A mum had to spend 20 hours untangling toys from her daughter's hair.
Lisa Tschirlig Hoelzle had a nightmare trying to retrieve 150 sticky Bunchems which had become 'matted' into her daughter, Abigail's hair.
The mum shared a picture of the girl's hair on Facebook explaining what happened and the post quickly went viral, reports The Mirror.
The American mum wrote: "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.
"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.
"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 three hours to get out 15.
"Then Dan got home and googled it and we realized the severity of what we were up against."
After googling for advice the couple discovered the company who manufactures Bunchems advise using conditioner or vegetable oil to help detangle them.
The mum said despite the advice, neither product worked and the girl had to go to bed with them still in her hair. Lisa said she felt 'crushed at the prospect of having to cut all her daughter's hair off.
She said: "I slept with her head on me so they wouldn’t get more tangled. Not that I really could sleep.
"If we cut them out because of how deep they were she would have winded up with a short pixie cut. It crushed my heart and I just couldn’t in my heart give up without trying my best to get them out.
"So Saturday morning I went to the store got everything I could think of to help and we started. My Mom's friend suggested mineral oil and I got a good detangle comb and started my mission. There was also a lot of tears (mine) Abigail consoled me and Noah because he felt awful what he did."
After 20 very long hours, Lisa managed to get all of the toys out of her daughter's hair without having to cut it off.
She added: "I feel like we had a miracle with all of our prayers. We saved her hair and although it is thinner it wasn’t as damaged and ruined as I thought so Thank you, God!!!
"My fingers are literally swollen from this but worth it all. I am still in disbelief that we went through and got through this whole awful situation!!!"
She went on to warn other parents not to make the same mistake.
"Soooooo spread the word, trash your Bunchems if you have them or if you love them wear a shower cap when playing with a sibling! Lol. This will be something we will never forget very traumatic experience in the Hoelzle household this weekend."
Bunchems come with a warning to keep them away from hair and in 2013, shortly after the toy was launched, they released a video explaining how to remove them from hair.
The experts advise using vegetable oil or hair conditioner to soften the hair. The next step is to brush the hair below the Bunchems, to remove any tangles, then gently pull and slide the Bunchems to the hair ends.
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