Jo Smith, personal injury specialist at Farleys, has been busy this week settling not one, not two but three claims against negligent hairdressers!
Here we’ll look at the cases and how Jo was able to assist. Please note: we’ve anonymised the names of our clients to protect their privacy.
Mrs HR of Essex
Mrs R attended a local salon to have her hair lightened using the Balayage technique. She wasn’t happy with the colour and so returned to the salon a few days later for a colour correction. Bleach was applied again using foils and a heat lamp was used.
It is known that heat speeds up the processing time of bleach and so it should not be used for long periods. On this occasion our client was left under the heat lamp for approximately 30 minutes.
When her hair was washed damage was immediately obvious as her hair was very dry. Over the next few days our client’s hair started to snap off and was in a very poor condition.
The salon denied liability and claimed that no heat had been used. Fortunately, our client had taken a selfie whilst under the heat lamp and this helped to prove her version of events.
An expert report was also obtained from an independent hair & scalp expert who confirmed that the treatment in the salon had caused damage to the hair which would take over two years to return to the condition it had been in before the negligent treatment.
We were just about to issue court proceedings against the salon when their solicitors accepted our client’s offer of settlement.
Our client received £4,500 in damages for her damaged hair and the stress this had caused her.
Mrs NO of East Sussex
The client had bleached her hair at home and knew it wasn’t in good condition when she visited a local salon. She told them what she had done herself and it was clear that her hair wasn’t in great shape.
Despite this, no tests were carried out before the salon bleached the client’s hair again.
The client returned to the salon every few weeks for her hair to be bleached and after a couple of appointments the repeated bleach applications caused her hair to weaken and eventually snap off. Her hair become very thin and dry and was difficult to manage, which affected her self-confidence, especially as she was employed in the beauty industry and so it was important that she look her best.
We obtained a supportive report from an independent hair & scalp expert who confirmed that the treatment at the salon had caused the damage – they had overlapped the bleach on fragile hair causing it to weaken and snap.
The salon’s insurers admitted liability and accepted the client’s offer to settle in the sum of £4,200.
Mrs JE of Devon
Mrs E had been bleaching her hair for years without any problems and had been to a couple of local salons in the months before visiting the Defendant salon to have her hair lightened.
She asked the Defendant salon to apply a high lift tint to her roots and a few weeks later she returned to ask for her hair to be lightened further. Despite being aware of her recent treatment history, the salon didn’t carry out any tests on the hair before applying more bleach.
When Mrs E’s hair was washed and dried it was immediately obvious that her hair was damaged as it was snapping off and very thin, especially around the front, but the stylist reassured her that it would be fine.
When Mrs E’s hair continued to snap and break off, she decided to seek legal advice. We obtained a report from an independent hair & scalp expert who confirmed the breakage to the hair had been caused by the bleach applied by the salon and that it would take 30 months for the hair to grow to its prior length.
The salon’s insurers denied liability, so we had to issue court proceedings. Once the court was involved, they agreed to settle the claim in the sum of £3,000.
Jo Smith commented,
All of these cases emphasise the importance of hairdressers following the correct procedures when dealing with potentially damaging chemicals, such as bleach. All too often we see clients who have experienced damage to their hair and scalp due to negligent practices and this damage can have a lasting impact on their lives.
I was pleased to be able to recover these damages for my three clients and wish them all the best in recovering
Contact a Specialist in Hair Damage Claims
If you’ve suffered hair damage or injury following a hair treatment, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation. For a free initial discussion about your claim, please contact our personal injury experts at Farleys on 0845 287 0939, complete our online contact form, or use the online chat below.
