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Mum's warning after toy destroyed daughter's hair

A furious mum claims her daughter was "traumatised" after she endured a seven-hour battle to free popular spiked building toys from her head – that knotted her hair so badly it broke a crying hairdresser's scissors.

Sandra Gow from Lybster, north Scotland, tried using conditioner and oil to remove the Bunchems from seven-year-old Eva’s hair to no avail.

In desperation, Sandra rang a hairdresser pal who invited them to her salon where it supposedly took two hairdressers more than five hours to remove the toys from Eva’s hair.

Eva had to go to the hairdresser to get the toys out. Photo: Caters News
Eva had to go to the hairdresser to get the toys out. Photo: Caters News

Toy manufacturer Spin Master Toys said they are only intended to be adhered to other Bunchems and carry a warning to keep away from hair as they “may become entangled”.

“At one point there was a matt in her hair that was about three centimetres wide was so tough that it broke the hairdresser’s scissors,” Sandra, 45, said.

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“One of the girls had to use her teeth to get some of them out!”

She added that, “Eva was in pain and crying all the way through. We were all really upset, the hairdressers had tears streaming down their faces while they were trying to get them out.

“Her hair is really important to her, she always refuses to get it cut, it’s like princess hair to her.”

Bunchems are small balls that connect together to build fun shapes.
Bunchems are small balls that connect together to build fun shapes.

Mum-of-three Sandra said she had no reservations when Eva’s brother Michael, 28, bought her the popular toy for Christmas.

Sandra said it was only after her daughter accidentally caught the squishy building balls in her hair that she saw concerns about the product being shared on social media.

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“I hadn’t heard that much about them, I just knew they were one of the toys to have at Christmas,” she said.

“Eva had been playing with her friend and it got dropped on her head."

Eva's hair before the incident. Photo: Caters News
Eva's hair before the incident. Photo: Caters News

“I Googled how to try and get them out and we tried putting conditioner and oil on her hair, but that didn’t work.

“She has fine hair but she has a lot of it. She’s grown her hair since she was a baby, it was down past her bottom.

“It doesn’t look as bad from a distance, but close up you can see all the damage.”

Returning home late that night, Sandra says little Eva was devastated to be left with thinned hair that had to have six inches lobbed off.

Eva and Sandra were distraught. Photo: Caters News
Eva and Sandra were distraught. Photo: Caters News

And the upset mum says her daughter has been left “traumatised” by the ordeal and has been sick and unusually reserved ever since.

Sandra was quick to bin the toys, but was disturbed to see the daughter’s reaction when she spotted a stray Bunchem on the floor.

A Spin Master Toys spokesman said: “Since Spin Master launched Bunchems in August 2015, we have received an overwhelmingly positive response from children, parents and industry partners.

“Bunchems are colourful, soft, tactile balls that make endless creations, however, they are intended only to be adhered to other Bunchems.
This is particularly important for parents and caregivers to understand."

The toys connect together with soft hooks.
The toys connect together with soft hooks.

“The Bunchems packaging and directions clearly state: 'Caution: Keep away from hair. May become entangled'." they added.

“Immediately after the product was released in 2015 and after hearing hair entanglement feedback from a few consumers, we quickly developed instructional videos for our YouTube channel and website as a way to proactively educate people on how to play with the product and how to remove Bunchems from hair if they do get tangled.”

- With additional reporting by Caters News.

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