Lalit Patidar broke a record for being different—and he’s embracing it.
The 18-year-old recently locked in the Guiness World Record for hairiest face, with an official count of 201.72 hairs per square centimeter. Lalit, from India, has Hypertrichosis—a rare condition that is described as, “excessive hair growth anywhere on the body,” according to the National Institutes of Health. But it’s not keeping him from embracing his identity and celebrating his accomplishment.
Lalit shared the news in a March 10 Instagram post that shows him posing with the official Guinness certificate and clips from the presentation. He captioned the milestone, “Proud of me.”
The YouTube personality admitted that he still can’t believe he holds the record for having the condition, in which is he one of 50 documented cases that have occurred since the Middle Ages.
“I am speechless,” he told Guiness World Records in an interview March. 10. “I don’t know what to say because I’m very happy to get this recognition.”
As for his life with his condition, Lalit explained that his appearance was an adjustment to his classmates. However, they too embrace him.
“The first days of school was not so good because the other kids were scared of me,” he said. “But when they started knowing me, when they started talking to me, they understood that I was not so different from them.”
“It was just on the outside that I looked different, but I’m not different inside,” he continued. “Sometimes people treat me not very well. But it’s very rare. Usually, people take me very good and also people are good to me. It depends on the person.”
And while the support from the public isn’t always nice, Lalit credited his family for being there every step of the way.
“My family is very supportive, and they help me every day in everything,” he shared. “For example, I started my YouTube channel and my father and my whole family support me in my new activity.
When it came to the question of whether he would change his appearance, Lalit is against it.
“I like how I am,” he said. “I don’t want to change my look.”