One mother is issuing a warning to other shoppers after alleging that her daughter was forced to shave her head as a result of using conditioner which had been mixed with hair removal cream.
Taffy Jo Timm, who is 44-years-old, shared the story to Facebook last month when she said her daughter Ashley’s hair began to fall out after using a shampoo and conditioner set she had purchased at a Walmart in New Richmond, Wisconsin, on July 23.
The mother believes the conditioner had mixed it with a hair removal product like Nair after leaving it on her head for around 10 minutes.
“I have to share bc tonight has been very, very traumatic for me. You don’t think to check your shampoo or conditioner…”
If you have never used Nair, it is a popular hair removal cream which removes hair from the skin surface when applied. Usually, it is used on legs and armpits and the product has a very strong order to it as chemicals are used to remove the hair.
A GoFundMe page has since been set up for the woman which explains:
“[Ashley] let the conditioner sit for about 10 minutes while she went about other steps of showering before rinsing it out. As she exited the shower, she realized that her hair had a foul odor to it, so she re-entered the shower and began washing it again. At this point, Ashley’s hair began falling out in massive clumps. It is believed that the conditioner was tampered with and someone put some sort of chemical depilatory cream inside of it. Attention new Richmond Walmart shoppers be aware of shampoo and conditioner you buy there as my daughter Ashley Rose.”
In another post, Ashley shared how she went to the emergency room after using the product to ensure she didn’t suffer chemical burns adding, “thankfully in some spots [the scalp] was just red and irritated but looked okay.”
“My hair was finally the way I loved it to be and now it’s gone. Picture[s] do not do it justice or show the 100% damage it has caused me. My heart hurts terribly I don’t even have any words to say to anyone as I just can’t get anything out but that it hurts and has been scary. My only intentions for sharing is to prevent it from happening to anyone else. Check your bottles where ever you get them, nothing can be trusted anymore.”
In addition, Ashley went to the hairdressers hoping to get extensions to attempt to get extensions and conceal her hair loss but her remaining hair was determined to be too fragile to handle them.
Ashley as a result, felt the only option left was to shave her head.
The GoFundMe continues, saying:
“Hair is such a part of our personal identity and having to lose all of it without expectation or choice is an incredibly traumatic experience.”
The page hopes to raise money for Ashley to purchase wigs as well as offset any potential medical costs as well as legal fees.
It should be noted that Ashley lives alone — which means the product could not have been tampered with in her home.
She reportedly filed a police report so Walmart can release surveillance footage to investigators but Taffy says she has yet to hear from the authorities.