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By Stephen Bishop. Last Updated 4th October 2024. Waxing is a popular way to remove unwanted body hair and facial hair, alongside laser hair removal. It’s a procedure available at beauty salons up and down the country. However, sometimes people can suffer the likes of wax burns and other injuries through no fault of their own.
Waxing is generally a safe treatment, as long as the beautician is properly trained and follows the correct practices. However, if best practices are not followed, this can lead to the client suffering wax treatment injuries.
If you have suffered an injury caused by a waxing procedure, such as a bikini wax, or treatment for your eyebrows, legs, arms or back, you could make a personal injury claim against the salon.
We can help connect you with No Win No Fee solicitors who specialise in these types of cases. And we can also offer advice on your situation if you’re still weighing up options.
Call us on 0161 6969 685 for your free claim consultation today.
Alternatively, use our online claims form to contact us.
Jump To A Section
- The Criteria For Claiming Compensation For A Waxing Treatment Injury
- What Is A Waxing Treatment Injury?
- How Do I Prove A Personal Injury Claim?
- Examples Of Negligent Waxing Treatment Injuries You Could Claim Compensation For
- Personal Injury Payouts For Waxing Treatment Injuries
- Make A No Win No Fee Claim Today For A Waxing Treatment Injury
- Learn More
The Criteria For Claiming Compensation For A Waxing Treatment Injury
Waxing is a beauty treatment to get rid of unwanted or unsightly body hair. It works by spreading lines of molten wax onto the skin, then using paper strips to rip it off, pulling the unwanted hair with it. The wax used in this treatment is specially developed for cosmetic use. Beauticians sometimes use hot wax to treat stubborn hairs. This type of wax dries and becomes solid on the skin. It is then pulled off as one piece, without using a paper strip.
If the salon acts negligently and best practices are not followed, the client could suffer an injury as a result. Not only can these injuries be painful, but they can also affect the injured person’s appearance, harming their self-confidence. In this guide, we will explain how these injuries can take place and how to sue a salon for negligence. If you believe you are owed compensation for beauty salon negligence, involving waxing, or any other type of injury, Legal Helpline can help you claim. Call us today to speak to an advisor about your waxing treatment injuries.
How Long Do I Have To Claim?
If you suffered an injury such as a wax strip burn or an eyebrow wax burn scar, you generally have three years following the injury to start a personal injury claim. This is set by the Limitation Act 1980. The time limit can start on the date of the accident. It could also start on the date of knowledge, such as when you noticed a wax burn on your leg. Certain circumstances suspend the three years personal injury claim time limit.
These include:
- Being under the age of 18 at the time of the wax strip burn. A minor cannot start a claim themselves. However, a litigation friend could start a claim on their behalf. If they reach their 18th birthday and a claim has not been started on their behalf, they will have three years to start their claim.
- Someone lacking mental capacity at the time of the wax strip burn also cannot represent themselves. A litigation friend could be appointed to start the claiming process on their behalf. However, if they regain their mental capacity and a claim has not been started, they will then be given three years to start a claim.
Call our advisors to start your wax strip burn claim today.
What Is A Waxing Treatment Injury?
Waxing is normally a safe procedure but it can result in injury if it is not carried out correctly. One reason that waxing treatment injuries can happen is that waxing is often carried out on sensitive parts of the body such as the bikini line, underarms and face. The skin is more delicate in these areas and is more prone to tearing, blistering, allergic reactions or infections.
Beauty salons have a duty of care towards their clients. This means that they must ensure that they conduct beauty treatments safely and hygienically. Salons must also make sure that their premises are safe for their clients and employees to use. To do so, they must carry out regular risk assessments to identify health and safety hazards (things that can create a risk of accidents) and put control measures in place to remove or minimise the risk. If a client is injured at a beauty salon, or beautician’s shop because of beauty salon negligence, the salon could be held liable for the client’s injuries.
How Do I Prove A Personal Injury Claim?
If you suffered due to a wax burn on your eyebrows or a similar injury, you may wish to claim compensation. However, in order to do so, you must have evidence that proves that the beautician owed you a duty of care and it was a breach in this that caused your suffering, such as a skin burn from waxing.
Examples of evidence that could help your claim include:
- Photographs of your injury. For example, if your skin was ripped from waxing, this may have left cuts, scars or swelling. You can take a picture of this.
- Medical records. These should contain details of any treatments you received as well as the date you sought treatment.
- Witness contact details so they can provide a statement.
- Product samples if possible. These could be of the wax, the strips, or the packaging the products came in.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about gathering evidence, you can call our advisors. Free legal advice about what to do when wax rips off your skin due to negligence is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Examples Of Negligent Waxing Treatment Injuries You Could Claim Compensation For
A beauty salon or beautician failing to uphold their duty of care towards you alone is not enough to claim. In order to form the basis of a valid waxing injury claim, you also need to have suffered harm.
Some examples of potential waxing injuries can include:
- Cuts and scars: If wax isn’t properly applied or removed, this can result in large tears or cuts in the skin. Not only can this cause bleeding and present a risk of infection, but it can also result in permanent scarring.
- Allergic reactions: If a patch test isn’t performed before the treatment, this runs the risk of a waxing injury caused by an allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction can result in swelling, pain, and potentially scarring.
- Burns: If the wax applied is too hot, this can result in severe burns. Burns can result in pain and blistering, and run the risk of becoming infected or causing scars.
If you’d like to learn more about claiming for injuries caused by a waxing procedure or from another kind of beauty treatment, contact our team of advisors today. They can offer more information on making a waxing injury claim, and could potentially connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel.
Personal Injury Payouts For Waxing Treatment Injuries
Following a waxing gone wrong due to negligence, your injuries may cause you to suffer pain or a loss of amenity. For example, a waxing burn could mean you cannot participate in the activities you usually would. These factors would be compensated under general damages.
To give you an idea of what compensation for burns you may receive, we have lifted figures from the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to create the table below. Legal professionals use the JCG to help value claims. However, the brackets shown are not guaranteed as every case is different.
| Injury | Comments on This Injury | Guideline Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries And Special Damages | Multiple serious injuries alongside financial losses, for example, the cost of travel or lost earnings. | Up to £200,000+ |
| Serious burn Injuries | Where there are significant burns which cover 40% of the body or more. How much is paid out depends on factors such as the percentage of the body burnt, location of the burns, nature of the burns. | Likely to exceed £127,930 |
| Facial Disfigurement - Very Severe Scarring (a) | Which results in very severe (facial) scarring. The claimant will be aged between their teens and early thirties. There is a cosmetic effect and severe psychological reaction. | £36,340 to £118,790 |
| Facial Disfigurement - Less Severe Scarring (b) | Where the person has some disfigurement and where there is a significant psychological reaction. | £21,920 to £59,090 |
| Facial Disfigurement - Significant Scarring (c) | Instances where plastic surgery reduces the worst physical effects. | £11,120 to £36,720 |
| Dermatitis (a) | The cracking and soreness will impact the ability to perform both employment and domestic tasks. There may also be some mental health consequences. | £16,770 to £23,430 |
| Dermatitis (b) | Treatment and/or gloves while carrying out certain tasks will help settle the symptoms. However, they still persist for a significant amount of time. | £10,550 to £13,930 |
Special Damages For Skin Damage From Waxing
Additionally, if your personal injury claim is successful, your award might include special damages.
This head of claim compensates for the financial losses and expenses incurred as a result of suffering a burn from waxing. To claim for special damages, you should submit evidence of your expenses, such as receipts and invoices.
Some examples of expenses you could be able to claim back include:
- Money spent on specialist oils and creams if you used these to minimise the effects of scarring.
- The costs of bandages and scar-minimising wraps.
- Any therapy if this was required following your injuries.
- If you needed time off work to recover, you could also claim for your loss of earnings.
If you have suffered skin damage from waxing and would like to discuss what costs you could be reimbursed for as part of a successful claim or for a free valuation of your potential compensation award, please get in touch with one of the advisors from our team.
Make A No Win No Fee Claim Today For A Waxing Treatment Injury
If you contact our team of advisors about claiming for a waxing treatment injury, such as a wax burn on the skin, then they could review your case for free. If they determine you have a strong case, then they could connect you with one of the No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel.
Our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors can support a wax treatment injury claim under what’s called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Such an agreement offers the following benefits:
- You won’t need to pay your solicitor for their services before your wax treatment injury claim starts or while it’s being processed.
- If your injury claim is unsuccessful, then you normally still don’t need to pay for your solicitor’s work.
- Following a successful claim, your solicitor will cover their payment by taking a small, legally capped percentage from the compensation you have been awarded. This is known as a success fee. The details of how payment works will be confirmed in your agreement before signing it.
- The legal cap ensures that you get to keep the majority of your compensation following a successful claim.
You can contact our advisors for free today to ask questions you may have about No Win No Fee solicitors or other aspects of claiming for wax treatment injuries. To get in touch:
- Fill in our online enquiry form
- Call 0333 000 0729
- Or use the live chat at the bottom of the screen.
Learn More
If you’d like to learn more about claiming personal injury compensation for wax burns or injuries caused by another type of beauty treatment, check out these guides below:
