The Louisiana mother who sprayed her hair with Gorilla Glue has said she is donating $20,000 of her GoFundMe money to charity after a doctor carried out a $12,500 procedure to remove the adhesive for free.
Tessica Brown, 40, from Violet, will give the cash to the Restore Foundation, which helps those needing reconstructive surgery, her manager told TMZ.
Brown had started her fundraising page with a goal of reaching $1,500 to buy the wigs she was told she would need after using the superglue when she ran out of hairspray.
But, after the Tik Tok video about her plight went viral, Los Angeles based Dr. Michael Obeng reached out to say he could remove the adhesive without charge. She then flew to LA this week for the procedure that took four hours to complete.
As of Sunday she had raised more than $23,000 in donations, $20,000 of which she is now giving to the Restore Foundation, a charity which helps those needing reconstructive surgery and is the brainchild of Dr. Obeng.
The rest of the money will cover an ER visit she was forced to make after using the glue and her travel expenses to fly to LA for the surgery, her spokesperson added.
Tessica Brown has said she is donating $20,000 of her GoFundMe money to charity after using Gorilla Glue in hair when she ran out of hair spray
As of Sunday she had raised more than $23,000 in donations, $20,000 of which she is now giving to the Restore Foundation, a charity which helps those needing reconstructive surgery and is the brainchild of Dr. Obeng
Mom-of-five Tessica’s ordeal went viral after a TikTok video in which she explained she had been left with rigid, immovable locks for more than a month.
She visited a local ER, burnt her scalp with acetone and hacked off her ponytail in an attempt to free her tresses.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Tessica expressed her thanks to Dr Obeng, writing: ‘Words cannot even explain how I feel about @drmichaelkobeng you really gave me my life back and I am forever grateful.’
Dr. Obeng, who offered Tessica the pricey treatment for free after seeing her plight online, used a custom mix of chemicals and natural products in order to dissolve the glue, having first practiced on a dummy head to ensure his formula would work.
‘I looked up the compound, the main active ingredient in Gorilla Glue: polyurethane,’ Dr. Obeng explained to TMZ. ‘Then we figured out the science, how to break it down.’
He continued: ‘We bought chemicals that have components to dissolve the solvent, we used medical-grade adhesive remover that we use in the operating room.
‘Then we have another active ingredient, MGD. We added MGD to it – which is an aloe vera and olive oil mixture. Then we added a little acetone.’
Tessica explained in her viral TikTok video that she ran out of her Göt2b Glued Spray and used Gorilla Glue instead, pictured
Brown had started her fundraising page with a goal of $1,500 to buy the wigs she was told she would need after using the superglue when she ran out of hairspray
In a video taken at Dr. Obeng’s office, Tessica – who was given a light anesthesia before the treatment – is seen lying on an operating table after the successful procedure, running her hands through her freed locks and tearing up with relief while marveling at the sensation.
During the procedure, the mixture was applied to Tessica’s hair using a spray bottle, while Dr. Obeng used medical tweezers and scissors to try and gently pull the matted hair apart, cutting the strands of glue that were holding her tresses together.
The doctor and his tea, then ran a comb through the hair to finally remove the glue, before applying a deep conditioning treatment to protect the locks.
Tessica was given painkillers and steroids to reduce the swelling and inflammation caused by the glue – and the chemicals that she used to try and remove it.
Remarkably, Dr. Obeng was able to salvage much of Tessica’s hair – although she admitted after the procedure that she wishes she had visited him before asking her sister to chop off her lengthy ponytail in the hopes of removing the glue.
‘I can scratch it!’ Tessica told the camera while running her nails along her scalp. ‘Now I wish I had waited for my sister to cut my ponytail off.’
‘I never was going to take this to social media. The reason I took this to social media was because I didn’t know what else to do,’ she told ET’s Melicia Johnson.
‘And I know somebody out there could have told me something. I didn’t think for one second when I got up the next morning it was gonna be everywhere.’
Mom-of-five Tessica’s ordeal went viral after a TikTok video in which she explained she had been left with rigid, immovable locks for more than a month. She visited a local ER, burnt her scalp with acetone and hacked off her ponytail in an attempt to free her tresses
Los Angeles based Dr. Michael Obeng reached out to say he could remove the adhesive without charge. She then flew to LA for the $12,500 procedure that took four hours to complete
Gorilla Glue later released a statement about the situation on Monday after it was reported that Tessica wanted to sue. She has denied the report that she had hired an attorney
Tessica said she had used the Gorilla Glue before for other things and thought it would just ‘wash right out.’ When traditional shampoo failed to remove the glue, she tried olive and tea tree oils, but nothing worked.
It was then that she turned to TikTok looking for advice.
The morning after she posted the TikTok she went to to the emergency room at St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Chalmette, Louisiana, where healthcare workers tried removing the glue using ‘little acetone packs’ that burned her scalp.
Since then she has received plenty of support, including messages from Missy Elliott, Chance the Rapper, and Beyoncé’s hairstylist, Neal Farinah, who offered her a wig.
Gorilla Glue released a statement about the situation on social media Monday.
‘We are aware of the situation and we are very sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident that Miss Brown experienced using our Spray Adhesive on her hair,’ the brand tweeted.
‘We are glad to see in her recent video that Miss Brown has received medical treatment from her local medical facility and wish her the best.’