A Ballito resident is so upset after a visit to a local hair salon, that she felt “robbed, insecure and embarrassed”.
Marion Nel visited the De Mala Hair and Beauty Salon in Ballito Bay Mall recently, hoping to have her hair styled in an ombre look. Ombre is a trend that sees hair darkened at the root and lightened at the tips.
“I spoke to a stylist named Tanya and showed her a picture of the style on my cellphone. She said she did not think ombre was a good idea and that I should rather go for highlights. She did a strand test and it took beautifully.”
Nel booked an appointment for the next day and Tanya used foils to lighten her hair.
“Four hours later, I was still sitting with foils in my hair. When Tanya shampooed my hair, all I could hear her saying was ‘it’s bad, very very bad’.”
Nel claims staff in the salon then laughed while Tanya said she would have to cut Nel’s hair, as it was breaking.
Later that afternoon, Nel’s husband joined her for support and asked what had happened.
Tanya apparently responded that she was “still trying to figure it out herself”. She apologised for staff laughing at Nel and did not charge her for the mishap.
“I am still walking out with half of my hair gone and broken off at the roots. This is going to take months to grow back to the same length, and I absolutely hate short hair.”
Nel has demanded that the salon foot the bill for fixing her hair and asked to see the stylist’s qualification.
Salon owners Dhanas and Mala Reuben gave a statement to the Courier, saying Nel had an unusual reaction to the chemical process which left them baffled.
“We are in the hair business for over 30 years and have never before had such a situation. This situation has also caused our stylist to be traumatized. We would not survive in this industry if we damage clients hair.”
The Reubens say they have been in regular contact with Nel and have sought advice from the hairdressing council.
“But the client still persists in putting her hair under more distress with hair extensions. We asked her to come in to discuss the situation and fill out a detailed form as we have reason to believe that the client may have been on strong medication. She refused to co operate. Also we suspect the client knew that her hair might react like this and extensions were always her end intention.”
They threatened to take action for defamation against Nel if she continues running their name down.
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