When popular toys hit the market, it’s safe to say that parents pick up on the trends and pick them up for their own kids. Some items tend to be best-sellers for a reason — kids love them.
Behind some popular toys, however, there are parents who have some crazy accidents that leave them cautious and wanting to inform other parents to watch out when their kids are using them.
Recently, one mom went on Facebook to warn other parents about a popular kids’ toy known as “Bunchems.”
“Bunchems” are little balls that can be used to build fun animals, creatures, and items by “bunching” the pieces together. They stick together because of the material used which is similar to velcro.
However, when you’re not careful, the pieces can get tangled up in some other things.
Mom Lisa Tschirlig Hoelzle posted the warning on her Facebook page, urging parents to be careful and keep an eye on their kids when using the product after her daughter had a horrible mishap with them.
Lisa shared that the Bunchems got completely tangled in her daughter’s hair, making it nearly impossible to get them out.
![Image credit: [Facebook l Lisa Tschirlig Hoelzle]https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10218938917291625&set=pcb.10218939064575307)](https://static.diply.com/pNy7Hl0xeVh9M5IIpuiQ.png)
“Friday at 4pm until Saturday at 10pm was my worst Mom nightmare to date!!!
“Abigail and Noah got done virtual school and went in the basement to play, about 10 minutes later Noah comes running up to tell me that Abigail had something stuck in her hair …. then she came up! I think I had an out of body experience,” she wrote on Facebook.
Apparently, Abigail isn’t the only one who has had this happen to her.
“Apparently, Noah had poured a container of ‘Bunchems’ on Abigail’s head being a jokester. We have had these for years but rarely play with them.
“If you google Bunchems and tangled hair you will see a ton of [posts] come up of children that this had happened [to]. Amazing, that they can still be on the market with a small warning label stating that they can get stuck in hair,” she continued.
The Bunchems are made to stick together really well, so getting all of them out of her daughter’s hair was a challenge.
“She had about 150 of these things layered and matted in her hair. They made it worse trying to remove them themselves because [they] connect together kinda like Velcro. It took me about 3 hours to get out 15,” she wrote.
Her husband had Googled a bunch of ways to get them out, but it took forever.
“Then Dan got home and googled it [and] we realized the severity of what we were up against. It suggested using conditioner and vegetable oil to loosen it but that made it worse and so messy. He got out about 10 more. Before you knew it, it was 1 am and Abigail could not keep her eyes open. I slept with her head on me so they wouldn’t get more tangled. Not that I really could sleep,” she added.
It took over 20 hours to get all of them out, the mom shared.
The next day, they went to the store and bought everything they could think of to get her hair to be silky and smooth enough to get them out. And, it took over 20 hours to get them all out from her hair. The mom even shared her daughter’s hair was “thinner” after the process.
She shared that parents should have their kids wear “shower caps” if they choose to use them at all.
Lisa also said she would be contacting the company to put in a formal complaint and consumer warning after the entire experience. She wanted to make sure other parents didn’t go through the same issues.
People in the comments were saying that they’ve heard of this, or even had it happen to them, too.
Many parents were saying that these toys are a disaster and they could “f*** right off.” Many even shared that it’s traumatizing for the kids to even go through.
One person said the toys were “designed by the devil himself.”
It seems that these toys have a fairly negative reputation in the parenting community. Many parents are already advising family and friends to avoid gifting them to kids.
Thousands of people reacted to Lisa’s post and praised her efforts to save her daughter’s hair.
While the photos from her post were shocking, many applauded the transformation of her daughter’s hair. It took a lot of persistence but Lisa and her husband pulled it off.
This isn’t the first time parents have complained about Bunchems.
The toy has multiple negative reviews on Amazon from parents who went through a similar experience with their own children.
“These are fun and easy to use HOWEVER if your child gets the bright idea to decorate their hair with them you both are in for HOURS of hell,” one review said.
Some parents are calling for the toy to be banned.
The Amazon review from this photo said it took parents 10 hours to untangle the Bunchems from their daughter’s hair and that she will likely have some hair loss as a result.
“Cannot believe that this is an actual toy and that Amazon can in good conscience continue to sell it,” the review said.
This parent said they used needle nose pilers to carefully separate the hair from the toy.
The painstaking process took hours, and like other parents who have encountered this problem, the parent advised others to avoid Bunchems.
If you own this toy, be sure to supervise your children when using it — especially when it comes to their hair!
