A Pennsylvania mom spent a whole bunch of time — 20 hours, to be exact —extracting sticky toy balls from her 6-year-old daughter’s hair.
Lisa Hoelzle’s twins, Abigail and Noah, were playing with Bunchems last month when they hit a major snag.
“Noah comes running over to me and is like, ‘Mommy, Abigail’s got something stuck on her head,'” Hoelzle, 47, told TODAY Parents.
When Abigail emerged from the basement, Hoelzle’s heart sank.
“I think I had an out-of-body experience. Apparently, Noah had poured a container of ‘Bunchems’ on Abigail’s head being a jokester,” Hoelzle wrote in a now-viral Facebook post. “She had about 150 of these things layered and matted in her hair. They made it worse trying to remove them themselves…”
The toy’s manufacturer, Spin Master Ltd, is aware of the hazard, and each package contains a warning to keep Bunchems away from hair. It also recommends tying hair back to avoid entanglement. In 2015, the company released an instructional video for how to remove the sticky spheres using conditioner and vegetable oil. (Spin Master did not immediately reply to TODAY’s request for comment.)
According to Hoelzle’s post, the manufacturer's trick made the situation “worse and so messy.”
Eventually, Hoelzle was able to loosen the Bunchems using mineral oil and a detangling brush.
“It wasn’t magic, but I was able to start prying them out without ripping her hair,” Hoelzle told TODAY. Hoelzle recommends wearing a shower cap for 25 minutes after applying the oil for best results.
Hoelzle is happy to report that they were able to “save” Abigail’s thick brown strands. But she’s concerned other kids won’t be so lucky and has filed a complaint with Spin Master.
“I would really like them to put stronger warnings on the labels. My phone has literally blown up with so many people sending me pictures and saying the same exact thing happened to them,” Hoelzle revealed. “I almost feel like I need to start a Facebook ‘Survivor of Bunchems’ group.”