Gorilla Glue Girl — Tessica Brown looks shocked next to a Gorilla Spray Adhesive bottle in her original TikTok video

Gorilla Glue Girl

2021viral videoclassic

Published August 5, 2026

Gorilla Glue Girl is the nickname for Tessica Brown, a Louisiana woman whose February 2021 TikTok and Instagram videos went viral after she admitted she had sprayed Gorilla Glue adhesive on her hair as a substitute for hairspray. The clips racked up tens of millions of views, sparked a wave of jokes and copycat stunts, and led to a Beverly Hills surgical procedure to remove the glue.

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Overview

Gorilla Glue Girl is the nickname the internet gave Tessica Brown, a Louisiana woman who posted a February 2021 video explaining that her hair had been stuck to her scalp for about a month after she used Gorilla Glue spray adhesive in place of her usual got2b Glued hairspray1. In the clip she rubs her head to show that the tightly slicked ponytail will not budge and says she has already washed her hair at least 15 times with no result3.

The meme is less a template and more a shared viral story, with jokes, reaction videos and image macros riffing on the sheer bad decision at the center of it2. Homer Simpson edits, TikTok comedy skits and copycat stunts all pointed back to the same source clip, making "Gorilla Glue Girl" shorthand for a beauty hack gone catastrophically wrong3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
Tessica Brown
Date
2021

On February 3rd, 2021, Tessica Brown uploaded near-identical videos to Instagram and TikTok in which she describes running out of got2b Glued and reaching for Gorilla Glue spray, admitting on camera that it was a bad idea and warning viewers not to try it3. Within six days the Instagram upload passed 2.8 million views and the TikTok version passed 20.8 million3.

Later that same day she posted a follow-up of herself shampooing the hardened ponytail to prove the glue would not wash out, a clip that pulled in another 7.1 million TikTok views and 3 million on Instagram3. She later told Entertainment Tonight that she only went public because she was out of ideas and hoped a stranger online might know how to fix it2.

How It Spread

Over the next week Brown documented every attempted fix. On February 4th she tried coconut and tea tree oil overnight, then confirmed the next day that it had not worked3. A dermatologist replied on TikTok recommending she see a doctor, and on February 6th she checked in at St. Bernard Parish Hospital in Louisiana for treatment1. Chance The Rapper tweeted his support the same day, and Gorilla Glue itself responded on February 8th, wishing her well while reminding people not to put the adhesive on their hair or body3.

The story kept escalating. Brown launched a GoFundMe on February 8th that blew past its $1,500 goal to more than $13,000 in a single day3. TMZ then reported she was weighing a lawsuit against Gorilla Glue over its labeling, a claim she publicly denied on February 10th during an Entertainment Tonight interview2. On February 11th Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Obeng performed a roughly four-hour procedure at no cost to remove the glue, a job usually priced around $12,0003.

The meme kept generating spinoffs. Louisiana man Len Martin glued a cup to his lip trying to prove the original video was fake and had to have it peeled off by doctors3. Comedy TikToks, Homer Simpson image macros and other jokes kept the clip circulating, and by February 13th Brown had gained roughly 800,000 Instagram followers and 1.1 million on TikTok, plus a "Bonded For Life" merch line3.

How to Use This Meme

Gorilla Glue Girl is not a fill-in-the-blank template so much as a reference point. Posts typically pair a screenshot or clip of Tessica Brown with a caption about a decision the poster deeply regrets, or use "gorilla glue" as a punchline for anything comically permanent3. Reaction image macros often feature characters like Homer Simpson standing in for the audience watching the story unfold3.

Frequently Asked Questions