How Much Compensation For An Injury Caused By Beauty Treatments?

By Michael Patrick. Last Updated 23rd March 2021. Welcome to our guide on beauty treatment injury claims. Looking good is great for your body image, confidence and self-esteem. Still, incompetent or negligent professionals can sometimes cause you to sustain beauty treatment injuries of a severe nature.

Beauty treatment procedures such as hair styling, microdermabrasion, tanning, laser treatments, spa treatments, body piercing, body arts, nail treatments and minor cosmetic procedures like Botox, can sometimes pose risks to members of the public. It is for that reason why critical laws and policies have been introduced. However, when beauty treatments and cosmetic procedures are not adequately handled, clients could suffer from chemical burns, skin burns, allergic reactions and contraction of post-procedural infections or bloodborne diseases.

If you or any of your loved ones have suffered any form of injuries due to beauty salon negligence, negligence of a spa and its staff, nail salons, tanning salons, or any other beauty treatment establishment, our legal experts can help you get beauty treatment accident compensation from the negligent professional or the business owner. Please contact us for free legal advice or start your beauty treatment compensation claims process right away by calling 0800 073 8804.

Select a section:

• A guide to claiming for an injury caused by beauty treatments.
• What is an injury caused by beauty treatments?
• Claiming for injuries caused by skin treatments.
• Claiming for injuries caused by chemicals used in beauty treatments.
• Claiming for injuries caused by wax treatments.
• Other common causes of beauty treatment injuries.
• Claiming beauty treatment injuries as an employee.
• Beauty treatment facts and statistics.
• Assessing the severity of beauty treatment injuries.
• The long-term effects of beauty treatment injuries.
• What to do if you have suffered an injury due to beauty treatments.
• What can be claimed for after a beauty treatment injury?
• No win no fee beauty treatment injury claims.
• How much can I claim for an injury caused by a beauty treatment? (Updated March 2021)
• How to start a beauty treatment injury claim.
• Why choose us as your claims service for a beauty treatment injury claim?
• Call for free advice and to start a claim.
• Beauty injury claims FAQs

A Guide to Claiming for an Injury Caused by Beauty Treatments

Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 mandates that the owners and managers of beauty treatment establishments conduct their businesses and offer services in such a way that the clients are fully protected from all risks of accidents.

The Sales of Goods and Services Act of 1982 also specifies that sellers of goods and suppliers of services are expected to offer services to consumers who enter into contracts with them in such a way that they are protected from potential injuries and damages.

Beauty service providers who fail to adhere to the instructions laid out by these government regulations may be found guilty of negligence and may be required to pay restitution in the form of beauty treatment accident compensation to the affected client.

Beauty treatment claims are not exclusive to gender; men and women who have been affected by beauty treatment injuries through no fault of their own, are both entitled to make beauty treatment injury claims. However, you would need the services of a competent legal professional to improve your chances of success.

This guide has all the information you need to begin your personal injury claims process. You will learn what steps you need to take after you have suffered an injury, how to start your claim without any financial commitments, the different types of damages you can claim for and how much compensation you can reasonably expect to receive.

If you have further questions on beauty treatment compensation claims or require clarification of any point after reading through this guide, please use the contact details at the bottom of this page to contact us.

What is an Injury Caused by Beauty Treatments?

The number of people undergoing beauty treatments seems to be at an all-time high. The graph below created with data from the Office of National Statistics shows that there are over 36,000 hairdressers or other beauty treatment centres in England alone. More than one in six can be found in London.

A beauty treatment injury is any type of injury sustained during, or as a side effect of beauty treatment procedures. Beauty treatment injuries may be caused due to a number of factors including human error, equipment failure or allergic reactions and infections caused by beauty products, beauty treatment procedures, and potentially harmful chemicals used in beauty treatments.

Common injuries that may be caused by beauty treatments include skin discolouration, infection, burns and scarring, allergic reactions, hair loss, facial scarring, incorrectly or poorly drawn tattoos, eye infections, cuts and bruising and many other severe or embarrassing cosmetic problems. if these injuries are the result of negligence, they could lead to beauty treatment compensation claims.

If you’d like to know more about beauty treatment injury claims and the injuries that can lead to them, please get in touch with our team today. 

Claiming for Injuries Caused by Skin Treatments

There is always a risk of chemical or allergic reactions occurring when beauty treatments are applied to the skin. The skin is the largest and most visible organ in the human body, but it is also one of the most sensitive. Even a small patch of skin can lead to severe health consequences when exposed to caustic chemicals.

Beauty technicians are expected to read the manufacturer’s instructions before using any beauty treatments on clients. Before chemical peels can be carried out, for instance, the beautician is mandated to carry out patch tests on a small, invisible portion of the skin and only proceed to fully apply the product on the client’s skin if there are no allergic reactions or potential damages.

Suppose your beauty technician failed to carry out a full assessment of the risks of applying a product to your skin, or failed to protect you in any way. In that case, they can be sued for negligence and beauty treatment compensation claims can be made for any injuries and damages caused.

Claiming for Injuries Caused by Chemicals used in Beauty Treatments

Most of the chemicals used in beauty treatments are potentially harmful, primarily when trained professionals do not handle them. Lack of care in using these chemicals could lead to beauty treatment accident compensation being claimed. 

The UK Department of Health and other laws controlling the conduct of beauty professionals set out guidelines to be followed when applying chemical treatments to clients.

When these guidelines are followed, the chances of a client suffering injuries are almost nonexistent. Failure to follow these guidelines exposes the client to the risk of chemical burns and skin damage and can lead to beauty treatment injury claims.

Claiming for Injuries Caused by Wax Treatments

One of the most frequently asked questions about beauty treatment claims from our clients is “can you sue for waxing burns?” Yes, you absolutely can. Before a beauty technician applies potentially harmful chemicals like wax to your skin, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 mandates them to assess the risks of the chemical treatment, and take preventive measures so that accidents and subsequent beauty treatment injury claims can be avoided.

For instance, a patch test must be conducted before applying wax treatments to a client’s skin. The wax must not be overheated or used incorrectly to avoid skin burns. When tools are to be shared amongst clients, they must be properly sterilised to prevent the spread of infection and blood-borne diseases.

Failure to comply with any of these safety regulations makes the beauty professional guilty of negligence. Affected clients may be able to claim against the beauty salon and make beauty treatment compensation claims.

What to do if you get burned from waxing?

If you’re burned by wax, run the area under cool water for 20 minutes and rinse with soap. If it’s still painful, you can apply a cold compress to the site of the injury. Paracetamol and ibuprofen can be used to manage the pain of a burn. 

Other Common Causes of Beauty Treatment Injuries

Several other situations including: may also cause beauty treatment injuries

• Non-Invasive Procedures: Carrying out non-invasive procedures such as Botox, to enhance beauty but a slight error during these procedures may lead to disfigurement and subsequent embarrassment for the affected client.
• Slips and fall: Beauty salons use a lot of liquid, which may sometimes spill on the floor and cause clients or visitors to slip and fall. As specified by the law for beauty salons, the reasonable care clause includes cleaning the floors from time to time and warning clients to steer clear of wet and slippery areas.
• Damaged or Faulty Equipment: A lot of equipment is used to carry out beauty treatments, and most of this equipment is either powered by electricity or designed to generate heat, thereby exposing clients to the risk of electrical shocks or burns. Beauty salons are mandated to assess the risks of using different equipment on their clients and are expected to properly maintain this equipment and dispose of it when they can no longer be trusted to perform without exposing clients to injuries. If your beauty technician used any equipment in carrying out beauty treatments on you, and this equipment caused you to suffer from burns or any other injuries, you can make a burn injury claim against the beauty salon.
• Incompetent Professionals: Before a beauty, salon technician is assigned to work on a client’s hair, body or skin, especially when it involves using potentially harmful equipment or products, they are required by law, to have received adequate training. If inadequate staff training leads to an injury, grounds for beauty treatment compensation claims exist.
• Defective Products: Defective products may also cause injuries. The manufacturer of the defective product may be solely liable for the damages. Still, in some cases, the beauty store or the product retailer may be partly liable for selling the defective product to you.

If you’d like to know more about beauty treatment injury claims or to see if your injury could be grounds to make a beauty treatment accident compensation claim, please get in touch with our team today. 

Claiming Beauty Treatment Injuries as an Employee

If you were injured during the course of discharging your duties as an employed beauty technician, you could potentially sue your employer for your injuries.

Statistical information from the Health and Safety Executives (HSE) reveals that 70% of hairdressers suffer from skin damage caused by beauty products’ chemical contents.

Nail technicians are also exposed to the risks of asthma and other allergies as a result of exposure to the chemical contents of nail polishes and acrylics. This could be grounds for beauty treatment injury claims if reasonable steps weren’t taken to reduce this risk.

Employers in the UK owe a duty of care to their employees to protect them from any forms of health hazards during the course of discharging their duties. You might be able to claim for compensation from your employer if they failed to protect you in any way reasonably.

If you’d like more details on beauty treatment compensation claims as an employee, get in touch with our team today.

Beauty Treatment Facts and Statistics

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) state that there are various hazards and risks improved to hairdressers. For example, naturally, rubber latex (NRL) contains specific protections that have the potential to cause ill health. In powdered latex gloves, the NRL protein can often leach out of the glove. In return, they can attach themselves to the powder particles. Therefore. when the glove is removed. it can become airborne, which may lead to asthma.

The occupational use of nanomaterials is strictly regulated under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH). Under COSGGM it states that employers must have measures in place when dangerous/hazardous materials are in use. For instance, employers can prevent and/or reduce workers exposure to hazardous substances such as:

• Making plans for emergencies.
• Monitor and surveillance appreciate tasks with dangerous substances,
• Providing suitable information and training where fit.
• Make sure risk assessments have been taken place.

Beauty Industry activities include:

• Hairdressing
• Tanning
• Micro-dermabrasion
• Spas
• Nail bars
• Laser skin treatments
• Body art and skin piercing
• Minor cosmetic procedures
• Botox
• Lip fillers

Assessing the Severity of Beauty Treatment Injuries

Before beauty treatment injury claims can be settled, the nature of the injuries would be evaluated, which would determine the amount awarded in beauty treatment accident compensation.

Beauty treatment injuries can be classified from minor or severe. Minor injuries may include first degree burns, bruises or cuts. In contrast, severe injuries are injuries that are harder to treat, and have more severe consequences such as hair loss, head injuries, third or second-degree burns and injuries that require surgical intervention may also be classified as severe.

Severe injuries attract higher compensation than minor injuries. Still, before an injury can be classified on the scale minor through to severe, a medical professional would have to perform an examination and issue a professional opinion.

For more information on how long- term effects of injuries can result in beauty treatment compensation claims, please read on.

The Long-Term Effects of Beauty Treatment Injuries

Embarrassment and social alienation are one of the potentially harmful effects of beauty treatment injuries. A beauty treatment accident that leaves you with a bald head, for instance, can cause you to suffer from embarrassment, lose social confidence.

Infections from unsterilised instruments may also cause kidney or liver damage if they are not detected and treated early.

Sustaining burn injuries from beauty salon mishaps could also cause both superficial and chronic health problems, leading to beauty treatment injury claims.

All of these consequences are considered before compensation is awarded for beauty treatment injuries. These and the fact that you may also suffer severe financial consequences such as loss of income and income potential, which may lead to a reduction in your current standard of living, resulting in emotional and psychological challenges for you and your loved ones.

What to do if you have suffered an injury due to Beauty Treatments

Pursuing negligence claims against beauty technicians is no small task because the beautician would be naturally inclined to protect themselves by denying or disputing any beauty treatment injury claims. However, if you have enough evidence to back up your claims which can be given to your personal injury solicitors, it would improve your chances of winning the case.

Because of this, it is recommended that you take the following steps following a beauty treatment accident or injury:

• Take Photos of the Accident and Your Injuries: If possible, get photographic evidence of the injury itself, and the environment it happened in.
• Keep Your Receipts and Other Paperwork: Receipts, contractual agreements and other paperwork would further help to prove that you received services that caused you to sustain injuries.
• Report to the Management: Make a formal report to the beauty salon operator about the accident. There should be an accident book that needs to be updated with the details of the incident.
• Seek Medical Treatment: Seek a qualified medical professional for immediate treatment. The associated documentation can be useful for making a beauty treatment accident compensation claim.
• Keep Evidence of Treatment and Related Expenses: This is very important. It can help you get the highest compensation amount possible, so remember to keep all evidence and records of any financial expenses or losses sustained concerning the injury.
• Talk to a Beauty Treatment Accident Claims Expert: A claim against beauty salon experts may only be successful with the right legal backing so you shouldn’t waste time in finding a qualified legal professional well versed in beauty treatment compensation claims to represent you.

Every individual beauty treatment accident case is unique. Our legal experts would be able to review your case during a free consultation session and tell you what to do next.

What can be claimed for After a Beauty Treatment Injury?

You can claim for two major categories of damages after a beauty treatment injury:

• General Damages: This type of damages includes all of the physical aspects of the injury. This includes initial pain and suffering as well as ongoing health issues and also psychological damage.
• Special Damages: Special damages account for all measurable financial losses including loss of income or earning potential, recuperation expenses, surgical fees, reversal procedures, medical expenses and equipment to help the victim cope, assisted care and living, prescriptions, rehabilitation expenses, travel expenses and funeral expenses in cases where the victim dies from their injuries.

No Win No Fee Beauty Treatment Injury Claims

You don’t need to worry about funding when you need to make a beauty treatment injury claim. With the No Win No Fee package that we offer, you can make your claim without any initial financial commitments.

You only need to pay our fee after compensation has been awarded, and in the unlikely event that we are unable to get compensation for you, you don’t have to pay anything.

How Much Can I Claim for an Injury Caused by a Beauty Treatment? (Updated March 2021) 

We cannot categorically tell you how much to expect in beauty treatment compensation claims without first taking a look at your case’s facts. However, we can give an estimate based on judicial guidelines, and the cases we have worked on the past.

Injury	Amount	Description
Very Severe Facial Scarring	£27,940 to £91,350	Usually awarded to very young claimants (teens to early 30s) where the injuries are very disfiguring and the psychological effects are severe
Less Severe Facial Scarring	£16,860 to £45,440	Awarded where the disfigurement is substantial and psychological reaction is severe
Significant Facial Scarring	£8,550 to £28,240	Awarded where the worst of the effects can be reduced by plastic surgery and where there's no great psychological reaction or, if there was one initially, it's since diminished
Less Significant Facial Scarring	£3,710 to £12,900	Awarded where there is one scar that can be camouflaged, or a number of small scars that mar but don't markedly affect the appearance
Trivial Facial Scarring	£1,600 to £3,310	Minor effect only
Scarring	£7,350 to £21,330	A number of noticeable scars, or a single disfiguring scar, on the leg(s), arm(s), hand(s), back or chest
Scarring (Less severe)	£2,220 to £7,350	A single noticeable scar, or several superficial scars, of leg(s) or arm(s) or hand(s), with some minor cosmetic deficit.
Severe burns	Up to £98,380	Where significant burns cover 40% or more of the body, awards are likely to exceed £98,380. Award amounts will be influences by percentage of body affected, cosmetic impact, need for surgery and psychological impact
Damage to hair (serious)	£6,890 to £10,340	Where permanent waving, tinting etc. has caused dermatitis, eczema or burning of the scalp causing dry or brittle hair which breaks off or falls out.
Damage to hair (less serious)	£3,710 to £6,890	As above, where symptoms are fewer or only minor
Dermatitis of both hands	£12,900 to £18,020	Cracking and soreness, affecting employment and domestic capability, possibly with some psychological consequences. Could last for some years or indefinitely.
Dermatitis of both hands	£8,110 to £10,710	As above, but where the condition settles with treatment and use of gloves for certain tasks
Itching, irritation of, and/or rashes on one or both hands	£1,600 to £3,710	Awarded where the condition resolves in a few months with treatment, or where a pre-existing condition is aggravated temporarily.

To get an accurate estimate on how much you can reasonably expect from your beauty treatment injury claim, please use the contact details below to speak to one of our claims experts.

How to Start a Beauty Treatment Injury Claim

Before beauty treatment injury claims can start to be processed, you need to ascertain whether you are eligible to make a claim or not.

If you would like to engage us with your claims expert after the consultation, we can arrange for a local medical examination if required.

We will then begin your beauty treatment compensation claims process on a no win no fee basis and continue to give you updates until you are awarded compensation.

Please use the contact details at the bottom of this page to claim your free consultation session and begin your claims process right away.

Why choose us as your Claims Service for a Beauty Treatment Injury Claim?

We are a team of qualified and highly experienced professionals who know the exact approach to take to get you a well-deserved beauty treatment accident compensation pay-out. We leave no stone unturned and stop at nothing to ensure our clients are completely satisfied.

We also understand the importance of privacy and would not share your information with anyone else. Our legal experts are friendly and easy to talk to so you can ask them any questions before, during and after making your claims.

Call for Free Advice and To Start a Claim

There is a legal time limit for making beauty treatment compensation claims after which the negligent professional may walk away without paying compensation. Don’t allow that to happen. Start your claims today by calling us on 0800 073 8804 or by using the web contact form at the bottom of this page to chat with one of our experts today.

Helpful Links

Cosmetic Surgery Claims – How Much Compensation Can I Claim?

If you have had a botched cosmetic surgery or it has caused an injury or illness, contact us today to see if you can claim compensation.

Hairdresser Injury Compensation Claims

Have you been injured in any way at a hairdresser? If you have had an injury to because of a slip or trip in the salon or even damage to your hair or burns, contact us today and find out if you can claim compensation.

HSE Beauty sector strategy

The HSE on the beauty sector can be from beauty shops to small private self-employed beauty treatment workers.

Medical Negligence Compensation Claims

If you have had beauty treatment such as botox or lip fillers that have gone wrong, this is a type of medical negligence or clinical negligence claim. Contact us today to see if you can claim compensation and get free advice.

Beauty injury claims FAQs

How long does it take to get personal injury compensation?

This depends. Simple claims where liability is clear may be settled within a few months, whereas more complicated claims involving serious injuries, or where liability is in dispute, may take longer to settle.

Can I make a personal injury claim myself?

Yes, you can. But for various reasons, it’s strongly recommended that you have someone act on your behalf. The claims process can be complicated and stressful without the aid of a legal professional.

What if I’ve signed a disclaimer form for beauty treatments?

Yes. If the salon has acted negligently and you were injured as a result, you can still make a personal injury claim according to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

Can you claim against a salon for wax burns?

You can claim against a salon if you’ve suffered burns due to their negligence. The extent of your injuries will dictate how much you receive.

Can you claim against someone for messing up your eyebrows?

No. While you may be able to negotiate with them about fixing their mistake, making a personal injury claim requires that you’ve suffered some injury due to their negligence.

How long can you make a claim after an accident?

The personal injury claims time limit is three years from the date the accident occured. But you don’t need to wait; contacting us today and getting the process started could strengthen your claim.

Who pays out for personal injury claims against a salon?

If you’re injured as a customer in a beauty salon, then claims will be paid from public liability insurance. Workplace accident claims will be paid from employer’s liability insurance.

How are injury claims calculated?

You’ll receive general damages, which will cover the pain and suffering the accident caused you. Special damages will cover any financial losses that you might experience; you should keep any bills, receipts or invoices that might support this aspect of your claim.

Thank you for reading our guide on beauty treatment injury claims.