The grift never takes a back seat.
Yeah, Tessica Brown ran out of hair spray and decided to use freaking GORILLA GLUE in her hair instead. You know the story by now. The woman sprayed next-level super glue into her hair and onto her scalp, and had to get plastic surgery to get it fixed.
And according to the media, it's not because she has room-temperature IQ. No, it's because of racism.
USA Today article highlights:
Since Feb. 3, Brown has amassed a large following from stars to plastic surgeons and celebrity hairstylists all invested in how her story plays out, and though Brown's circumstance may be on the extreme end of the spectrum, it speaks to how little people understand when it comes to Black hair care and the trials Black women have to go through to find adequate products.
Some people on Twitter criticized Brown, asking "who in their right mind would use Gorilla Glue?"
"Gorilla Glue isn't even on the hair aisle in the hair store or the grocery store. Gorilla Glue is located in the hardware section. She knew better," wrote @deyonnaxoo on Twitter.
However, the reality is that sometimes Black women need to venture outside of the hair care aisle to find products that work. Mayonnaise, olive oil and avocados are all used for hair styling purposes, and Twitter user @JenniferRoseNYC pointed out how certain hair products even resemble food products.
...
"Many times in many cities we're relegated to the bottom of the aisle, which is the Black hair care section," Everett said, adding though there's been progress in the availability of products, there's definitely room for more.
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin weighed into the debate, addressing the history of Black hair and professionalism.
"So many are being dismissive of #gorillagluegirl. Given the history of how black women are targeted and still battle the pervasive belief that our natural hair is unprofessional, unkempt, or in some way 'a statement' pls show her some grace and understanding," Hostin tweeted.
Everett said she feels Black women are held to a higher standard and expected to know the ins and outs of hair care.
She noted, "Other nationalities can slap hair on their head and keep going, (but) we are so extremely judged it's crazy."
I'd like to take a moment to remind that you people are writing all of this stuff because a woman sprayed freaking GORILLA GLUE on her scalp.
Onward to highlights from an article from the Washington Post:
Plenty of people ridiculed and got their belly laughs at Brown's misfortune, but there was a sense of community among others, especially Black people who sought to shield her from being a spectacle of idiocy. The extreme she went to for zero flyaways is very unusual, but the desired outcome is as old as Black people's time in a country that often mocked how they look, experts say.
The mother of five said she was familiar with Gorilla Glue before her very unfortunate mistake, using it often around her Louisiana home for tasks such as setting up Christmas decorations.
When she ran out of her favorite Got2B glued hair spray, she reached for the Gorilla Spray Adhesive to save on time before leaving her home.
She figured she could just spray it on her hair and wash it out once she got home that day.
Let's pause for a quick moment to really appreciate that this woman thought she could firehose blast high-powered super glue all onto her hair and scalp and then just wash it out once she got home...
Onward:
Neal Lester said he initially thought Brown's problem was a prank, but as he continued to follow the story, he said it reminded him of all the ways Black Americans have used unusual hair products to manipulate or style their hair.
"I thought of Malcolm X and his experience with the conk," said the Foundation Professor of English and founding director of Project Humanities at Arizona State University, referring to the hair straightener made of lye, eggs and potatoes used by many Black people in the earlier and middle part of the 20th century. "That straightening started with enslaved people using axle wheel grease and dirty dishwasher with oil."
Enslaved men used axle wheel grease as a means to dye their hair or temporarily straighten it, and the women would use butter, fat from bacon or grease from geese to care for their hair, according to "Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America."
"Sometimes a piece of cloth warmed over a flame would be pulled across the head and worn for a short while to stretch the curls out," authors Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharps wrote.
...
Black women's hair choices are often labeled as self-hate or Afrocentric with no in between, said Kristin Denise Rowe, professor of American studies at California State University at Fullerton.
"Many of us have not been in that particular predicament, but we know what it's like to do something crazy … to get it to lay a certain way, such as toothbrushes for our baby hair," she said.
Racism.
Unjust misunderstanding of black people's hair.
Heck, we even got Malcolm X thrown in there!
Everyone with a functioning prefrontal cortex knows that Tessica's situation is no deeper than a stupid decision. And it's OK to say that.
Everyone knows that if you accidentally get Krazy Glue on your finger and then touch your thumb with that finger then you're in big trouble because your digits will be cemented together. And this lady Aqua-Netted Gorilla Glue onto her dome. C'mon people. Come the heck on.
