Visiting the hair salon or you local beauty salon should be a treat, and a well -deserved bit of ‘me-time’ but unfortunately some treatments do not always go according to plan. So what are your rights if a treatment goes wrong in a salon?.
Hot wax and chemicals and other beauty products, if not used correctly, can cause serious skin damage and permanent scarring, when beauty goes wrong it can affect you emotionally and potentially damage your self-confidence.
From a legal perspective, when you have a treatment or if you buy products from a salon, under the Supply of Goods and Services Act, the salon has to supply a service that is of reasonable care and skill, and any goods that you buy should be of reasonable quality and standard. If you experience an injury from a treatment or a product, then the treatment may have been carried out negligently and if this is the case you have legal grounds to pursue action against a salon or a business.
Patch tests and strand tests are an important part of some hair and beauty treatments and were implemented within the industry to avoid serious reactions and injury to chemicals treatments and products, but I have observed that these are not always done, only 1 in 3 salons I have experienced a treatment or service at, have actually ever offered me a patch test or skin test, it’s alarming isn’t it?
Consider this next time you book a treatment: A salon may have used the wrong concentration of products in the mixing of solutions, have left the products in contact with the skin for too long or failed to set the appropriate temperature when using hairdryers or straighteners - all examples of lack of care which may cause injury. At some stage or another whether wittingly or unwittingly we will experience a small disaster, this can happen it’s human nature, the trouble is some mini ‘disasters’ can be potentially more harmful that we think.
Now I am a hugely proactive fan of the beauty industry, and this blog is not written to undermine the very subject that I love which is Beauty: however, things can go wrong, and when they do, people sometimes have no clue as to what they should do.
It is a salons duty to respond to any treatment or product you have experienced that has gone ‘wrong’, and they have a duty of care to you, namely because it is THE ethical thing to do, and secondly if they fail to assist you adequately they could find themselves in hot ‘legal’ water.
Try and resolve any problems firstly with the salon you have received the treatment or service at, IF they fail to assist you adequately, then you should take all possible steps to preserve the evidence of what has gone ‘wrong’, take regular photographs and do not have any further treatments done until you have received legal advice.
Don’t be too worried if you signed a ‘disclaimer’ before undergoing a treatment (which excludes the salon’s liability for injuries sustained). You cannot exclude liability for personal injuries and most reputable salons have public liability insurance in place to pay compensation when things go wrong, but be aware some salons DO NOT. A helpful tip may be to ask to see a copy of their public liability insurance if you have any doubts, don’t be afraid to ask, would you really want to have a treatment in an uninsured business premise?.
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should consult a legal professional for further in-depth information.
The #safetyinbeauty Campaign
Blog: by Antonia Mariconda
Antonia Mariconda also known as 'The Cosmedic Coach' is a health and beauty writer and expert. Antonia is recognised as a leading authority on health, beauty, aesthetic medicine, and cosmetic surgery in the UK.
