Home
Greetings!
I am a Chemist working for a manufacturing cement plant here in Cebu.
I would like to ask for your legal advice.
I went to Herea Salon in the Gaisano Mall on May 10, 2018 to have a new hair color. Previously, I have my hair color done and wanted to change the color. I asked the wife of the owner who attended to me whether I can have the color I wanted. But she said that it was impossible because they still needed to WASH OFF the old color (that has faded for nearly 2 months) first by BLEACHING it and then after that COLORING it. Meaning, I would have to undergo TWO procedures to achieve the color I want for my hair. Feeling nervous, I directly asked the co-owner (the wife) who manages the salon if it was really OKAY AND SAFE TO BLEACH MY HAIR WITHOUT any skin patch test since again, THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME. She said that they can proceed with the bleaching of my hair since they were using organic products. Hearing from her (who is operating the business for 10 years) those info and being clueless of what might be the bad effects of hair bleaching, it gave me a relief! To make the long story short, the bleaching process pushed through. But after an hour with it, I felt and extreme kind of headache I never felt before and felt that my scalp was burning to death, is was also itchy. I called the attention of the Colorist and asked my wife who accompanied me at the salon to buy me a pain reliever. Upon learning that, the Colorist asked another attendant to rinse my hair with water. Rinsing my hair, the manager/owner, maybe noticed some rashes on my forehead and so she put some cream on it without informing me what was applying on. I kept mum thinking maybe they knew what they were doing. After which, they still proceeded with the BLEACHING of my hair. I endured all of it, again, thinking that maybe it was just NORMAL for first timers like me. And then finally they COLORED my hair. The whole process took nearly for 2 hours and 45 minutes.
I went home straight. The mall is just a 5-minute walk to my house. When I reached home, my wife was shocked that the color was totally different from what I told them to color me. They did not achieve the color I wanted. Plus, my wife being a Med.Tech, she checked my scalp and hair because I was then complaining of intense headache, itchiness and burning sensation. She found out that I had BUKOL all over my head, rashes all over my head, wounds and my scalp continue to secrete an oily substance that later that night scabbed my head. My wife told me to go back to the salon to report the matter. Since it was about closing time, the owner/manager opted to give me a KERATING HAIR MASK and was asked to follow up with them the following morning.
As early as 10AM I was there in the salon waiting for the manager but to NO AVAIL. The attendants said to come back in the afternoon. And so did at around 2PM. Again, she did not show up. They kept me waiting for 30 minutes for nothing. I decided to just ask for the owner's complete name and contact numbers so that I can just inform her of what happened to my scalp and hair. Unfortunately, the attendant could not give the contact number to me as well as the full name! I was not even entertained. It seemed that she is in hiding now. And so I decide to just leave and told the attendant that we might as well have the incident recorded through police blotter. My wife left her cellphone number to the attendant so the owner could contact us.
Went straight to the police station, made the blotter. Went to Rural Health Clinic for medico-legal. Then to the Barangay, they got my statement also there. The Barangay said that they will summon the owner of the salon on that same day.
Hours passed, on that same day, my wife received an anonymous phone call from the alleged OWNER of the salon (the husbanf of the manager). He said he wants to settle things with us but will shoulder ONLY the medicines I need to take. He even told us that he had a meeting with a Colonel and has a security agency (what is the connection of these???). Was he threatening my wife? The call lasted for 14 minutes. My wife said that we might as well settle the issue at the proper venue since we already filed a complaint. The owner insisted "nakikiusap naman ako sa inyo, walang may ginusto nito, kawawa naman ang hairdresser ko kung papabayaran nyo lahat ng nagastos nyo sa pagpapagamot pati ang pag absent nyo sa trabaho. Magfile na lang kyo ng SSS sickness benefit at Sick leave sa company kung saan nagtatrabaho ang mister mo. Dahil pare-parehas naman tyo nagtatrabaho dito." My wife getting annoyed already, said "BYE and see you at the Barangay hearing instead".
After hanging up, we went straight to the Police station to have that phone called be included to the previous blotter.
What are the liabilities of the owner and colorist? I was not able to go to work for a couple of days due to this headache, itchiness, burning scalp and pus-filled bumps on my head.
Hope you can help.
