Rapunzel's Hair

I'm rewriting a fairy tale about Rapunzel and am trying to figure out her hair. I don't have to have my retelling exactly like the original story, of course, and I fully intend to change some things and add twists of my own. However, I need to figure out something with Rapunzel's hair, or to stand in for it. It's unnatural for hair to grow as long as hers, and even if it did, any reasonable girl would cut it. I mean, can you imagine trying to take care of that much hair? So I either need a good reason for her to have long hair and to keep it, or I need to find something else which I could add into the story instead of her long hair, if that makes any sense; perhaps some hair-like reed she weaves rope from or something. Any ideas?

(Oh, and a bit of backstory to give you the setting. This takes place in a fantasy land. The 'prince' is her twin brother who she was separated from at birth...the bad guy wanted the firstborn but the mother had twins and gave him the daughter, the second-born, instead. Also, either the brother or the twins together have some sort of power which has to do with singing which probably has to do with finding some sort of weapon which is why the bad guy wants them in them in the first place. Any ideas of how they get this power and what exactly in entails? Oh, and the Fruit of the Spirit theme for this is 'Joy'.)