HAIR DYED AT 68

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 July 1933, Page 3

HAIR DYED AT 68

WOMAN SELDOM LOOKS IN GLASS LONDON, May 18. A widow of 58 who was said to have been to hospital 86 times since the application of a hair-dye two years ago, brought an action for damages against her hairdresser, Mr John W. Grace, of the Broadway, Cricklewood, before Mr Justice Charles and a common jury in the King’s Bench Division yesterday. The plaintiff, Mrs Mary Anne Stevenson, a housekeeper, of Algernonroad, N.W., said that she first visited Mr Grace in ' 1929 and every two months throughout 1930. He applied a henna, and her hair, though she did not notice it, had become' auburn again. Her friends had told her what a lovely colour it was. It had been going grey. Mr Justice Charles: Hadn’t you seen it in a looking-glass? Mrs Stevenson: I don’t often look in a glass. ' . .

Mr Justice Charles: You are an exceptional woman. (Laughter). Mrs Stevenson said the henna dye took from two to three hours to apply. She suggested'to Mr Grace that the arrangement was inconvenient, and he told her he would give her a quicker-working dye. The new dye was first applied in May, 1931. Mr Grace did not say he was going to apply Inecto. “Next day the irritation to my head was terrible,” said Mrs Stevenson. She first tried to cure herself with the application of an ointment, but eventually went to her doctor, who sent her to the Hospital for Skin Diseases in Leicaster-sq’uare. Her doctor was still attending her and she could not go to work. “1 suffer from sleepless nights and nervousness and feel altogether ill,” said Mrs Stevenson.

The defence was a denial of any negligence iu the application of the dye. Cross-examined, Mrs Stevenson said all the time she was having her hair dyed she had a cyst on her hep.d. Mrs Stevenson denied that she. had a second Inecto application in August, 1931, before going on holiday. It was a henna dye she had then. Dr Knowsley Sibley, physician for twenty years to St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skill, said that Mrs Stevenson’s condition in November, 1931, was consistent with acute dermatitis. She was very nervous and her memory had been affected. Inccto did not produce irritation in all cases, in a very small percentage of people it did. Hairdressers should apply a “patch” test before using it. They should put a little of the liquid on a small area, of skin on some part of the' body and see if it produced any irritation.

Dr Sibley declared that Mrs Stevenson’s case was the worst he had ever seen.

Mr Tristram Beresford, for the defence, said Mr Grace was a hairdresser of great experience. When Mrs Stevenson told him she wanted a dye that, would take less time he ap-i plied Inecto. Mrs Stevenson was charmed with the colour it produced, and in August, 1931, she had another application of Inecto, which appeared highly successful.. No complaint, was made bj r Mrs Stevenson to Mr Grace before February, 1932. Giving evidence, Mr Grace, who de-

nied any negligence, said that he had over forty years’ experience as a hairdresser and and thirty-four years’ experience hi tinting and dyeing. In May., 1931, Mrs Stevenson wanted her hair dyed quicker, and, for the first time, he used Inecto .on her hair, which was then mid-brown in colour. That he had produced from a jetblack colour, which looked too ob? vious, Mrs Stevenson admired the mid-brown colour very much. He next saw her in August, 1931, when she wanted the same dye, Inecto; used, because she appreciated the colour and its quick .operation. Mrs., Stevenson made no complaint about the May application, and there was, nothing wrong with her scalp then. ; The last time he treated her was on November 4, when the henna dye was applied. That was done because Mrs Stevenson had more time and bei cause it was cheaper. From the examination he then made there was nothing wrong with her scalp. A few ■days later Mrs Stevenson told him, ‘ I think I must, have picked something up, as my scalp feels alive.” He examined her hair and found nothing wrong. Mrs Stevenson told him. she had been using strong carbolic acid on her hair, and he advised her not to continue with it. A verdict for defendant was returned by the jury. Judgment was entered accordingly, with costs.