Hair dye scalp burns ‘ruined Communion day’
A MOTHER whose enjoyment of her daughter’s First Holy Communion was ruined after a salon hair treatment burned her scalp and left her bleeding and blistered, with a bald patch on the back of her head.
Elaine Wilson alleged that, on May 22, 2013, she attended Rainbow Hair and Beauty, Convent Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, three days before her daughter’s Communion.
The 37-year-old told her barrister, Gareth Kinsella, that she asked a staff member for an all over colour treatment. She said the colour was applied by a different staff member. Dublin Circuit Civil Court heard that, shortly after the dye application, Ms Wilson started to feel a burning sensation on her scalp. She said, after some time, her hair was washed for 20 minutes. The dye had been on her hair for almost an hour.
Ms Wilson, of Clondalkin, said her scalp was very sore. When she had asked what the reason was, she claims she had been told that ‘it is fine’.
She had felt distressed but obliged to pay the €51 charge. The court was told when Ms Wilson went home, she noticed her scalp was burned. She had blisters, was bleeding and had a bald patch on the back of her head. Ms Wilson told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that when she went back to the salon, the next day, the manager laughed.
The court heard Ms Wilson needed to take painkillers for several weeks. She said the incident had made her daughter’s communion a disaster.
Judge Groarke said Ms Wilson had a horrible experience which was rendered worse given the important family occasion. He awarded Ms Wilson €12,500 damages along with her legal costs. The firm was not present in court nor was it legally represented.