Hair extensions left student like ‘a burns victim’
BATTLING anxiety problems, Holly Jane Harbottle was treated to £170 worth of hair extensions in an attempt to boost her confidence.
But the 19-year-old student beautician has ended up too embarrassed to leave the house, claiming the job was so badly done by a mobile hairdresser that she was left looking ‘like a burns victim’.
‘I can’t stop crying – she’s ruined my hair,’ said Miss Harbottle. ‘This was supposed to be something that gave me my confidence back but instead it’s just made things worse. I hate it.’
She contacted the hairdresser after her mother Andrea, 46, offered to pay for the extensions.
‘She was recommended by a friend but was really rude when she came round to the house to do it,’ said Miss Harbottle, from Chester-le-Street, Durham.
‘She got out this rusty-looking set of straighteners and was in and out in under an hour. She didn’t give me any advice at all.’
Soon afterwards, the extensions started falling out and when the student washed her hair, it ended up ‘all matted and horrible’. She said: ‘ I’ve got bad anxiety. I thought extensions would help boost my confidence. It’s had the opposite effect. In some of the photos, I look like a burns victim. Now I have to wear a wig.
‘My hair is in poorer condition now than it was before she fitted the extensions. I have messaged her numerous times and she makes no effort to try to come and sort it out.’
Miss Harbottle added: ‘She told me to use argan oil and that made it worse. Every time I look in the mirror I just burst into tears.’
Her mother has removed her clotted hair, and Miss Harbottle plans to report the Sunderland hairdresser to Trading Standards.
The hairdresser, known only as Claire, said it was ‘ ridiculous’ to blame her because she did the extensions five months ago.
She added: ‘The first week there were a couple that came out. I said to keep an eye on it and that if any more came out, I would come round and take a look at it.
‘I’ve heard nothing else until last week. She hasn’t looked after them from the start.’