‘Careless hairless’ lawsuit
‘Brazilian’ burn
A hair-removal worker pinned down a writhing Manhattan client and scorched her with laser equipment while giving her a Brazilian — leaving the woman with severe burns on her genitals and buttocks, a new lawsuit says.
The session was so painful that plaintiff Kara Elizabeth Haines, 46, “was moving and contorting her body to avoid the extreme heat from the laser ... because of the extreme discomfort,” the suit says.
But even as Haines writhed in pain, cosmetologist Phong “Linda” Thi Nguyen “held the plaintiff down, pinning her,” despite Haines’ “protestations” at the Organic Elements Spa NY (inset) on West 35th Street, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
The session left Haines with “disfiguring’’ seconddegree burns on her privates, the lawsuit claims.
Haines says she paid $347.51 on a six-session package for the hair-removal process.
Nguyen performed the first procedure on Dec. 29, 2017, and the “setting on the machine was too high for [Haines], causing pain,” the court papers say.
So Haines made sure to see another employee for her next three sessions, which occurred without incident, according to the suit.
Then, on her fifth session, Haines’ preferred cosmetologist was out of the country and she was told she would have to see Nguyen again, the court documents say. Haines asked the spa’s receptionist to tell Nguyen “to be careful with the laser-hair removal during the next session because Plaintiff did not want to experience the same pain as experienced in her first session,” the lawsuit claims. Before the treatment started, Haines also personally asked Nguyen to use caution when setting the machine, according to the suit.
But Nguyen again allegedly set the machine so hot that Haines was twisting in discomfort, the suits says.
Haines told Nguyen about the pain “both before and during the session,” to no avail, the court papers say.
No one picked up the phone at the spa when The Post called Monday and Tuesday, and an e-mail to the business went unanswered.