Cut above the rest! Diss fundraiser has her hair cut for the first time in 25 years

When she last had a haircut 25 years ago, mobile phones were a rarity and the internet was in it's infancy.

But today Mina Patel is looking very different after finally chopping off her long locks to raise money for charity in memory of her husband, who died from cancer.

Over the quarter of a century she had not set foot in a hairdressers, the Diss Premier Stores worker's hair had grown to 4ft 10in long and - given she is 5ft 2in tall - almost touched the floor.

It also used to take her over two hours to hand wash and dry her hair, which she would then plait and tie up.

But in a matter of minutes, Mrs Patel's long locks were gone - even though it took hairdressers at Studio 4 in Diss a little while to cut through her hair, which weighed 17.6g.

The hair will now given to the Little Princess Trust to help make wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer.

She has also raised £3,500 for Macmillan Cancer Support which supported her late husband, Vijay Patel, who died of cancer a couple of years ago.

Mrs Patel was understandably nervous ahead of the cut but explained: 'Our family has been deeply affected by this awful disease, and I wish to support these two amazing charities that do so much to help cancer patients and their families.'

Speaking just after the haircut, Mrs Patel said it felt 'very strange to have such short hair', whilst her daughter Nisha Patel similarly said it would take a while to get used to her mother's new haircut.

Sarah Page, a friend of Mrs Patel's and the stylist at Studio 4 who cut the long hair, said: 'It was very scary, it took a long time to cut through and I was definitely shaking a bit.

'I was probably more scared than Mrs Patel.'

Mrs Patel will continue to collect donations for Macmillan Cancer Care until the end of the April when she will count the donations before sending them to the charity.

To donate to Mrs Patel's appeal, click here