Young girl forced to shave head as 'tampered' conditioner leaves her bald and red-scalped, shocked mom warns shoppers

NEW RICHMOND, WISCONSIN: A mother penned a heartbreaking Facebook post on July 28, detailing how her daughter had unknowingly bought and used a conditioner from Walmart that had been tampered with, causing her to go through tremendous hair loss and ultimately being forced to shave off her locks. 

The post was shared by Taffy Jo Timm, 44, who warned buyers to exercise caution while purchasing shampoo or conditioner bottles from stores. "Attention new Richmond Walmart shoppers be aware of shampoo and conditioner you buy there as my daughter Ashley Rose bought some two days ago and someone mixed Nair in her conditioner bottle," the mother wrote in the post. 

Timm claimed that her daughter had bought a Pantene Pro-V Sheer Volume shampoo and conditioner set at a Walmart in New Richmond, Wisconsin. Although she did not suspect anything wrong with the bottle at the time, she was left horrified after she applied both on her hair on July 28. 

"She 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," a description read on a GoFundMe page set up to help Rose purchase wigs as well as take care of any potential medical costs and legal fees that might incur in catching the perpetrators.

Since Rose lives alone, her mother was sure that the tampering was not done by someone after the purchase. The Facebook post added: "As I speak she is losing hair and crying!!"

One useful tip to suspect tampering is to look out for any kind of discoloring of the product, Timm said in the post. For example, in Rose's case, the conditioner was supposed to be white in color and it turned out to be an "ugly pink" color. 

The fundraising page said that Rose had to get in touch with a hospital to get her irritated and red bald patches on her head checked out. She also visited a hair salon to inquire about extensions that can help cover the spots but the facility told her that her hair and scalp was too damaged for extensions to work.

"Ashley's hair is still shedding and her scalp is still irritated," the GoFundMe post explained. "She has come to the heartbreaking realization that her only option at this point is to shave her head. 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."

After much deliberation, Rose decided to get rid of her locks altogether. "Ashley’s uncle shaved her head Monday night," Timm wrote on her social media page. 

The family has filed a police complaint and investigators were going through hours of security footage from the section of Walmart where the product was kept to identify the culprit. 

As for her daughter, Timm said that Rose did not let her hair loss bother her. "Ashley is doing great! She just has to get use to all of this. I seen her yesterday and this girl is beautiful!" she said.