LULEÅ. The stores are removing dry shampoo from the shelves. In schools, students learn what happens in the body when propellant is inhaled.
Despite that, the young people in the city raise the alarm that adults do not understand the extent of the bouffant trend.
– I don’t think the police and social services have a very good idea of what reality looks like, says a Luleå resident.
From the stairwell to a parking garage in central Luleå, two young girls come walking. They giggle as they leave the garage and disappear into town in the afternoon sun.
Left in the stairwell are plastic bags scattered along with other rubbish.
It is unclear what the girls were doing inside the garage, which we are told is a common hangout for addicts. But the parking garage has recently also become a popular hangout for young girls, say several residents that Aftonbladet talks to.
They believe that the girls go there to “boff”, i.e. inhale propellant from spray bottles such as dry shampoo, in order to get drunk.
A stone’s throw from the parking garage is the shop of Ica trader Thomas Liouliaci. He is one of several local merchants who, after the incident last week – when 14-year-old Yasmine was found dead in a school toilet at Örnässkolan – have now taken measures to make it more difficult for young people to buy dry shampoo.
In Thomas Liouliaci’s store, all dry shampoo bottles have been removed from the store shelves and there is now an 18-year-old limit on sales.
– I feel that I want to do what I can, take my responsibility. I don’t know how to protect the children, but as a parent myself, I wouldn’t have wanted this to be so easily accessible, says Thomas Liouliacis.
At Södra Hamn, overlooking Lulefjärden, a memorial site has been created for 14-year-old Yasmine.
I feel that I want to do what I can, take my responsibility,” says Thomas Liouliacis.
Caroline Blomqvist says that she knows several young people who are making dry shampoo bottles.
He says that it is common for young people to hang around the shop and in the nearby center Smedjan after school.
There are also shops that sell dry shampoo and other spray bottles, such as Normal, a shop where many young girls go to hang out after school. Here, too, they have chosen to introduce an 18-year age limit on all propellant products.
The grocery store Coop, a stone’s throw from the Örnäs school where the 14-year-old girl went, however, has kept the dry shampoo bottles on the store shelves until further notice.
– It is a very tragic event. And this does not only apply to dry shampoo, but to many products with propellant gas. If we feel that we have problems with sales, we will take back the bottles from behind the cash register, but at the moment we do not feel that we have problems, says Peter Fjällborg, CEO of Coop Norrbotten.
“Adults don’t see reality”
At Södra Hamn, overlooking Lulefjärden, a memorial site has been created for 14-year-old Yasmine. Roses in different colors blow in the chilly spring wind next to a bunch of burnt-out tea lights that form the shape of a heart with the text “Yasse”.
Erik Lampinen is the preliminary investigation leader for the death investigation and says that the final autopsy report is not yet ready, which means that it is not yet possible to determine Yasmine’s cause of death with absolute certainty. But last week, the police and several other representatives of the municipality held a press conference where they warned of the hoax and addressed Yasmine’s death.
Yasmine’s parents have also told us that she cheated.
– I was told that it was my responsibility as a parent to help her. But I tried everything, I needed help, her mother Maria Mohammadi told Aftonbladet.
– The preliminary autopsy report only says that the death was not caused by another person. Otherwise, there are no details. When the final report comes in a few months and we can see that there is no crime involved, the case will be closed, says Erik Lampinen.
At the memorial is a 28-year-old woman who wishes to remain anonymous. She is one of several Luleå residents who tell Aftonbladet that the bullying is alarming and that adults do not understand or see what is happening now.
“Cry for help”
She has younger siblings aged 15 who often talk about boffing and that it is a trend.
– This thing with boffing is very popular, but nothing is done about it. Or it’s already too late. I don’t think the police and social services have a very good idea of what reality really looks like.
A few weeks ago, a resident in Luleå found dry shampoo bottles in a stairwell to a parking garage.
Several traders in Luleå have taken measures to make it more difficult for young people to buy dry shampoo.
Local police officer Magnus Carlborg raises the issue of incitement in social media – especially on Tiktok.
– It has become a trend on Tiktok. There are many young people who try both that and other things. It’s easy to get hold of and many parents don’t have social media and don’t understand the trends, says the woman.
Caroline Blomqvist, 30, also passes the memorial on this day. She herself works with young people and says that she knows several people who are involved in the promotion of dry shampoo in particular. She describes it as a kind of self-harming behavior and says that young girls who do it feel bad and need help from the adult world.
– You hear how young people talk about this. I think it’s the rush that attracts and getting attention, showing that you dare and standing out in your social circle. I think many people see it as a cool thing, but it can actually be a cry for help, she says.
“Everywhere on Tiktok”
Do you think last week’s death has deterred you in any way?
– I don’t think it matters, there are rumors that there were two more even younger ones who had to go to hospital just a few days after that… I don’t think it has deterred, says Caroline Blomqvist.
She is referring to an incident a few days after the death at Örnässkolan when the police were alerted to a “disease case” at another primary school at Hertsön in Luleå, where a child was seriously injured.
Neither the police nor Region Norrbotten want to comment on the incident, but according to information given to Aftonbladet, it was about girls in the sixth grade who had also been cheating.
Despite the fact that the municipality held a press conference about the problem, Caroline Blomqvist believes that the adults in the city did not realize how common it is.
– I don’t think the adults know. Young people know more about what’s going on around them, adults don’t see it the same way.
A little later in the afternoon, a group of 15-year-old boys pass by the memorial site. They stop and look at the flowers. They also talk about boffing.
– It’s a trend, it comes up everywhere in my feed on Tiktok, says one of them.
He shows us with his hands how it is done and explains in detail how young people go about inhaling the propellant gas using bags or empty bottles. He himself has not tested, he says, but many do, especially girls.
– They do it completely openly on the street, everywhere. It goes quickly, it’s just a matter of breathing in and then it’s done.
“Not a big problem”
According to municipal police Magnus Carlborg, panhandling is something that the police, municipality and school know about since staff at the City Library raised the alarm in February that young people were going into the toilets there to panhandle.
He also raises the problem of incitement in social media – especially on Tiktok.
– We find it difficult to comment on the scope, but we have received indications that it has become a kind of trend. And that is one of the reasons why we chose to talk about this, he says.
He emphasizes that the problem is not concentrated only in Luleå.
– If you look at Luleå as a city, we have not seen this as a big problem. But it is not a crime that we map, we have to go by what we get, says Magnus Carlborg.
At the end of March, a picture was published in a local Facebook group of other spray bottles found outside the cultural school in Pajala, 24 miles to the north, along with a post that young people used the bottles for buffing there as well.
Since February, Luleå Municipality, together with the social service and the school, has issued information to guardians from grades four to nine about boffing.
Conversations are also held with the students at school, where they have, among other things, been given the task of finding facts about what can happen in the body with the brain and organs when you inhale propellant gas. That’s what Louice Stridsman, director of operations for the primary school in Luleå, says, who hopes that the information will discourage young people from testing.
– I hope and believe that more people know about the risks of this. That both society and the young know that the risks are enormous and that the outcome can be fatal, says Louice Stridsman.
Residents we have spoken to in Luleå describe boffing as very common. They feel that the police, school and municipality do not understand the problem. How do you think about it?
– We have 7,500 students in primary school in Luleå municipality. We do not perceive that boffing is widespread, based on the picture we got in our location pictures and based on the numerical aspect. However, we have acted forcefully on the issue and if young people are bringing forward this image now, it shows that we have done the right thing by acting forcefully. We have wise and aware young people and it is good that they are open with what they see, says Louice Stridsman.
Municipal police Magnus Carlborg answers the same question:
– I think that we need to listen to the young people, it is very important to listen to what they say, and if we have not understood it before, then we will do it now.