"I Was Foolish"... American Woman Who Used 'Super Glue' Instead of Hairspray Recovering After Surgery

An American woman who sprayed spray adhesive on her head and ended up in trouble. Photo by Teshika Brown, Facebook capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana] A woman in the United States who became a hot topic on social media (SNS) after suffering a mishap from applying strong adhesive to her hair to straighten her curly hair has shared an update on her condition.

Teshika Brown (40), a resident of Louisiana, said in an interview with Chicago ABC News on the 26th (local time), "I recently underwent surgery to remove all the adhesive that was fixing my scalp and hair."

Earlier this month, Brown gained attention by posting a video on the SNS platform TikTok showing her hair hardened like plastic due to adhesive applied, saying, "I can't remove the adhesive stuck to my hair." In the video, she said, "My hair has been like this for a month. It doesn't move at all."

Brown explained that last month, while preparing to go out, she found that her hairspray was finished and used a spray-type strong adhesive she had at home instead.

She tearfully said, "I thought washing my hair later would wash it off, but it didn't. I washed my hair 15 times but there was no change. It was such a foolish idea." She added, "I also tried using cooking oil and nail polish remover to remove the adhesive, but it was useless."

The video was posted by Brown to seek advice on solving the problem, but it sparked explosive reactions with about 6.4 million responses on her TikTok account and about 4 million views on Instagram.

In the broadcast interview, Brown said, "Black women pay special attention to their hair from a young age. Even if the skin is dark, they think that having neat hair will make them look a little better," and regretted, "If I hadn't paid excessive attention to my hair, I wouldn't have gone through this."

Black beauty expert Lani Flowers said, "Over the past 400 years, Black people, especially Black women, have wanted to assimilate into the white standard of 'beauty' by straightening and tidying their frizzy curly hair," adding, "It's a difficult and exhausting process."

Plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Obeng, who performed the adhesive removal surgery for free for Brown, said, "After hearing her story, I wanted to help her escape the pain."

Brown revealed that she plans to donate part of the approximately $25,000 (about 30 million KRW) raised through viewers' fundraising efforts to Dr. Obeng's foundation to help women in need of emergency surgery.

She said, "I hope Black women accept and love themselves and their hair as they are," and added, "Through this experience, I realized anew that it is not the hair but the thoughts in my head that define me."