Just ask Clara Osterhage, owner of two local Great Clips salons, each vying for a Guinness title.
The store at 150 S. Tuttle Road broke the record for the most hair cuts in a 12-hour period by 10 stylists on Saturday with at least 344 cuts. The previous record was 329 cuts.
“I don’t like being anything but No. 1,” Osterhage said.
A Guinness judge flew in from New York to certify the record and check the cuts, which had to meet certain criteria to be valid. The stylists had to trim hair at least two centimeters and use scissors. Bald or partially bald men didn’t count either.
The store at 1776 N. Bechtle Ave. also hopes to set a record this week in a new category for most cuts in seven days. The record currently doesn’t exist, but Guinness said it will create it if the salon gives at least 1,000 cuts by the time it closes Friday.
That shouldn’t be a problem, Osterhage said, because the salon has previously done more than 3,100 cuts in a week.
The salons also are donating the proceeds from Saturday’s haircuts to the Deputy Suzanne Waughtel Hopper Memorial Fund, with a goal of giving the family $5,000.
Hopper was fatally shot on Jan. 1 while responding to a call at Enon Beach.
“This is just a mere pittance. Nothing ever replaces a mom. ... But I just hope we can make a difference,” Osterhage said.
Stylist Brooke Boggs liked that the salon was donating to the Hopper family.
“That’s amazing,” the Springfielder said.
She had lost count of how many hair cuts she had done by Saturday evening and thought breaking the record was hard but neat.
“That’s something to show your kids someday,” she said while cutting Krista Scarberry’s hair.
Scarberry of Springfield didn’t know she would be part of a world record attempt before coming in for a hair cut.
“It’s pretty darn cool,” she said.
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