WOMAN'S GOLDEN LOCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18771, 26 July 1924, Page 2 (Supplement)

WOMAN'S GOLDEN LOCKS.

HAIR THAT WENT GREY. HARMFUL EFFECT OF A DYE. JURY AWARDS £532 DAMAGES. A woman's allegations that free hairdye treatment had resulted in her losing her "magnificent head of hair" led to an action in a London Court recently, before Mr. Justice Avory and a special jury. Mrs. Gladys C. . H. Bostock, claimed damages for personal injuries from Phyllis Earle, Limited, hair-dressers, to whose establishment she went for the pur* pose of having her hair dyed by a certain process.

Mr. Vandenberg, for Mrs. Bostock, said the people at the shop commented on her hair and said it was out of the ordinary. Then the treatment started,, and Mrs. > Bostock became so 'ill that she was confined to, her bed, and had to have the services of a specialist. Sores broke out all over her head, and she was in dreadful pain. On October 7 her head became bad, and the lumps under the skin extended to her ear and part of her body. Her hair had to be clipped off. .Mr. Bostock at once wrote to the firm who sent what they termed a "neutraliser," but the doctor thought, it undesirable that Mrs. Bostock should use it. Evidence was also given by Dr. Ernest Graham Little, senior physician in charge of the skin department of St. Mary's

Hospital, who said some dyes, based on silver nitrate, produced an .effect by absorption which turned a person blue or violet. He said that the constituent dye in the preparation in question was harmless in many cases. Some things were quite harmless to one person but disagreed with another. Going Grey at the Temples. • Mr. Justice Avory (to Mrs. Bostock): What colour did you want your hair?—l wanted it like my own hair, a golden bronze. Then why have it treated at all ?—I was going grey at the temples. Mrs. Bostock said she did not pay anything for the treatment, as she was told that it was a free demonstration being given by Messrs. Phyllis Earle. Her hair was now quite grey and no longer golden. Mr. Hawke, cross-examining: If your hair was of such magnificence, why did you want it dyed?— Well, conceit, for one thing, I suppose. When one has golden hair and it begins to grow grey one does hot like it. You wanted it dyed because it' was going grey ?—Yes. 4\ You had had it dyed before?—l had had, henna treatment. Mr. James Kier Colwell, public analyst for the borough of Holborn, gave an analytical description of the mixture. The Judge: Can the mixture ever produce the golden colour ?—Not that I know of. The peroxide alone might do it. Mr. Hawke said Mrs. Bostock had been treated with some substance, of which his clients were not the manufacturers,

entirely without payment or consideration. There was, he submitted, no evidence at all of neglect.

Mrs. Evelyn Grant, who was employed by Phyllis Earle, Ltd., said she. considered Mrs. Bostock had "very miserable, wretched hair."

Mr, Quantrill, formerly manager for the firm, said he would have examined Mrs. Bostock's hair before allowing the dyeing to see if the scalp was suitable.

Mr. Vanderberg (cross-examining) : Don't you think you might have said to Mrs. Bostock what a lovely head of hair she had?—Oh, yes. I very often tell them they have a nice head of hair when they have not. (Laughter.) The Judge: They like to be told that they have ; a nice head of hair before you spoil it,, you mean! Miss Mabel Brown, formerly a hairdressing student, was asked what she did when the bottles were handed to her. Her reply was promptly given, amid laughter: "I take the cork out."

The Judge: Then you have learned to do that?

Damages amqunting to £532 13s lOd were awarded to the plaintiff.