Fashion + Beauty

Friday, November 27, 2009

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Would You Sue a Salon for $50,000 if They Screwed Up Your Hair?

Time to play armchair jury, and have I got a doozy of a case for you. A woman in Oregon, who has been bleaching her hair for 25 years, is suing her salon for $50,000 because her hair started snapping off after her most recent bleaching session.

The woman, Sarah Jane Ward, blames an inept stylist and says she suffered humiliation, depression and had to pay for hair extensions. (She should have checked out this video on doing hair extensions at home, would have saved her some cash.)

The salon claims that Ward ignored a stylist's recommendations and damaged her hair with teasing and flat ironing (I wonder if she was using one of these flat irons?). They also say that since she didn't go bald or suffer a mental health crisis, they shouldn't be responsible.

While we can't give a verdict (we'll leave that up to the jury … and any of you who'd like to comment below), we can give some advice on keeping color-treated hair from turning into a disaster like this:

Avoid heat styling whenever you can and don't use scorching hot water in the shower.

When you do heat style, always use a product to protect hair (like one of these).

Stay out of the sun (or wear a hat when exposed to sun). And look for hair products that contain SPF and are formulated for color-treated hair.

Wash hair less -- it will keep hair from drying out and help color last longer. When you do shampoo, make sure it's with a quality product, like one of these. And always follow up with a good conditioner.

Leave a weekly deep conditioning treatment (these ones are fantastic) on strands for at least 15 minutes to allow it to reach down to your hair's cuticle.

Use a large-toothed comb in the shower while deep conditioning to distribute the product evenly through hair.

Image: The Oregonian
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From the Community…

Comments 11-20 of 104
  • mscarol's Avatar
    Posted by mscarol Fri May 8, 2009 5:09pm PDT

    dumb move in my opinion! she was bound to know that your hair will eventually fall out the more you BLEACH it!!! what a complete idiot! is that the lady in the picture by the way??

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  • Alexandra's Avatar
    Posted by Alexandra Sat May 9, 2009 12:42am PDT

    Sounds like too many people are ignorant of how to treat hair.

    I think that suing is stupid in most cases. This one included.

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  • Felicia's Avatar
    Posted by Felicia Sat May 9, 2009 7:32am PDT

    I don't know this lady. However, I went to a salon about 2 years ago and had previously had my hair lightened to a golden blonde two times before. The last time, however, my scalp felt like it was burning. The stylist claimed it was the same solution. A week later, my scalp still felt like it was burning. I went to a doctor he said I had a chemical burn. It was possible my hair could fall it. The doctor put me on steroids for a few days to help my scalp. My hair did not fall out but I daily put aloe plant on my scalp which looked awful but I believe it helped heal me scalp. The top portion of my scalp was most damaged and two years later it is still drier than the rest of my scalp which produces a natural amount of oil. I no longer color my hair at all. Was this stylist inept or did my scalp become more sensitive with more treatments? Perhaps both.

    The lady or stylist in the above article could both be to blame. The lady for years of overstyling and overbleaching her hair and the stylist for agreeing to continue treatment on her hair. The stylist could of incorrectly mixed the solution and made it too strong. I think that is what happened in my situation.

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  • __A_YAHOO_USER__'s Avatar
    Posted by __A_YAHOO_USER__ Sat May 9, 2009 7:48am PDT

    If my hair looked like that (see photo above), yes I would sue

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  • Miss Coco's Avatar
    Posted by Miss Coco Sat May 9, 2009 8:29am PDT

    I would sue for the cost of the hair extensions, and a bit more for pain and suffering but I don't think that all adds up to $50,000.

    Of course she should have taken action! Negligence caused her to lose her hair. The salon needs to hire people that are better trained and hairstylists should be more careful with all the things they do to people's hair.

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  • Miss Coco's Avatar
    Posted by Miss Coco Sat May 9, 2009 8:31am PDT

    Oh wait I didn't see the part about the recommendations. Oops. Well then in that case, it's not the salon's fault. Sorry, you were warned Ms. Ward. Now you have to pay the consequences!

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  • Eryn_Lindsay's Avatar
    Posted by Eryn_Lindsay Sat May 9, 2009 2:06pm PDT

    Anyone who bleaches their hair deserves it to fall off....that is such a hideous style! ONLY Gwen Stefani can pull it off...

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  • Nini Poo's Avatar
    Posted by Nini Poo Sat May 9, 2009 2:57pm PDT

    uh, 25 years of bleaching...? I'm surprised it didn't fall out sooner! and $50,000 is absurd. It's hair!!

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  • Erica Wino's Avatar
    Posted by Erica Wino Sat May 9, 2009 7:51pm PDT

    They are hair stylist not miracle workers! Of course bleaching you hair is bad for you it takes all the moister out of it especially after doing it for a few years. But why sue the stylist does she actually think these women have billion of dollars from doing this for a living? They live paycheck to paycheck just like most hard working people. Also not properly taking care of your bleach hair like deep conditioning treatments and using thermal protecting products when flat ironing and curl will cause breakage, sounds like this women just didn’t take care of her hair and the salon can only do so much.

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  • AmandaG's Avatar
    Posted by AmandaG Sat May 9, 2009 9:04pm PDT

    The only way I'd ever sue a salon is if I suffered some type of serious injury, such as a severe burn or something. If it was botched color job or cut, I'd ask that it be redone, and I would demand that it be done for free.

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