Please, for the Love of All That Is Holy, Do Not Try the Gorilla Glue Challenge

If you've been on the internet lately, then you've probably heard about the Gorilla Glue incident. Rather, you probably saw what went down. 40-year-old Tessica Brown uploaded a TikTok video that went viral for its sheer insanity. The Louisiana native ran out of her go-to hair spray, so she used Gorilla Glue spray adhesive in a pinch. The results were horrifying — she styled her hair in a tight pony, and the glue made it so that the hair on the top of her hair was so slicked back it wouldn't budge.

As hard as she tried, the glue could not be washed out. Tessica ended up at the emergency room, where they gave her saline water and nail polish remover, but trying to extract the glue herself proved to be too painful. A day ago, Tessica posted to her Instagram that she was on her way to Los Angeles to get it surgically removed. Nine hours ago TMZ posted a video of the surgery, and it looks like Tessica is going to be okay.

 However, it's unclear what kind of sustained, possibly permanent damage she has from months of wearing Gorilla Glue.

While most people would never dream of putting Gorilla Glue anywhere near their face, some people unfortunately took this big mistake as a challenge. And thus, the Gorilla Glue challenge was born.

The Gorilla Glue challenge is an attempt to show that Gorilla Glue isn't all that adhesive. So far, a few people have used Gorilla Glue inappropriately. The challenge started when 37-year-old Len Martin (also from Louisiana) applied Gorilla Glue to his lip because he thought Tessica was lying about the severity of the situation. Len filmed himself gluing a plastic cup to his lip. He ended up in the hospital, where medical professionals had to peel the cup off his lip. 

Len also infamously participated in the ice cream challenge (he licked ice cream in a carton at the grocery store and put it back). He was arrested for this back in July 2019.

“I thought she was just playing around because I didn’t think it was that serious," Len said. He added, “I thought it could lick it off kind of to moisten it and pull it right off but that didn’t work.” Len claimed he really didn't mean for the challenge to escalate like this. He said, "I didn’t think it would go this far … You got Valentine’s Day coming up. I can’t even kiss my lip." 

Other Gorilla Glue challenge "victims" (can you be a victim if you truly bring this upon yourself?) including a girl who used Gorilla Glue tape to wax herself, and another who copied Tessica and put it on her scalp. Because, sure.

It should be obvious, but Gorilla Glue products are not meant to go anywhere near people or animals. The brand's disclaimer states that the spray adhesive especially is "considered permanent and designed for use on craft, home, auto or office projects to mount things such as paper, cardboard, wood, laminate and fabric." It warns, "Do not swallow. Do not get in eyes, on skin or on clothing." Maybe they should also add "Do not use as hairspray"?