Trips to beauty salons can end in serious injuries including chemical burns, thermal burns, cuts, infections, and slips, and falls. While many injuries heal with time or treatment, some injuries can result in permanent disabilities or disfigurement including blindness, hair loss, scars, and back or neck injuries.
Common Causes of Injuries
Beauty salons are filled with potential hazards. Styling tools get too hot and scald the skin. Chemical treatments burn skin or can cause blindness. Hair treatments may result in permanent hair loss. Improperly sanitized scissors and razors can knick and cut and leave infections in their wake. Individuals can even suffer neck injuries when their hair is washed over poorly positioned sinks, or back injuries when they slip and fall.
Burns, cuts, injuries to the scalp, and staph/bacterial infections are common in beauty salons. While it may be tempting to consider these injuries “minor,” they can have serious, long-term consequences for the individual’s health and well-being.
The Risks of Unproven Treatments
Many beauty treatments have no scientific backing to support their claims. Many of the peels, shampoos, and other agents applied to customer’s hair and skin contain ingredients that are not listed on the label and are not approved for a particular use. This places patients at risk of serious injuries including allergic reactions and chemical burns that result in permanent scarring.
Beauty Salon Negligence
A bad haircut or a nasty dye job are not sufficient reasons to file a personal injury claim. To file a claim, it is necessary to show that the salon was negligent in their actions and that those actions caused real physical or emotional trauma to the victim.
Individuals can pursue premises liability claims following slip and fall accidents or other injuries resulting from the negligent maintenance or design of the salon. Similarly, individuals can pursue claims for personal injuries when the salon owner or “stylist” acted negligently while performing a treatment. Plaintiffs must establish that the salon owner should have foreseen the danger and potential for harm, that the esthetician or cosmetologist acted negligently, and that this negligence resulted in the injury. Individuals can also pursue product liability claims against product manufacturers whose peels, shampoos, blow dryers, etc. caused the plaintiff’s injuries.