Salon told to pay ₹2cr for ‘botching’ model’s haircut

Salon told to pay ₹2cr for ‘botching’ model’s haircut

Saurabh Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.09.2021

If it wasn’t for the sum involved, one could perhaps joke that the salon operator was having a bad hair day. But Rs 2 crore is not a trifling sum and that is what the salon has to pay a model as punitive award for a haircut that allegedly wasn’t what she had hoped for.

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) awarded this sum to the model on Tuesday for allegedly deficient services at a salon in a five-star hotel in Delhi in April 2018.

Justifying the award, NCRDC president RK Agrawal and member S M Kantikar held in their order that “…women are very cautious and careful with their hair. They spend a handsome amount on keeping hair in good condition. They are also emotionally attached with their hair. The complainant was a model for hair products because of her long hair... But due to hair cutting against her instructions, she lost her expected assignments and suffered a huge loss which completely changed her lifestyle and shattered her dream to be a top model.”

The model visited the salon on April 12, 2018, a week before she was to appear for an interview. Her regular hairdresser was unavailable that day and some other stylist apparently took over. The order noted, “According to the complainant, she specifically instructed the hairdresser for long flicks/layers covering her face in the front and at the back and four-inch straight hair trim from the bottom. It is alleged in the complaint that the complainant was wearing high-powered spectacles and was requested by the hairdresser to keep her head constantly down.”

While the model wanted a “simple haircut”, the hairdresser allegedly took over an hour on the task. Told she was getting a “London” haircut. The complainant was left in “utter shock and surprise”, when the hairdresser allegedly “chopped off her entire hair, leaving only four inches from the top”.

The haircare model complained to the salon management and was offered hair extension treatment for the interview or treatment of hair “free of cost.” On May 3, the model returned to the salon, but alleged later that “during treatment, her hair and scalp got completely damaged with excess ammonia and there was lot of irritation in the scalp”.

The NCRDRC order noted that the model “underwent severe mental breakdown and trauma due to negligence in cutting her hair and… finally lost her job”, and directed the hotel to pay her Rs 2 crore within eight weeks of the order.

0 8 WEEKS’ TIME TO SALON TO PAY UP