Five star hotel ordered to pay Rs 2 crore to woman as compensation for a ‘bad haircut’

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) on Thursday ordered Chennai-based ITC Maurya to pay Rs 2 crore as compensation to a woman for giving her a “bad haircut” three years back.

The complainant, a 42-year-old woman, said she had gone to the hotel’s salon for a haircut before an important interview where the hairdresser chopped off her long hair against her instructions.

She said that her dreams were "shattered" and she lost assignments because of the hotel salon's negligence.

She "lost her expected assignments and suffered a huge loss which completely changed her lifestyle and shattered her dream to be a top model", the NCDRC said, according to news agency ANI.

"There is no doubt that the women are very cautious and careful with regard to their hair. They spend a handsome amount on keeping the hair in good condition. They are also emotionally attached to their hair. The complainant was a model for hair products because of her long hair. She has done modelling for VLCC and Pantene," said the panel's president RK Agrawal and member SM Kantikar in the order cited by ANI.

The commission said the model went through "severe mental breakdown and trauma" due to the negligence of the hotel salon and finally lost her job. The woman was also working as a senior management professional and earned a decent income, it said.

The woman complained that she was to appear for an interview a week before, on April 12, 2018, and visited the salon of a hotel where she was a regular. Her usual hairdresser was not available, so another person took her on, she said.

The court order says the woman specifically asked for "long flicks or layers covering her face in the front and at the back and 4-inch straight hair trim from the bottom".

But the hairdresser allegedly chopped off her long hair, to her shock, leaving only four inches from the top and leaving it barely touching her shoulders.

The woman said when no action was taken against the hairdresser she went to the hotel management but "in vain".

Later, she also went for a hair treatment to the salon and came out feeling that her scalp was burnt with ammonia and her hair had turned rough, she contended.