Hair Relaxer Anything But in Personal Injury Lawsuit

St. Louis, MOUnless you happen to be a personal injury attorney, involvement in personal injury law usually comes as the result of personal injury. Such is the case for a woman in Missouri who alleges that a hair relaxer did a lot more than simply relax her hair.

According to the text of a lawsuit summarized in the June 24 on-line issue of the Madison St. Clair Record, Luerine Eldridge claims that the Ultra Precise hair relaxer she purchased from Essien Discount Beauty Supply in East St. Louis in 2007, injured her scalp.

In a complaint filed June 17 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, the plaintiff alleges that after purchasing the product July 14, 2007, she proceeded to cart the Ultra Precise home and used the product the same day.

However, instead of a pleasant and satisfactory experience, Eldridge claimed in her lawsuit that the hair relaxer severely burned her scalp and left her with extreme itching, an infected and inflamed scalp, and loss, or the thinning of, her hair.

In her personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges that Essien was negligent in selling a chemical that was found to have caused burns to the plaintiff's scalp. In addition, the plaintiff is of the view that the vendor of the product failed to warn the purchaser with regard to the potential dangers inherent with the product and failed in its responsibility to inspect the chemicals it sold, according to the text of the lawsuit.

It should be noted that the human scalp is one of the more sensitive areas of the human body, given that from childhood the scalp is covered with hair. With the possible exception of men with thinning or completely bald pates, hair serves to insulate the scalp and protects it from sun and other environmental forces that would otherwise serve to toughen and strengthen exposed skin from other areas of the human body.

Thus, chemicals that may serve to be less abrasive to skin on other areas of the human body, prove more damaging to the human scalp.

The plaintiff alleges that Carson products, the manufacturer of Ultra Precise, negligently manufactured a product that caused burns to her head, failed to inspect its chemicals and failed to warn the beauty store of potential hazards associated with its chemicals.

In addition to the side effects, Eldridge says she has suffered severe emotional trauma, incurred medical expenses, lost wages and suffered disability, loss of a normal life and disfigurement, according to the text of the complaint.

The plaintiff is seeking in excess of $300,000 in the three-count lawsuit, in addition to costs and other compensation that the court deems appropriate.

The recent death of pop icon Michael Jackson serves as a reminder of his own scalp injury, which occurred in the mid-1980s after his hair caught on fire from a flash pot during the filming of a television commercial. Reports at the time described his pain as substantial.

In this case, the personal injury suffered by the plaintiff includes pain and discomfort, thus the need for a personal injury attorney with regard to the pursuit of a claim under personal injury law. Defendants in the case are both the manufacturer and the beauty supply store that sold the hair relaxer to the plaintiff.