Chemical burns from hair product leave a woman scalped
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Idania Rivera is suing a Houston-area hair salon and a hair product manufacturer.
"She has been literally scalped," said Hilda Sibrian, one of Rivera's attorneys during a press conference on Wednesday.
"Her treating doctors are telling us that, frankly, they’ve never seen a burn like this from a hair product," added Mo Aziz, another one of Rivera's attorney.
The lawsuit claims the nightmare began in March, when she went to Unique Boutique and Hair on Woodforest Boulevard in East Harris County. She says the stylist used Pravana Pure Light Power Lightener, and after an hour, she felt like her scalp was on fire. She complained to the stylist.
"They removed the foil, and they rinsed her head," said Sibrian. "When she was in extreme pain, she was given a couple of Advils and told to go on her way."
In the coming days, Rivera would be in and out of the emergency room. She says on top of the excruciating pain; her face began to swell and the swelling just barely stayed above her throat. Had it reached her throat, Rivera says a doctor says she could have died.
When FOX 26 went to the salon, a stylist said he had not seen or heard about what happened to Rivera after she left the salon and could not comment.
In a statement, the Henkel Corporation who owns Pravana International, LLC said:
"We care deeply about people who use our products. We have not been contacted by this individual or either of the two law firms. Therefore, we have no information about this situation and cannot comment on this person’s experience. We welcome contacts through our call line to address questions and comments."
Rivera’s attorneys say they went to the salon to pick up the product to have it tested.
"We need to figure out whether this is bad batch, or this was an application error," says Aziz.
The stylist is not on named in the lawsuit, but Rivera’s attorneys say that could change.
Rivera says she'll have to spend six weeks in the hospital to do a skin and hair transplants.