A woman has lost a $30,000 (AUD) damages claim, demanding the payout after a haircut left her with ‘a mullet’.
Jessica Bray, from Melbourne, Australia, claimed she had suffered emotionally after staff at the Saint James Hair Studio attended to her hair in April last year.
After having her roots bleached, Bray alleged her hair was left so brittle it broke off.
Returning to the salon to get it repaired, Bray was left with ‘a mullet’ and turned to a psychologist to assist with feelings of humiliation and distress.
She also purchased a wig for her 30th birthday, spending $1933 on it to help her feel good for the big day.
Speaking to news.com.au, Bray described what happened at the salon:
A few visits later they started to do my hair wrong. Initially I thought it was a once off and they fixed it to my satisfaction.
Thinking they wouldn’t do it twice in a row I returned and they did it again, and dropped dye on my clothes and also under-bleached my hair again meaning I would have to have my hair bleached four times in around six weeks.
Visiting another salon to see what could be done, the stylist there was shocked by Bray’s hair and told her to go back to the original hairdressers as they had no idea what had been done.
Bray explained:
They didn’t know what had been done so (they told me to) go back to them to get it fixed and then return to them next time I need my roots done.
I go to the salon and they put a random girl on the right side of my hair so they could do it ‘quickly’. They then go out back and leave me alone for what seems way too long so I decide to check my own hair.
I tug on it gently and it falls out in my hand. The owner sees, stops cutting a man’s hair and runs out back to my hairdresser.
When Bray got home things only got worst as her hair fell out in large clumps while showering.
Having written to the salon to complain, the owner reportedly met with Bray and inspected the hair. Bray claims the owner told her ‘of course we will offer you compensation’.
However, they didn’t follow through with the promise to negotiate a figure, simply refunding the cost of the haircut instead.
Bray took her damages claim to court but the salon insisted her hair was in poor condition after years of bleaching.
The tribunal ruled the claim was excessive, but did say Bray was entitled to a $270 refund for the haircut, and $114 compensation for the psychologist appointment.
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