Tessica Brown Unveiled an Alarming Lack of Empathy

And we need to do better.

Anna Ruby
2 min readFeb 15, 2021

Tessica Brown glued her hair to her head. If you haven’t heard about this, here’s the short version.

She ran out of hairspray and used Gorilla Glue Spray Adhesive in its place. Now she has to seek emergency medical treatment to remove the adhesive and unstick her hair from her scalp.

Many people have heard of Tessica’s story and immediately rebuked her for being so dumb. Of course you shouldn’t use gorilla glue in your hair! What kind of idiot would think that’s okay?!

On the flip side, hundreds of caring souls have donated to the GoFundMe set up to cover her medical bills. Donations have well-exceed the original goal of $1,500.

So, is Tessica Brown a foolish woman who got what was coming to her? Or is she a poor soul who deserves help from strangers?

The Difference Between Sympathy and Empathy

Sympathy: feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune.

Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

While I agree with others that using Gorilla Glue as a hair product was a choice not informed by intelligence, I also believe that Tessica deserves help.

I don’t sympathize with Tessica Brown. But I do feel empathy for her. I don’t feel pity for her and the choice that she made. But if it was me, I…

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Anna Ruby

Writer obsessed with the human spirit, psychology, and the significance of day-to-day life.