108: she will continue to work "as long as possible"

In Japan, Shitsui Hakoishi is a true star: at 108 years old, she has become the "oldest hairdresser in the world" (and it's certified by the Guinness Book).

She plans to retire in two years and sees this record as a true crowning achievement, which she celebrated accompanied by her two children aged 81 and 85. For the occasion, a ceremony was organised in her honour in the Japanese city of Nakagawa. “I'm very happy. My heart is filled with joy,” she confided.

It all began when she was 14 years old, as Shitsui Hakoishi, passionate about hairdressing, began her training. Coming from a family of farmers, the young woman left her countryside home to work as an apprentice in a salon in Tokyo, where she obtained her diploma 4 years later, reports the media Demotivateur.

After the ruins of war, we rebuild

Encouraged by her husband, Shitsui Hakoishi opened her own hair salon in the 1930s. A few years later, World War II broke out, her husband joined the battlefield and lost his life there. During this dark chapter of history, the couple's hair salon was “reduced to ashes during the aerial bombardment of Tokyo by the American army”, according to a statement from the Guinness World Records. Shortly before this bombing, the mother fled with her two children.

And it was 8 years after the war that Shitsui Hakoishi opened another salon in Nakagawa, where she still works today, notes Demotivateur. Although she lives in a care home, the centenarian is in great shape. “I don't know how long I will be able to keep going. But I will continue as long as possible,” she stated.

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: Demotivateur - Illustration: ©Unsplash)