Pattonville Heights Middle School eighth-grader Tyler Wright has set a world record and is featured in the 2017 edition of “Guinness World Records,” released worldwide on Sept. 8.
Wright now holds the world’s record for largest male afro, measuring 10 inches in height, 9 inches in width and 5 feet, 10 inches in circumference. Wright was recently in New York City making the rounds of news media outlets such as the Huffington Post and Univision as part of the book’s launch.
Wright has been growing his hair out since the third grade. He was inspired to start growing his hair out when he saw a photo of his father as a boy in the 1970s with a similar hair style. His original goal was simply to make his afro bigger than his father’s. By fifth grade, he’d passed up his father’s hair length and kept going.
First published in 1955, the iconic annual Guinness World Records books have sold over 136 million copies in over 20 languages and in more than 100 countries.
