Hairdresser’s negligence led to badly-damaged hair

Our client attended a hairdressing salon, having arranged the appointment in advance.  Our client wanted her roots re-touched to match her blonde hair colour.  Her hair was all one length and in very good condition.  As our client travels a lot, she does not have a regular hairdresser and it was her first visit to this particular salon.

 

The salon owner produced a colour chart and recommended a colour.  Once the colour was agreed, the owner and assistant went through to the back of the salon to mix the colour.  The owner advised the assistant to put the dye on our client’s roots and then on the remainder of her hair, i.e. covering hair that had already been coloured when our client simply wanted her roots re-touching.  The colour applied was an eggshell white with green tint rather than the purple colour she was more used to.  However, it was her first visit to this salon and she assumed a different product was being used.  The salon did not advise our client how long the treatment would last.

 

After half an hour, our client’s hair was washed.  Our client went through to the main salon to have her hair cut.  The assistant dried our client’s hair.  Our client could see that her hair was a green colour and queried it.  The salon owner advised it simply needed conditioning treatment.  The owner went to the back of the salon and advised our client that the conditioning treatment was being applied.  When our client asked what colour her hair would be after further treatment, she was advised “the same as before.”  Our client was also advised that her hair would be in better condition than before.

 

The assistant was instructed to comb the conditioning treatment through and to scrub at our client’s hair to ensure the colour penetrated her hair.  When our client asked why her hair had turned green, she was told that it was her own fault because of the colour she’d used previously.  After 30 – 40 minutes the second treatment was washed off.  The owner then started cutting our client’s hair.  Not happy with the way it was being cut, our client asked the owner to stop.  She asked him to stop at least five times.  The owner did not stop until our client stood up.

 

Our client was left with very dry and unconditioned hair, with layers approximately 6 cm in length.  Her hair was left with weak spots on the hair shaft, and frayed ends.  It had also been dyed brown when our client was very specific about wanting her hair to be blonde to match the existing colour. 

 

The damage to our client’s hair was caused by the hairdresser’s negligence in that they:

 

·         failed to carry out a strand test,

·         failed to carry out a skin test and failure to check that our client was not at risk of an allergic reaction,

·         failed to carry out a porosity test,

·         failed to employ suitably competent, qualified hairdressers to carry out the colouring process,

·         left the solution on for too long,

·         failed to carry out regular checks on the hair whilst the solution was on it.

 

The salon denied liability.  The owner claimed that our client had wanted her hair to be a “rich chocolate brunette”, denied that our client’s hair turned green and said he’d used a feathering technique and point cutting and club cutting when cutting our client’s hair.  Our client’s appointment and record card did not show which product had been used.

 

A specialist trichologist’s report found that the hairdressing salon had not used the permanent dye correctly.  The dye used should not have been applied to the full head, i.e. from root to point of her hair as this subjected the previously treated hair to the incorrect colour.  A conditioner would not have any impact on the colouring used, so the second application was a dye to correct the first, incorrect application of dye.  As our client was visiting the salon for the first time, she should have had a strand test.  Once the hairdresser was made aware that the hair was an unwanted colour, they should have stopped work and performed a strand test, asking our client to return after 24 hours.

 

Our client’s job involves her being in daily contact with clients so her appearance, as a representative of her employer, needed to be smart.  Our client had to wait 12 months for the green/brown colours to grow out before any correctional colours could be put in her hair.

 

After further negotiations, Lawson-West secured compensation of £2750 in respect of the damage to our client’s hair.