beauty parlor stroke syndrome should you be concerned

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Beauty Parlor Stroke Syndrome Should You Be concerned

There is a rare but very real phenomenon called Beauty Parlor Stroke Syndrome

I want to Thank Sue Murphy from bringing this to my attention and now we are adjusting our shampoos for all clients whether they have a pre-existing condition or not!

There have been cases where people have experienced a stroke after getting a shampoo at the beauty salon! A woman had a shampoo at her local salon and 2 weeks later she experienced numbness and then had a full blown stroke!

How does this happen?

It is from hyper extending the neck in the salon sink! We want to wash hair thoroughly especially after a color service! But it is essential not to allow the client to hyper extend their neck because it causes pressure on the veins and arteries in the neck which can lead to a stroke!

Also the neck vertebrae can slice an artery in the neck!

The height of salon chair in relation to the sink is very important to prevent this and I noticed the European Style SInk  (where you wash from the back) really allow the head to rest in the sink - it appears most of the cases involved these style sinks.

There are sinks that tilt & we are looking into those! In the meantime we have heavy silicone neck rests on our sinks and we want to ensure the client can still have their head at an upward angle while shampooing! If they sit in the sink for a while rolls of towels can not only help them to feel more comfortable, but will keep the neck in position

This may be rare, but this is why ANY hair service should be done at a licensed & insured salon. I don’t understand why people like to go to home salons! There are legal ramifications and the salons that have had this happen are in major litigation!

We are having an immediate meeting on handling our clients neck, shampoo safety and neck support. The salon is not the only place where people can have this experience, it can happen at a massage parlor or even exercise, never let anyone massage the front of the neck!

My client Harriett passed out at the shampoo bowl, Thank God it was not due to this issue, she was having sinus issues and got very dizzy sitting at sink. I immediately rinsed her color out while she stood over the sink!

I notice, even for myself, porcelain sinks are much harder on the neck.

We want to share this info because it is so important in the salon business! We explain this syndrome to clients and ask them not to fully extend their neck while shampooing & let us know if they feel any discomfort!