Beware of Bunchems

My 6 year old got this adorable toy “Bunchems” for Christmas. It was one of the things he wanted most from Santa, as he is a sucker for commercials and an advertiser’s dream. My ten year old daughter had a few friends sleep over the other night. I was downstairs having some wine with friends when the girls came to show us their AMAZING creation. It really was quite beautiful.

Upon closer examination, I started to appreciate how they work. Each bunchem has a hundred little hooks so they can stick together. They also stick to hair — really well as it turns out. I tried to remove one. I couldn’t. I tried for over a half an hour. I removed two, along with a good deal of hair. We tried conditioner, olive oil and patience, and at 3am had to finally call it quits for some sleep.

This is what it looked like in the morning:

At this point, I couldn’t remove any more, possibly because I couldn’t see through the tears. I truly thought this poor kid was going to need a crewcut. Seeing my frustration, my husband, who has more patience and a more level head than me gave it a try.

Close to two hours later, he had them all out. This is what her hair looked like:

I am happy to report, after a good shampoo and a bottle of conditioner, her hair is now back to normal. But take heed! Even on the most innocent-looking of toys, look for warning labels. Those are hours of our life we will never get back.

Caution: Keep Away from hair. May (WILL!) become entangled.