We got Tessica at LAX Friday after her month-long, rock-hard hairdo saga came to a happy ending, and she tells us it's time to unwind this weekend in Louisiana with her sister ... and a little sippin' and paintin'.

Tessica says she and her sis are going to have a nice steak dinner too, while she enjoys the sweet relief. You'll recall, moments after the procedure ended Wednesday night, she mentioned having big Valentine's plans -- but sounds like she's decided to take time to recover instead.

We broke the story ... Bev Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Obeng performed a $12,500 procedure for free to help Tessica out of her jam. The whole visit took nearly 4 hours, but when it was all said and done ... she was finally able to run her fingers through her hair again.

As for the recovery ... Tessica says she's gotta leave her 'do alone for 6 weeks, but then she can really wig out.

She also suggests she's no longer considering getting litigious about what happened to her, though there doesn't seem to be any love lost with Gorilla Glue either.

Finally, Tessica wants her ordeal to be a very painful and cautionary tale for anyone thinking about getting creative with Gorilla Glue.

Sadly, that should-be-obvious advice comes too late for Len Martin ... a fellow Louisianan who apparently didn't believe Tessica's situation was as dire as she claimed. He paid the price with half of his lip.