Woman sues salon for $20,000 after 'bad haircut left her with a mullet'

A woman who hails from Melbourne, Australia, has claimed that her hair was destroyed by a hairdresser after being cut into an unwanted "mullet", and is now seeking around $20,000 (£16,000) in damages.

Jessica Bray alleges she had suffered emotionally following the haircut, and was forced to buy a £1,000 wig for her 30th birthday.

She says that staff at Saint James Hair Studio damaged her hair after bleaching it in April of last year, and that she later had to see a psychologist for humiliation and distress.

Her hair was allegedly left so brittle that it broke off, and when she went to the salon to get it fixed, she claims she ended up looking as if she had a "mullet".

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Speaking to News.com.au, Bray says "I was told to shave my head because of the damage."

She alleges that she had previously gotten her hair cut badly before at the salon, but that she returned because she thought it wouldn't happen again.

"I returned and they did it again, and dropped dye on my clothes and also under-bleached my hair again meaning I would have to have my hair bleached four times in around six weeks," she continued.

And when she returned, it didn't go to plan once again: "I tug on it gently and it falls out in my hand. The owner sees, stops cutting a man’s hair and runs out back to my hairdresser."

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Bray went onto say that her hair fell out in clumps over the next few days, and when she complained to the salon's owner, she was just given a refund.

The retail sales worker, who is currently unemployed, claims that her hair looked so bad that she didn't apply for jobs because she was so upset over her appearance.

The case eventually went to a tribunal, where she lost her claim for damages. The salon has continued to deny claims that it had breached consumer law, and says that Bray's hair was in poor condition because she had been bleaching it for so long.

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"Hairdressing is like art, it’s subjective. I think it’s good but the client might not like it," owner James Young told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tribunal member, Danica Buljan, ruled that Bray's claim was "excessive and without justification." She is now entitled to a $270 refund and $114 compensation for a psychologist appointment she attended for humiliation and distress.

They did, however, state that the salon breached consumer law by failing to provide services with due care and skill, as the damage done to the customer's hair was “reasonably foreseeable”.

Bray is currently considering appealing the verdict.