Injured in a Beauty Salon? Female Lawyers Give Free Advice

We offer free legal advice from expert female lawyers and no win no fee personal injury claims against beauty salons, covering treatments including waxing, tinting, threading, extensions, perming, peel and bleaching. We also regularly take legal action against hairdressers, nail bars, tattoo studios and health spas on behalf of injured clients. Bartletts Solicitors was one of the first law firms to handle such claims, and our solicitors are proud to have successfully represented thousands of injured women in compensation claims against negligent beauty salons and similar establishments over the years.

Recent blog post: Summer Bikini Waxing Risks

Beauty salons are obliged to hold public liability insurance to cover them in the event of a successful compensation claim being made against them. This means that the business in question (and its owners) will not bear the financial consequences of losing a claim directly, while valid legal action against a beauty salon ultimately helps to drive up standards across an industry that remains unregulated. Women who have been injured, traumatised and/or humiliated by a botched beauty treatment should therefore have no doubts about seeking legal advice and proceeding with a claim.

Lack of regulation and common safety standards continue to put the health and well-being of beauty salon customers at risk across the UK. Too often, salons are staffed by poorly trained, underqualified and inexperienced beauty therapists who lack the necessary skills to properly assess prospective clients, handle beauty products safely, follow the manufacturer’s instructions, or carry out the advertised treatments in a reasonably competent manner. Due to the fact that beauty products often contain strong chemicals while other treatments use heated solutions, skin damage from a botched procedure is a clear risk. Many beauty treatments therefore require considerable skill and experience to carry out in a safe manner and achieve the desired results.

Injuries that our solicitors see on a regular basis include burns and torn skin from waxing treatments (particularly bikini and eyebrow waxing). Apart from the pain involved and the immediate skin damage (bleeding, blistering, swelling, etc.), injuries of this kind can be disfiguring and cause infections, illnesses, and long-term or permanent scarring. They can also be emotionally and psychologically damaging, and embarrassment, stress and trauma are common features of most beauty treatment injury compensation claims.

Allergic reactions to chemicals and other ingredients contained in beauty treatment products are also a possibility, hence the importance of pre-treatment skin patch tests. PPD contained in eyelash and eyebrow tints, waxing product ingredients, adhesives and bonding glues are common causes of these adverse reactions. Beauty solutions dripped in the eye or on exposed areas of sensitive skin can also potentially cause serious damage. Other beauty treatments, such as electrolysis hair removal, nail procedures, and semi-permanent and permanent makeup pose their own specific dangers.

The equipment and instruments used during beauty treatments need to be handled with care and properly sterilised, while hygiene standards at beauty salons must be maintained to minimise the risk of infections being transmitted. Skin patch tests should be carried out on all clients 24-48 hours before a new beauty treatment to identify any pre-existing allergies, and a competent medical consultation should uncover any other contraindications which may make a treatment unsuitable for an individual. Finally, appropriate aftercare advice should be provided by salons to reassure clients and minimise the risk of post-procedural problems.

Beauty salons are expected to take reasonable care and precautions to protect the health and safety of their visitors. Treatments should be performed with reasonable care and skill, which is judged by the standard that another competent professional in the beauty industry would have met. Errors made during treatments that cause an injury will often amount to negligence on the part of the individual beauty therapist and the salon’s proprietors or owners. Apart from compensation for physical pain and suffering, a successful claimant may also receive compensation for loss of earnings due to time off work, the cost of medical treatment, travel expenses and the detrimental impact of an injury on their everyday life. Beauty therapists are also themselves sometimes injured in the course of their work.

Compensation awards for facial scarring are higher than awards for scars to the body, and can exceed £90,000 for very severe scarring. Beauty treatments usually cause less serious skin damage. Compensation awards for minor facial scarring will range from £1,600 to £3,310, while awards for ‘less significant’ facial scarring (one or a number of scars that can be disguised or don’t markedly affect the appearance) will range from £3,710 to £12,900.

Compensation for scarring to the body will range from £2,250 to £7,350 for a single noticeable scar or a number of superficial scars on the arms, legs or hands. A single disfiguring scar or a number of noticeable scars on the chest, back, arms, legs or hands will result in a compensation payout of between £7,350 and £21,330. These figures are based on the Judicial College Guidelines for assessing general damages in personal injury cases.

If you have been injured at a beauty salon through no fault of your own, contact our specialist female solicitors today for free and confidential legal advice that you can rely on and to get started making a claim.