THERE are bad hair days … then there are really bad hair days.

A court in India has ordered a salon to pay 20 million rupees (£197,000) in damages to a model for giving her the wrong haircut. It said the woman used to get jobs from hair product firms because of her long hair. But the salon chopped her hair short against her instructions, causing her a huge loss, the consumer court noted.

The salon, part of a Delhi hotel chain, can appeal against the verdict. It is yet to make a statement on the ruling, according to the BBC.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission said she lost “her expected assignments and suffered a huge loss which completely changed her lifestyle and shattered her dream to be a top model”.

“She underwent severe mental breakdown and trauma due to negligence ... in cutting her hair and could not concentrate on her job and finally she lost her job,” it noted.

READ MORE: Mhairi Black: Top politicians at Westminster are so out of touch its scary

The model went to the hotel in 2018 to get a haircut and gave specific instructions to the staff about the look she wanted. But the hairstylist cut a major part of her hair, “leaving only four inches from the top touching her shoulder,” according to court documents.

“She stopped seeing herself in the mirror. She is a communication professional and [is] required to be involved in meetings and interactive sessions. But she lost her self-confidence due to little hair,” the court order said.

When she complained to the salon, she was offered a free hair treatment to make up for the mistake. The woman told the court that the treatment was “dubious and it resulted in damage of her hair”.

“She also suffered loss of income due to mental breakdown after the shoddy haircut and, thereafter, the torturous hair treatment. She left her job also… She has gone through the pain and trauma for the last two years after this incident,” the court said.

“Torturous” seems a little melodramatic when referring to a trip to get your tresses attended to. But the distress of the model must have convinced the court. A whopping £197k is quite a payback for an overzealous haircut.

Having never been particularly blessed in the crowning glory department, I find it difficult to get my sparsely endowed head around this story. I have had plenty of bad haircuts though.

One in particular was my own fault. I let my husband cut my hair.

There were mitigating circumstances as to my imprudent choice of hairdresser. We were on holiday in the wilds of Ardnamurchan. The weather was really hot and I hadn’t had time to have a haircut before heading off for our fortnight away.

The demon barber got the nod. What could go wrong … and who would see me anyway?

Well, he got a little carried away with the clippers. The finished look was one of old-school Barlinnie meets Oor Wullie.

On my return to work there were many looks of dismay.

Definitely don’t believe anyone who tells you there’s only a fortnight between a good haircut and a bad haircut.