**Short version**
A…read moreLavish stylist injured me and the owner, Catharine, refused to refund my money.
When I pay $330 for a hair service I expect to like the result and leave with my health intact.
For Catharine, a blistered head from unwashed chemicals following a bad bleach job is an acceptable Lavish experience.
**Long version**
Stylist Kristina left a glob of unrinsed toning glaze on my roots, blow-dried it, and sent me home that way. Confused as to how that's possible? Yeah, I was too.
A couple hours after I got home, I discovered the crown of my head was tender and that a fist-sized section of hair there felt like sticky clumps of straw. It wouldn't wash out, so I used a coconut oil mask overnight that thankfully did break up the residue, but the hair there still feels weak, and gummy when it's wet.
I was up that night with a migraine which I believe was from the chemical exposure, and a feeling like the skin on my head was burning and stretched too tight. There was a cluster of blisters on my scalp the next day, which I took pictures of over 3 days in an attempt to see what was going on up there--to see why my skin was so sore and why my scalp was shedding little orange crystals of black- and blood-flecked pus.
The salon was closed, so I couldn't go in until the 3rd day after my service, at which point the scabs were less visible, so Catharine argued everything she could to frame the burn as a nonissue, or at the very least, one they were not culpable for.
What sent me was when she accused me of causing the injury to myself by "aggressively scrubbing my head." The only aggressive thing was my attitude after she kept trying to gaslight me.
I'm not proud of that, but I also don't think it was an unreasonable reaction to being physically harmed by a business and then told by the owner that my experience never happened, or that it did happen but was somehow my fault, or that it did happen but wasn't that bad, which were all positions she took throughout our discussion.
This should go without saying, but I didn't "aggressively scrub" anything. I was worried that my hair would fall out, and it freaking hurt! So trust, I wouldn't have been more gentle if I was bathing a newborn baby.
Beyond the freaky damage, my hair just looked bad. It was brassy and lifted unevenly. The hair on the left side of my part was noticeably lighter than the right.
I knew that could have been remedied though, and Kristina and I agreed on the day of my service that I could come back in the following week to let her fix it. I was nice about it and I paid willingly. That was before I knew I was paying $290 with a $40 tip for them to injure me, damage my hair, and then tell me it wasn't a big deal.
Catharine kept nitpicking the word "burn", because according to her, true chemical burns last for weeks and not days. A Google search confirms from several sources what I know happened to me--that minor burns from unsafe/prolonged chemical exposure can heal in a few days, but can still be quite painful and carry all the same risks of infection and follicle damage.
But why does it matter what we call it? Burn, blister, open wound, exposure allergy? She chose to debate terminology because if she acknowledged my actual experience in any way, she would have to admit fault.
So instead she picked apart my words until, after 10 minutes of back-and-forth, she finally offered a 50% refund. I asked again for 100%, and she said no, because she has expenses to cover and Kristina deserves to get paid for her time.
I declined. I'm hoping a charge dispute will go in my favor, but honestly by then my frustration was less about money and more about principle, you know?
Because she took no accountability. She attempted to distort the truth, downplayed my experience, denied what was in my photos, and even accused me of causing this injury to myself.
But while Catharine's stance was basically no permanent harm, no foul, and maintained that Kristina deserved to keep my money for the 3 "hours of work" she put in in exchange for my 72 hours of suffering and bad hair that I need to pay someone else to fix--I know what happened was dangerous, and their handling of it was unethical, and let's hope deep down they do, too.
