The Louisiana mom who sprayed her hair with Gorilla Glue has said she is donating $ 20,000 of her GoFundMe money to charity.
Tessica Brown, 40, from Violet, will give the money to the Restore Foundation, which helps people who need reconstructive surgery, her manager told TMZ.
Brown had started her fundraising page with the goal of reaching $ 1,500 to buy the wigs she needed after using the super glue when she ran out of hairspray.
But after the Tik Tok video about her plight went viral, Dr. Michael Obeng from Los Angeles to say he could remove the glue free of charge. She then flew to LA this week for the $ 12,500 procedure that took four hours.
On Sunday, she had raised more than $ 23,000 in donations, of which she is now donating $ 20,000 to the Restore Foundation, a charity that helps those in need of reconstructive surgery and is the brainchild of Dr. Obeng.
The remainder of the money is for an emergency room visit she had to make after using the glue and her travel expenses to fly to LA for surgery, her spokesperson added.
Tessica Brown has said she’s donating $ 20,000 of her GoFundMe money to charity after using Gorilla Glue in her when she ran out of hairspray
As of Sunday, she had raised more than $ 23,000 in donations, of which she is now donating $ 20,000 to the Restore Foundation, a charity that helps those in need of reconstructive surgery and is the brainchild of Dr. Obeng
Mother-of-five Tessica’s ordeal went viral after a TikTok video explaining that she had been sitting with rigid, immovable locks for over a month.
She visited a local ER, burned her scalp with acetone and chopped off her ponytail in an attempt to free her locks.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Tessica expressed her gratitude to Dr. Obeng and wrote: ‘Words can’t even explain how I feel about @drmichaelkobeng, you really gave me my life back and I’m forever grateful.’
Dr. Obeng, who offered Tessica the expensive treatment for free after seeing her condition online, used a custom blend of chemicals and natural products to dissolve the glue, after first practicing on a dummy head to ensure his formula would work.
‘I looked up the compound, the main active ingredient in Gorilla Glue: polyurethane,’ explained Dr. Obeng out to TMZ. ‘Then we discovered the science, how to split it up.’
He continued: ‘We bought chemicals that contained components to dissolve the solvent, we used medical adhesive remover that we use in the operating room.
‘Then we have another active ingredient, MGD. We added MGD – a blend of aloe vera and olive oil. Then we added a little acetone. ‘
Tessica explained in her viral TikTok video that she ran out of Göt2b Glued Spray and used Gorilla Glue instead, pictured
Brown had started her fundraising page with a $ 1,500 goal to buy the wigs she needed after using the superglue when she ran out of hairspray
In a video shot at Dr. Obeng’s office, Tessica – who received light anesthesia before treatment – is seen on an operating table after the successful procedure, running her hands through her exposed locks and torn with relief. .
During the procedure, the mixture was applied to Tessica’s hair with a sprayer, while Dr. Obeng used medical tweezers and scissors to try to gently pull apart the matted hair and cut the strands of glue holding her locks 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 strands.
Tessica was given painkillers and steroids to reduce the swelling and inflammation caused by the glue – and the chemicals she used to remove it.
Remarkably, Dr. Obeng was able to save much of Tessica’s hair – though after the procedure she admitted that she wished she’d visited him before asking her sister to chop off her long ponytail in hopes of removing the glue.
“I can scratch it!” Tessica told the camera as she ran her nails over her scalp. “Now I wish I had waited for my sister to cut my ponytail.”
‘I would never take this to social media. The reason I brought this to social media was because I didn’t know what else to do, ” she told ET’s Melicia Johnson.
‘And I know someone out there could have told me something. I didn’t think for a second that when I got up the next morning it would be everywhere. ‘
Mother-of-five Tessica’s ordeal went viral after a TikTok video explaining that she had been sitting with rigid, immovable locks for over a month. She visited a local emergency room, burned her scalp with acetone and chopped off her ponytail in an attempt to free her locks.
Dr. Los Angeles-based Michael Obeng got in touch to say he could remove the glue at no charge. She then flew to LA for the $ 12,500 procedure that took four hours
Gorilla Glue later released a statement on the situation on Monday after it was reported that Tessica was seeking to press charges. She has denied the report that she hired a lawyer
Tessica said she had used the Gorilla Glue for other things before and thought it would just ‘wash out’. When traditional shampoo didn’t remove the glue, she tried olive oil and tea tree oil, but nothing worked.
It was then that she turned to TikTok in search of advice.
The morning after she posted the TikTok, she went to the emergency room at St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Chalmette, Louisiana, where health workers tried to remove the glue with “little bags of acetone” that burned her scalp.
She has since garnered a lot of support, including posts from Missy Elliott, Chance the Rapper, and Beyoncé’s hairstylist, Neal Farinah, who offered her a wig.
Gorilla Glue released a statement on the situation on social media on Monday.
“We are aware of the situation and are very sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident Miss Brown experienced when she used our Spray Adhesive on her hair,” the brand tweeted.
“We are happy to see in her recent video that Miss Brown has received medical treatment from her local medical facility and wish her the best.”