“Gorilla Glue Girl” or Sad Bad World?

If you live under a rock and haven’t heard about this, there is a woman who ran out of her hairspray, which is regrettably called “Got2B Glued,” and grabbed a can of spray on Gorilla Glue. If I understand the story right, after a month she realized the glue was not coming out of her hair.

I haven’t really seen her videos, just stills, but apparently she went on social media asking for help to get unstuck. What she mostly seems to have gotten is ridicule, including from one friend of mine who proposed her for a Darwin Award. I mentioned that the Darwin Award is usually reserved for dead people, those who have removed themselves from the gene pool. He replied, “I dunno … I wouldn’t want to be the guy who dated/married the Gorilla Glue Girl.”

I’m kind of getting an education on this subject, though. While people do “stupid” things, I’m afraid, at least in this case, there is some natural confusion possible on what to do about your hair, especially if you’re black.

I recently read a part of Malcolm X’s autobiography, where he described the process of “conking,” ( getting a “conk” hairstyle, derived from Congolene, a hair straightener gel made from lye) popular among black males in his time. This could be a relatively expensive treatment at a barber so he and a friend did it at home. Lye, eggs, potatoes, and some other things were used to straighten their hair. Painful, potentially very damaging, yet they did it to “look right,” and, he adds, to fit in among whites.

As I mentioned, this woman used a product called “Got2B glued hairspray,” so it’s possible she was genuinely confused. (As I side note, I found this image under an Ulta site caption celebrating Black History Month. I’m not sure what to say about that.) She came to the internet for help and got a lot of ridicule before finally getting actual help. I’m including an image of some hair care products to show you it truly can be confusing and hard for people to know what’s safe and what isn’t. The product on the top left even has “Gorila” as part of the name.

I do think it’s significant that a plastic surgeon had the answer for her, and freely gave his knowledge and expertise to help. We sometimes mock them, too, along with people’s obsession with physical attractiveness. Remember that Super Glue is sometimes used medically, for example, in place of stitches. Sure, it may not be be that Super Glue; the one you pull out of the junk drawer at home.

I hope we haven’t just devolved into a culture where we mock everybody who’s grown up not so well informed and so does something out of ignorance. It kinda makes me sad.

I am glad that she got help at no cost. But I still have questions. Is she really suing Gorilla Glue? That would also be sad and wrong. Someone suggested that she ought to be suing Got 2B Glued. Many reached out to offer support or help, even Gorilla Glue. Her gofundme was very successful and she got help at no cost. I agree that the sue-happy culture is far out of hand. I wonder if she will do the right thing about the funds raised or if she will keep the money and also try to sue.

That would fall far past the excusable ignorance line. We live in a sad, bad world.

Post edited to include information I received from a black friend to clear up some of my questions:

So the young lady did get the Gorilla glue out her hair and she also corrected the misinformation that spread about her:–no, she is not seeking legal action against Gorilla Glue–no, she did not do this to gain internet attention–yes, she was at her wits’ end when she reached out to social media for help–no, she did not spend 22 hours in ER–yes, she wished she’d never put it out there as it has affected her family and her relationship with her children–yes, she wished she had never put glue in her hair.