The results of a recent scientific research project undertaken by Harvard University and published in Nature show that greying hair is directly correlated to stress, not just ageing. Whilst hair doesn’t lose its colour instantly, over time stress significantly speeds things up.
Harvard’s findings are scientifically important for several reasons, primarily by demonstrating accelerated greying, it’s raised hopes for anti-ageing therapies described as ‘pharmaceutical foundations of youth’.
To get technical, the stem cell biologists involved in the study discovered that stress causes nerves triggered in the fight-or-flight response – part of the sympathetic nervous system – to release hormones – called noradrenaline or norepinephrine – which kill the stem cells – these being melanocytes – used to make hair pigments. Essentially, the reservoir of stem cells is depleted forever.
Furthermore, the same type of mechanism is responsible for age-related greying too. There’s more to the study than this though. Read further details on the Guardian website.
If stress (or age!) has turned your hair grey and you’re planning to dye it, or if you’re trying to achieve the grey hair trend by bleaching, choose your hairdresser carefully, and ensure you’re given patch and strand tests prior to any treatment. Failure to do so can result in over processed hair falling out and the need to claim compensation for hair damage.
If your hairdresser ruins your hair with bleach or dye, contact our legal team in confidence. To get in touch for a free, no obligation discussion today please email enquiries@beautytreatmentclaims.co.uk, call 0800 141 3682 or 0333 202 6560, or complete our online enquiry form.
Some women spend £50,000 in their lifetime on dyeing their hair
At Hairdressing Claims, we’re interested in all things hair. We love this report about just-published survey findings which headlines that one in twenty women spend over £50,000 during their lifetime on dyeing their hair.
Based on a 2,000-participant poll, the majority of women cited spending at least £100 per salon visit every six-and-a-half weeks for colouring treatments. Hence the £50,000 overall total.
There’s more, related information garnered from the survey with some other key statistical findings from respondents being:-
• One in four spend £18,370 over their lifetime altering their hair colour; the equivalent of £291.60 per year • Only 18% kept the same colour for their entire life • Blonde was the most popular colour choice with 44% opting for highlights or similar lightening techniques • 50% tested light blonde hair, four in ten had gone light brown and almost one quarter had tried purple hair at some point • 45% had dyed their hair red and one in ten blue • Women tended to wait until they were twenty before colouring their hair but one third were in their teens when they first experimented with colour • 55% felt better about themselves after changing their hair colour • The average woman goes through six different hair styles and four varieties of colour throughout her life
It seems, too, women are actually more likely to invest in hairdressing than paying for gym or exercise classes, thereby placing greater emphasis on the importance of good hair days. According to this new evidence, confidence and attractiveness feelings are directly correlated to the colour and appearance of our hair.
Hairdressers have a vital job on their hands where our self-confidence is concerned, yet they do occasionally get it wrong. As expected, in these circumstances, ruined hair has a dramatically negative impact on confidence levels. In fact, many people who’ve been injured by a hairdresser describe an inability to maintain their normal work and leisure routines.
If you suffer negligence by your hairdresser, talk to our team about the possibility of pursuing a legal claim. We’re specialists in claims against hairdressers helping clients day in, day out to secure compensation for hair and scalp damage.
When 29-year-old office worker, Robyn Cherry, underwent a routine hair dye treatment at her hairdresser’s, an adverse reaction to a component within the dye almost killed her and triggered a raft of permanent allergies. That’s according to a recent news article.
The incident happened in 2010 but has led to multiple visits to A&E in the intervening decade. It occurred when Robyn was having her hair dyed back to her natural brown colour by a hairdresser after home bleaching her hair twice monthly previously. Despite having a patch test done 24 hours before and showing no signs of any reaction, within minutes of departing the salon Robyn’s scalp began burning.
Her symptoms progressively worsened. The following morning, her face had ballooned to twice its size, described by Robyn as looking ‘like a tomato’ and her head continued to burn. Taken to the GP by her mum, Robyn was told to go straight to hospital.
On the journey to A&E, Robyn’s face kept enlarging and her eyes swelled shut leaving her temporarily blinded. Her airways had swollen too. So much that they’d become blocked and she was struggling to breathe. Because of this, she was rushed immediately to the resuscitation unit. Simultaneously, her scalp covered in blisters which kept bursting and her hair was falling out in clumps.
Doctors found that Robyn had suffered a severe reaction to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a common ingredient in hair dye, and her patch test should have been left for the recommended 48-hour period, not 24 hours.
She was administered adrenaline shots and steroids, kept in hospital for 20 hours and told it was the worst reaction they’d ever seen. According to the doctors caring for her, she’d have died if she’d gone to hospital an hour later.
But the saga didn’t end there. The release of PPD had made Robyn’s body go into a state of shock so she started having severe allergic reactions to everyday items including most foods, spices, nuts, alcohol and clothing.
She was also diagnosed with polymorphic light eruption and solar urticaria – allergies to the sun causing skin rashes and hives respectively. As a result, Robyn was forced to visit A&E multiple times every four days or so when each new allergy became apparent.
She’s now prescribed strong antihistamines and steroids forever, and has had to drastically change her lifestyle – giving up holidays, nice clothes and drinking with friends – as well as abandon her career ambitions to become a professional horse rider. In her own words, Robyn became a recluse, and experienced deep depression and anxiety attacks to the extent that her life was ‘a living hell’.
Because of what she’s been through resulting from hairdresser negligence, Robyn actively warns others about the dangers of not following protocol when dyeing their hair.
At Hairdressing Claims, our mission is to help people like Robyn pursue compensation from those to blame for harm caused, be it salons or individual hairdressers. If you’ve ever found yourself in a similar unfortunate position to Robyn, contact us for a free initial consultation and progress your case on no win, no fee terms thereafter.
As reported recently in the Daily Mail, 25-year-old trainee chef, Izi Corner, suffered a chemical burn at the hairdresser’s whilst having her hair bleached and dyed pink.
Izi visited a Manchester-based salon, the sister branch of a hairdresser’s she’s used previously and been pleased with the results, in 2016 when aged 22. Although she’d used home hair dyes several times and never before experienced any issues, Izi decided to choose the more responsible option of getting her hair dyed by a professional stylist and didn’t expected to encounter problems.
At the beginning of her salon appointment, Izi was warned that she may feel some discomfort resulting from the bleach but was assured of the normality of this. However, once the bleach was applied and she was sat under a heat lamp, Izi’s pain levels rose to such an extent that she alerted staff and had the bleach rinsed off with cold water.
As the burn area was located at the back of her head, Izi couldn’t see the damage herself, and was comforted by the salon staff asserting that everything was fine and recommending that she continue with her treatment. After her hair was dyed and styled, she was charged £35, instead of £70, as a goodwill gesture in recompense for distress endured.
But Izi’s suffering continued at home later that evening when she noticed the burn patch was weeping and the hair around it was clumping together. Despite her best attempts at limiting damage by not washing or styling her hair the next day, when she did finally wash it the following day the pink dye washed out and the scab fell off thereby exposing an infected wound underneath.
A trip to the hospital and doctor’s surgery ensued with Izi being prescribed antibiotics by Trafford General Hospital, and cream and dressings by her GP. In time, Izi was referred to a trichologist – a specialist hair and scalp dermatologist – who gave her the details of the Farjo Hair Institute in Manchester.
The team at Farjo gave Izi a hair transplant on the burn site which cost £2,500 funded by compensation received from her hairdresser. Izi must now wait for a year to see how her scalp reacts to the transplant and ascertain if a second or third procedure is needed.
Izi is quoted as saying initially: “The physical pain was agony – I wouldn’t wish it on anybody… [I was] going to shave all my hair off. For my hair to suddenly fall out like that was really quite a shock, and it shouldn’t have happened.”
Following the corrective procedure by Farjo, Izi concluded: “I feel much better knowing that Farjo Hair Institute are able to help.”
What does a burn injury look like?
Unfortunately, hair dyeing and other chemical treatments can result in burns if mishandled by negligent hairdressers. Chemical burns are extremely painful and can cause other debilitating physical and mental symptoms. Long-term damage is not unusual.
We’ve written about hair damage and scalp burns, and the amount of compensation you can expect to receive from injuries of this nature, elsewhere on our website. Read more here.
How do I pursue a legal claim?
Another subject we’ve covered in earlier blog posts is how to go about the somewhat daunting task of making a claim against your hairdresser with the help of a legal expert. Take a look here.
If you’ve had a similar incident to Izi, don’t suffer in silence. Get in touch with us in complete confidence by emailing enquiries@hairdressingclaims.co.uk, calling 0800 970 9102 from a landline for free, phoning 0333 202 6560 from a mobile or completing our online enquiry form. We promise to stand by your side and provide all the support you need to pursue a legal claim.
With Christmas Day just over a week away, we’re here with some festive hair inspiration for party and holiday season by sharing our earlier styling tips.
There was everything from Christmas tree braids and snowman buns to vibrant dyes and seasonal beard decorations (for the men, obviously). Take a look and make your hair (and beard) the true embodiment of Christmas.
Cast your mind further back to 2017’s ‘Happy Christmas hair’ blog post which was all about designing the perfect party hairstyle. Refresh your memory and discover how to put as much thinking power into your hair as your do into your clothes, shoes and jewellery. Your hair is your most important fashion accessory, after all.
At Christmas, more than any other time of year, you’ll want to look your best. Steer clear of any ill-timed hair disasters by applying caution when using products or visiting your hairdresser. Should your hair get damaged through no fault of your own, contact our legal team in confidence.
A client of Hairdressing Claims was successful in securing over £2,000.00 following a skin burn at a local hair salon in December 2017.
During a routine cut and blow dry appointment at Blow Dry Express in London’s Canary Wharf, the negligent actions of her hairdresser, a freelance stylist on duty that day, resulted in a 20p-size burn on our client’s forehead caused by a hot hairdryer which had not been properly fitted with a diffuser.
The full extent of our client’s injury was revealed when she removed her makeup in the evening. In addition to the pain experienced by the burn, our client’s suffering was made worse by missing out on a holiday, and facing embarrassment in the workplace and at social events.
The former – her holiday – was a planned Christmas break abroad in a hot climate with family which our client was compelled to cancel after being advised to keep out of the sun. The latter – working and socialising – meant she was constantly questioned by colleagues as to what had caused the noticeable burn mark, thereby becoming self-conscious.
As a senior financier at HSBC who regularly meets with customers face to face, our client suffered further awkwardness during client meetings because of an understandable concern about her appearance. Psychological problems are common among clients who suffer unsightly damage to their hair or burns to the face.
There was outside-of-work impact from the incident too, as our client began avoiding social occasions, stopped going to the gym and didn’t attend yoga classes whilst she recovered from her injuries.
As well as these work and lifestyle limitations, our client also continues to experience anxiety when visiting the hairdresser’s for fear of a repeat episode. Previously, she enjoyed getting her hair done and had sometimes frequented the salon twice a week.
Despite initially denying responsibility, analysis of the evidence confirmed Blow Dry Express’s liability. When her case was taken to trial, District Judge Worthington sitting at Central London County Court ruled that the salon’s owners, BDE Enterprises Can Ltd, should pay our client £2,064.00 in damages including £31.00 to reimburse the cost of the initial appointment, plus her legal costs for bringing the matter to court.
Although accidents are one of life’s inevitabilities, they should never happen at the hairdressers. If, like our client, you’ve suffered a burn or injury during a hairdressing treatment and you want to sue your hairdresser, please get in touch with our specialist claims against hairdressers legal team.
You can read more about our client’s experience via the links below:
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