A Sticky Situation.
This week, the internet was introduced to Tessica Brown, a woman from Louisiana who made possibly the most unfortunate haircare mixup in history. Instead of using regular hairspray on her hair, she used a can of Gorilla Glue spray adhesive. Her hair became stuck to her scalp like a helmet, and her social media videos about the incident garnered up millions views.
After spending 22 hours in the emergency room over the weekend, Brown a.k.a. “Gorilla Glue girl” still needed for relief from her hairy predicament.Brown eventually had her long ponytail cut off. (Yikes) Meanwhile, a Go Fund Me effort has raised more than $21,000 toward her medical bills.
A Beverly Hills surgeon, Dr. Michael Obeng, offered his services, for free, to help her remove the adhesive from her hair After a four-hour-long surgery, Brown’s head was glue-free. According to Dr. Obeng, who did the procedure, stated that he used medical-grade adhesive remover, aloe vera, olive oil and even acetone.
TMZ says that Brown has since obtained a lawyer and is looking into her legal options as far as moving forward with a lawsuit against the company, Gorilla Glue.
Gorilla Glue released a statement expressing sympathy for Brown, but noted that its products specifically warn against getting the product on “eyes, on skin, or on clothing.” By having this disclaimer on their spray cans, a court may find that Gorilla Glue did not breach any duty to protect its consumers, because it clearly informed people of the potential harmful effects that the product could have. Warning the public about what not to use it on, would be sufficient to not be considered negligent.
On the other hand, a court could also find that by not specifically disclosing the word “hair” as one of the categories that someone should not apply the adhesive to, that Gorilla Glue could in fact be held liable, and therefore owe Brown damages. A court could find that a reasonable person in Brown’s situation may have genuinely believed that the contents of the can contained hairspray, and that GG failed to distinguish from its powerful adhesive, therefore breaching its duty of responsibility. In this case, moving forward, Brown would likely set a precedent that requires Gorilla Glue to add the statement “do not apply to hair” to all of its spray cans.
It is unclear at this time if Brown has formally retained a lawyer or filed a complaint, but we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop as her story develops.