Scalded at the hairdressers

What a horrible thing to happen, hope you have recovered from the experience and head isn’t too sore.
Looking at it from the other side it could be that if you were recompensed for your experience it would mean that the salon opens the doors to legal proceedings?
I’m not saying that you would have that intention but they don’t know that.

PamelaJ1

What a horrible thing to happen, hope you have recovered from the experience and head isn’t too sore.
Looking at it from the other side it could be that if you were recompensed for your experience it would mean that the salon opens the doors to legal proceedings?
I’m not saying that you would have that intention but they don’t know that.

Omg no, definitely not taking it further, just a complimentary cut and blow dry or similar, but you make a good point.

This happened to me many many years ago. It was a nasty burn on my neck due to being put under a hairdryer to heat up the bleach. I was forgotten and the bleach boiled up and ran down my neck. The salon owner was so nasty to my husband who went in to say they should give me my money back that I did take it further. I got a modest pay out, I wouldn’t have done that normally but was encouraged to do so by my work mates and boss. The thing was when I was going up to see the Barrister in London, the salon owner was on her way up too! She sat down next to me, I can only imagine it was to intimidate me. That made me feel I did the right thing after all.

A horrid thing to happen, but presumably it was an unavoidable accident, in which I think an apology is good enough.

To my mind, an apology would only have been good enough if the owner of the business had made it at the time. I would also have expected her to contact the district heating association if they supply the hot water and tell them of the incident, or immediately ring a tradesman who could check her boiler and thermostat. I should also expect her to have told the unfortunate customer of the steps she was taking to ensure that the same thing did not happen again,

Surely, she has an insurance policy that pays out damages to her customers in such a case? Of not, she should have.

And I would change my hairdresser!

If the water suddenly became overheated it was probably due to an unforseen problem with the plumbing system, or somebody accidentally knocking the setting on the tap. I would say that this warrants an apology (which you got) and an assurance that she would take steps to get a plumber in or have something fitted to the taps to ensure it was impossible to overheat.

The juniors that wash hair at the salon I use, constantly check the water temperature with their hand. I think they are taught to do that.
I would expect the salon owner to apologise, investigate why the water suddenly ran too hot, ( so that it can’t happen again) and ask how you are.They may need a couple of days to investigate what occurred.
If you have blistered skin and the area of blistering is greater than the size of your palm, you should get medical help.

You should report this to environmental health at the local council where the salon is located.
Their response is inadequate and as you say more vulnerable customers could be
injured.
There should be a limiter to prevent such a predictable contingency.

Sorry, but I don’t see this as an unforeseeable accident at all. Surely the taps should have had TMVs fitted to ensure that the water never goes above a safe temperature. As you say, the consequences for a child, or even someone with fine or thin hair, could have been very serious. I’d have expected the salon owner to assure me that steps would be taken to make sure this didn’t happen again, and to carry this out. And yes, a free session and a bunch of flowers wouldn’t have gone amiss either!

Let it go. Crap happens in life; luckily it wasn't life endangering.