Widow Claims Infection Result Of Hair Treatment

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29913, 29 August 1962, Page 14

Widow Claims Infection Result Of Hair Treatment

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 28. An elderly widow alleged in the Supreme Court at Wellington today that as the result of treatment she received for her hair she contracted dermatitis. The plaintiff, Ruth Taylor, aged 66, of Otaki, claimed general damages of £lOOO and £785 special damages from A. van de Meulen, hairdresser and hairstylist, of Oriental Bay, Wellington, and Levin.

The statement of claim said that on October 14, 1960, Taylor went to van de Meulen’s premises at Levin for hair treatment and was given a shampoo, permanent wave, and a smoky - grey cold water rinse. Taylor alleged the treatment was given negligently and unskilfully and that as a result of the alleged negligence she contracted acute dermatitis and developed abscesses and carbuncles. As an alternative cause of action, Taylor alleged that for her hair treatment an employee of van de Meulen used dangerous substances—thioglycollic acid and “Inecto”—so unskilfully, negligently. and carelessly that one or both of the substances caused dermatitis. Van de Meulen in his statement of defence denied negligence. Mr R. R. Scott appeared for Taylor, and Mr R. G. Collins. with him Mr D. S. G. Deacon, for van de Meulen. Mr Justice Hutchison presided.

Mr Scott, in his opening address, said van de Meulen had admitted Taylor had paid £4 10s for hair treatment. She had received hair treatment “in the nature of a shampoo, permanent wave, and cold water rinse” at the salon in Levin. , The next morning she

found she had a blister on her neck and that during the night the blister had broken. Doctor Called Dermatitis broke out on Taylor’s scalp and she called in her doctor. A series of carbuncles and boils subsequently broke out on various parts of her body. On January 23 she was taken to Wellington Hospital and found to be suffering from hepatitis. Medical witnesses would not say that the dermatitis caused the hepatitis. John Sidney HamiltonGibbs, a skin specialist, testified that Taylor was referred to him as a patient on January 17, 1961. She had an acutely infected scalp, a secondary infection about the ears, and a large suppurating carbuncular type of lesion on the breast. He would describe her condition as an “acute dermatitis in the more chronic stage.”

Hamilton-Gibbs said that assuming Taylor was in good health on the day she received the hair treatment and that a blister broke out on her neck the next night and she developed dermatitis the next day, he did not tn ink there was the slightest doubt that the dermatitis was the “result of whatever was done to her scalp.” He concluded the plaintiff had used ammonium thioglycollate. If he were told

ammonium thioglycollate had been used, he would say that was possibly the cause of the trouble. The substance could act as a sensitiser or a primary irritant. Substance in Kits To Mr Collins; HamiltonGibbs said he was aware that “do-it-yourself” cold - wave kits were sold by chemists. Ammonium thioglycollate was the hair softening substance used in those cold waving solutions. Mr Collins: Assuming one rules out the question of physical fitness, and one is in a position to show by test that substances used in this hair treatment were only the substances that were used in normal waving day after day, and were quite mild alkaline solutions, does it not follow that Taylor must have had some very highly sensitive condition or allergy to have produced those results? Hamilton-Gibbs: Yes. Really acute allergy. Francis Arthur Hatherall Neate, a medical practitioner, of Otaki, said he treated Taylor for dermatitis and tried to ascertain what caused the complaint. He was told she had hair treatment on October 14 and had concluded there was a connexion between the hair treatment and the dermatitis. Dermatitis of Taylor's scalp and a blister at the back of the neck indicated some irritant had been applied to the head. The dermatitis had spread to other parts of her body. She subsequently developed carbuncles and was confined to her room because of the complaint. Taylor was admitted to hospital on January 23, and was then suffering from hepatitis. Neate said he could not see any connexion between the dermatitis and the hepatitis. The case is part heard.