Courtesy Lisa Tschirlig Hoelzle
A Pennsylvania mom recently had her worst nightmare when nearly 150 tiny toys got stuck in her daughter’s hair and took almost a full day to remove.
Last month, Lisa Hoelzle shared in a now viral Facebook post that her sons Noah and Abigail, both 6, were playing downstairs when they got into a difficult situation.
The pair had just finished their virtual school when they went to the basement to play with Bunchems, small velcro-like balls that easily attach to each other.
Noah, being a “prankster”, decided to dump a container full of Bunchems on his sister’s head, creating Lisa’s “mother’s worst nightmare,” she explained in the post.
“I think I had an out-of-body experience,” said Lisa about seeing her daughter’s hair. “She had about 150 of these things layered and tangled in her hair. They made it worse when trying to remove them because they connect like a velcro.”
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Courtesy Lisa Tschirlig Hoelzle
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The mother of two said it took three hours just to get 15 Bunchem balls out of Abigail’s hair.
When her husband Dan arrived home, the pair researched how to untangle toys from their daughter’s hair and quickly “realized the gravity” of the situation.
“He suggested using conditioner and vegetable oil to loosen it, but it made it worse and very confusing,” she said.
After Dan successfully removed another 10 balls from Abigail’s head, it was almost one in the morning and the family decided to go to bed. Lisa put Abigail to sleep with her head resting on her mother’s stomach to avoid any further confusion.
The next day, Lisa went out to buy mineral oil and a detangling comb to better prepare herself for hours of removing toys.
After “many tears” and 20 hours of “pulling them out of her head and a lot of hair loss”, the Bunchems were finally removed from Abigail’s head. Lisa continued the painful experience with “an hour or more in the bathtub with conditioner”.
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“I feel like we had a miracle with all of our prayers. We saved her hair and, although it’s thinner, it wasn’t as damaged and ruined as I thought. Thank you God !!!” she wrote.
The mother of two said her fingers were “literally swollen” with the experience, but she is grateful to have overcome the “terrible situation”.
Now, Lisa is trying to spread the word about the dangers of the sticky toy to prevent other parents from going through the same thing.
“This will be something we will never forget the very traumatic experience at the Hoelzle house to handle this weekend,” she said.
According New York Post, Bunchems have been discontinued, but are still available for purchase online.