In my last blog I wrote about the things that can go wrong whilst visiting your hair salon and, whilst I am on the "beauty” theme, I thought I'd also mention beauty salons. As with hairdressers, most beauty salons are perfectly respectable, professionally run places but some, sadly, are not. The same comments apply to nail salons, tanning salons etc. Anyone can open a salon, even if they have no qualifications or training in the "beauty” industry but they must all carry public liability insurance to cover compensation claims which may be brought against them.

So what can go wrong? Lots of things is the frightening answer to that question. For instance, products that come into contact with your skin should first be subject to a patch test to make sure they are compatible with your skin. But you would be surprised by the number of salons which ignore this. Without a test you could suffer a severe allergic reaction to the product which can cause pain and can lead to permanent scarring. And what about sun bed tanning? A maximum initial exposure session will normally be recommended by sun bed manufacturers but again this is routinely ignored by many salons, risking burning, blistering and scarring for their clients. Having the sun beds emitting too high dosages can have a similar effect.

If things do go wrong you are entitled to claim compensation for the pain, suffering  and financial losses you suffer as a result and, despite what the salon may tell you, you do not have to go back to them so that they can try to put things right. Make sure that if you do need to claim you use a specialist personal injury solicitor who will probably deal with your claim on a "No Win No Fee” basis so that it shouldn't cost you a penny win or lose.

Chris Macwilliam is an experienced personal injury specialist and is the partner who heads the firm's personal injury department. He is a member of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel and holds Senior Litigator status with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).