The glue is gone.
Tessica Brown from Louisiana has captivated social media over the past week after revealing that she used Gorilla Spray Adhesive by Gorilla Glue to set her updo in place after she ran out of her go-to hair spray — leaving her hair stuck in the braided ponytail for about a month.
Brown, 40, shared her attempts to free herself from her “forever ponytail” over TikTok, Instagram FB, -1.04% and Twitter TWTR, +1.16%, which included a trip to the emergency room and painful acetone treatments that weren’t successful.
Viewers including Chance the Rapper, “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin and Beyonce’s stylist Neal Farinah have shared their support and suggestions for getting the superglue off her scalp. And so did Dr. Michael Obeng, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who offered to take a crack at what he estimated would be a $12,500 procedure for free. So Brown, whose GoFundMe fundraiser has collected more than $20,000 to cover her medical bills, flew to Los Angeles on Wednesday in hopes of freeing herself at last. And it appears Obeng was successfully able to remove the industrial-strength adhesive.
TMZ documented the four-hour procedure, which involved combining medical-grade adhesive remover, aloe vera, olive oil and acetone to break down the polyurethane —aka the Gorilla Glue’s main ingredient. He tested the solvent on a dummy scalp first before working on Brown, who was put under a light anesthesia during the procedure.
The footage shows her getting emotional as she runs her fingers through her hair for the first time in several weeks.
“It’s over,” she says in the video, putting her hands over her face — and expressing regret that she let her friend cut off her ponytail earlier this week, when she still thought that she would be stuck with the glue on her head forever.
“I need my hair done,” she says with a smile. “It’s about to be Valentine’s Day.”
Gorilla Glue had previously responded to the incident with a statement shared via its official Twitter account. “We are very sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident that Miss Brown experienced using our Spray Adhesive on her hair,” the company said. It describes this as a “unique situation,” and emphasizes that its product is not indicated for use on hair, and that the label warns against getting this in eyes, on skin or on clothing.
Upon learning that Brown finally got Gorilla Glue’s product out of her hair, a company representative told TMZ that, “We are glad that Miss Brown was able to be treated and we hope that she is doing well.”
TMZ had previously reported that Brown hired a lawyer and is considering her legal options. While the Gorilla Spray Adhesive label warns against using it on eyes, skin or clothing, there is no mention of hair, which sources close to the situation say Brown feels is “misleading.”
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