Beauty and grooming services meet a broad spectrum of needs for today’s busy lifestyles, from essential hair and nail maintenance to luxury head-to-toe pampering. In most cases, a trip to the salon or spa offers a welcome respite from a hectic schedule, giving you a few minutes to relax and get some TLC. But sometimes your salon experience can become a catastrophic nightmare when you become seriously injured through no fault of your own.
Types and Causes of Salon and Spa Injuries
Any type of commercial business has some inherent safety hazards, and most businesses are required to follow rigid standards to ensure the safety of customers and protect them from harm. But even the most conscientious businesses are subject to human error and negligence that results in injuries to a staff member or customer.
Common types of Salon and Spa injuries include:
- Injuries from slipping, tripping and falling: Salons and spas are full of potential trip and fall hazards. Water, hair clippings and slippery beauty products are everywhere, and slippery spills are common. Customers’ bags and purses and electrical cords are easy to trip over. Mats, furniture and a plethora of other hazards can set customers up for a nasty fall that results in injury.
- Equipment burns: Heated hair tools like blow dryers, curling and straightening irons, hair dryers, nail dryers and other hot tools can cause serious burns if they are overheated or used improperly. Lasers and other skin treatment equipment can cause burns, cuts and abrasions at the sight of treatment.
- Chemical burns: Many beauty products use harsh chemicals that can burn your skin, hurt your eyes or even disintegrate your hair. Spa treatments like waxing, chemical peels and other procedures can cause burns and injury if not done correctly or with sufficient oversight.
- Staph and bacterial infections: Salons and spas see dozens of clients each day, and it doesn’t take much for an infection to spread. Procedures like manicures and pedicures that push back the skin around nail beds, and waxing and abrasive skin treatments that leave tiny cuts and abrasions, make it easy for pathogens to get past your skin’s protective barrier and enter your bloodstream.
- Hair loss and scalp injuries: Hair treatment products can be harsh, especially products for hair straightening. When left on for too long, harsh chemicals can cause serious scalp injuries and hair loss.
- Cuts and lacerations: Sharp scissors, nail clippers and other tools can cause serious cuts that can even leave you disfigured.
Reducing Your Risk of Salon and Spa Injuries
Personal care and beauty services are closely regulated by state agencies. Requirements vary from one state to the next, but every salon should prominently display a valid business license and clinicians should be licensed or certified. Salon business owners should take every precaution to protect guests, employees and customers from harm. In New York, the salon’s business license must be prominently displayed, along with a license and photograph of each operator.
There are a few things you can do to reduce your risk of being injured in a salon or spa:
- Look for the business license and check to be sure it is up to date.
- Ask about the credentials and experience of your clinician or stylist.
- Do a thorough check for cleanliness. Check the bathrooms, sinks and drains, and observe if hair and debris are quickly swept from floors.
- Ask how equipment and tools are cleaned between customers.
- Ask how nail care equipment is sanitized.
- Bring your own nail polish to avoid infections from other customers.
Filing a Lawsuit for Salon and Spa Injuries
If you suffered a salon or spa injury, you should seek medical attention immediately. Once you receive preliminary medical care, find a personal injury lawyer to represent your case. They will advise you on how to proceed, and ask for information and documentation to ensure you have a solid case.
Collect and retain any documentation relevant to your case, take photos of your injuries and collect the contact information of anyone who witnessed the incident that caused your injuries. Also document how the salon’s manager or owner responded to the incident.
Salon and Spa Injury Legal Funding
Your personal injury case can take a long time to work its way through the legal system. Meanwhile, you have to deal with medical bills, time away from work and other issues that rapidly deplete your bank account. Cronus legal funding offers a way to get cash now while you wait for your case to settle.
If you qualify, pre-settlement lawsuit funding from Cronus Capital Group can ease your financial burdens so you can focus on healing and recovering from your injuries. There are no monthly payments — your loan is repaid directly from your settlement. And if your lawyer loses your case, you never have to repay your loan.
If you have a pending personal injury lawsuit and need cash now, contact Cronus Capital, or simply fill out our online form and we’ll get in touch with you. Let Cronus help you put your injuries in the past, so you can move forward with your life.
