Woman says hair dryer ‘became a blowtorch on its first use’

Feb. 14 (UPI) — A South Carolina woman shared video of hair dryer that “became a blowtorch on its first use” after she purchased it from a third-party Amazon seller.

Erika Augthun Shoolbred posted a pair of videos to Facebook showing flames shooting from the hair dryer where warm air is supposed to come out.

“Talk about a bad hair day! My new hair dryer (more like hair fryer) from OraCorp on Amazon.com became a blowtorch on its first use this morning,” Shoolbred wrote.

The Spartanburg resident said unplugging the dryer led to a small burn on her hand, but she was otherwise uninjured.

“I’m so fortunate the dryer was pointing away from me, and my 5-year-old daughter was not getting ready with me that morning,” Shoolbred told TODAY Style. “It could have been horrific.”

Shoolbred said she bought the dryer from a third-party Amazon seller called OraCorp. She said Amazon offered her a full refund for the purchase, but OraCorp has yet to respond to her complaint.

An Amazon representative said the hair dryer has been removed from the website.