By Lara Gould and Caroline Graham
Lightening up: Katie Price on her visit to Lea Journo's salon - where she is hoping to claim compensation from for damage to her hair
She has always gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure her appearance is never less than eye-catching.
But model Katie Price is demanding compensation from a top Los Angeles hair salon after she spent £11,000 on hair colourings and extensions that she claims were botched, leaving her hair so damaged it began falling out.
The 33-year-old is seeking a full refund plus compensation from Lea Journo, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand hairdressers, who has tended her hair three times a year since 2006.
Remedial work: Back in London, Katie Price visits a salon to try to have the damage corrected
Over the past five years it means Miss Price – who has built up a £40 million fortune from her business empire, which includes modelling, novels and an equestrian fashion range – has spent more than £150,000 on her hair.
Appointments with Parisian-born Miss Journo, who runs her own salon at the five-star Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel in LA and boasts a string of A-list Hollywood clients including Brad Pitt, start from £150 for a basic trim. A simple blow dry costs £100. Colour treatments and hair extensions start at £250.
Miss Price claims she made the 3,000-mile journey to LA to have her hair lightened from brunette to blonde and to have hair extensions applied at the salon in December. And in keeping with her position as one of Britain’s most well-publicised stars, she made sure she was followed every step of the way by a crew from her reality TV show, Katie.
Miss Price, who says she uses the salon because it is ‘the best’ for applying hair extensions, says she was told Miss Journo wasn’t available but was offered an appointment with another stylist instead.
Not happy: The extensions are clearly exposed by her wind-swept hair - and soon she realised bits of hair were falling out
Before starting, Miss Price, also known as glamour model Jordan, sought an assurance that such an extreme change in colour wouldn’t damage her hair. She says the salon told her there was no risk because the lightening method they used didn’t contain bleach.
But Miss Price, who spent 48 hours in the salon over five days and was worked on by a team of hairdressers, says she noticed problems after technicians began the colouring. She claims her hair became brittle and began snapping off half way through the treatment.
A source close to the twice-married star said she was assured there was nothing wrong and continued with the next stage of the process, attaching the extensions.
The intricate process involves human hair being attached strand by strand to existing hair.
Miss Price, who paid for the £11,000 cost of the treatment in full upon leaving the salon, says she felt discomfort almost immediately after the process was completed.
After arriving back in the UK, a week later she claims her hair began breaking off and the extensions were pulling her hair from the root.
A source said: ‘It looked fine once it had been blow dried but Katie said it felt uncomfortable and the extensions were tugging at the roots.
‘When she got back to the UK she got a hairdresser to look at the extensions who said they had been applied unevenly. Her hair was very weak from the colouring. It was brittle and broke off easily, leaving different parts different lengths. At the front there were bits that were only a few centimetres long. The damage will take a long time to repair.’
Miss Price says she was offered a 50 per cent refund and an invitation to return to have the work corrected. But she says that offer has since been retracted and she is seeking advice about getting her money back.
Yesterday Miss Price’s long-time ‘colour technician’ at the salon, Alexandra Thomas, said: ‘None of us had any idea who she was when she started coming here. She’s like Britain’s answer to Pamela Anderson but not as pretty or successful, right?
‘There was a big bust-up recently and Katie was making a stink.
‘I can’t really talk about it but let’s just say I don’t think she’ll be coming back. It doesn’t bother us and to be honest it’s a relief. We handle the biggest stars in Hollywood. She’s a nobody.’
Sources close to Miss Price say that since December she has spent £45,000 trying to rectify the damage.She claims to have had her hair checked by four independent hairdressers – including one from hair extensions company Great Lengths – who are prepared to corroborate her claims that the extensions were applied incorrectly.
A source added: ‘She is seeking reimbursement of the cost of the treatment plus compensation.’
But another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: ‘What is at issue here is that the hair was in poor condition when she came in. Miss Price had been to another hairdresser and she asked Lea to get it back to the condition it had been in. Lea had a team work with her over several days.
‘The problem came with the bill. My understanding is that she felt she was being charged too much but Lea turned down other clients and the team turned people away to do the work and try to satisfy the client. They couldn’t simply write it off.’
source:dailymail
Shades ahead: Katie Price carries her daughter Princess Tiaamii out of The Ivy restaurant in London - both were wearing similar sunshades
Mini me: The model and her daughter made for a cutesy couple as they exited the London eaterie
Like mother, like daughter: Miss Price and her daughter Princess Tiaamii 
New man: Leandro Penna has been ingratiating himself with Miss Price's children and spent Father's day with them
Dad Of The Year: But Peter Andre had to miss out on father's day
