Woman with Guinness record-setting mullet hasn't cut it since 1990
Tami Manis says her 1.73-metre mullet is a 'modified rat tail' with 'an official birthday'
Tami Manis hasn't let a pair of scissors near her beloved mullet in 33 years — and she never intends to again.
"I had a rat tail starting in the late '80s, and I cut it off in November of '89. I immediately regretted it," Manis, 58, of Knoxville, Tenn., told As It Happens guest host Katie Simpson.
"I started growing this one on Feb. 9, 1990. Yes, it has an official birthday."
Not only does her mullet have a birthday, it also has a Guinness World Record.
At 1.73 metres metres in length, the wavy red hairdo has the set record for longest competitive mullet (women), a new category open to anyone who has competed in a mullet competition that's been going on for at least two years. Manis came in second in the "femullet" category at the 2022 U.S. Mullet Championships.
"It is a conversation piece. I mean, literally, people remember me for my hair and my car covered in duct tape," she said, before adding, "I'm different."
It's a milestone that's been in the making since she first saw the 1985 music video for Til Tuesday's Voices Carry, in which singer Aimee Mann sports a bleached blond crew cut, with a matching rat tail — a narrow sliver of hair in the back, usually kept in a braid.
"I looked and went, 'Oh, I want one of those,'" Manis said.
At first, she says, she tried to cut her own hair to match Mann's look.
"It did not work out well," she said. "So I went to the barber shop and I told the guy, 'Give me a crew cut, and leave the little rat tail' — which was really cool, back in the late '80s."
At some point along the way, what began as rat tail transitioned into a full-blown mullet — which means short on the top, long in the back.
"I call it MRT — modified rat tail," she said.
'It doesn't go out and frolic very much'
While it's no longer a rat tail, Manis says she does still keep it braided most of the time.
"The braids keeps it tamed ... so it doesn't go out and frolic very much."
About once a week, a friend comes over to take the braids out, comb it through, add some product, and braid it back up again — a process that takes about an hour and a half.
She shampoos the braids in the shower, then dries them off with paper towels, so as not to get towel lint between the braids.
"It's not hard to maintain. It's not unsanitary. It smells fresh. I use good stuff," she said.
When she's not modelling her famous mullet, Manis works as a public health nurse at an STD clinic, where she says her hair makes a great ice breaker for nervous patients.
"I use my mullet for good," she said. "I joked with one guy, I said, 'I could literally choke you with it if you make me mad ... so don't push it.'"
While the mullet was once firmly rooted in the '80s, the style has come back into fashion in a big way in recent years.
"It's taken me this long to be cool again — although I was never cool to begin with," Manis said.
Fashion may be cyclical, but Tanis remains steadfast in her dedication to her mullet.
Asked if she ever plans to cut it, she didn't hesitate.
"I have no plans whatsoever," she said. "As long as I can grow it, I'm keeping it. It stays with me."
Interview with Tami Manis produced by Arman Aghbali
