Personal injury news

‘Hair injury' garners £5k compensation

The UK's first specialist hair injury compensation lawyer has won more than £5,000 for a woman whose botched dye-job left her feeling like she had been in a car crash.

The 27-year-old paid £60 to go from brunette to blonde following a relationship break-up, but said she left the salon looking like a scarecrow.

"I arranged several consultations and carefully chose a salon I thought I could trust," she said.
"But it turned out I really chose the wrong one.

"The first time they bleached my hair it turned ginger they then tried to rectify it by bleaching my locks a further four times.

"I looked like a scarecrow. I felt as if I'd been in a terrible car smash."

When the salon refused to admit responsibility for the cut – the work of an uninsured trainee –
she turned to a Nottingham-based personal injury solicitor with an interest in so-called ‘hair injury claims'.

After an exhaustive legal battle, the salon was persuaded to accept liability for the haircut and reach a settlement with their unhappy customer.

"This is not an isolated incident," he said. "There are scores of people who are trying to take out claims against hairdressers.

"But the industry has very little regulation and people are often left with injuries and very little they can do about it."

In this case he was able to secure £5,200 injury compensation for his client - who has since grown her hair back and now hopes to settle down with a new boyfriend.