Head Lice and Hair Cutting

Woman checking her own hair for head lice — Photo: Bigstock

Q: Why won’t a hairdresser cut your hair when you have lice? There is a head lice infestation at my daughter’s school. She has lice and after a couple of days I discovered lice in my own hair as well!

My daughter doesn’t want to cut her hair, but I decided to cut my long hair off and go super short. I called my hairdresser for an appointment, but she said that she can’t cut my hair as long as I have lice.

A: Lice are highly contagious. This is most probably the reason that your daughter got lice in the first place. Lice outbreaks are specifically common in schools because children sit and play together in close proximity, which means that a lice infestation travels very fast in a school environment. A lot of schools also send children home after it has been discovered that they have lice, in an attempt to prevent a lice outbreak.

A salon is even more vulnerable to a lice outbreak, as hundreds of people have their hair done at the salon on a weekly basis. If a person with lice visits the salon, literally all the brushes, towels, chairs, washing basins, scissors, combs and even the stylist’s hands that come into contact with the hair will be contaminated. This is potentially a colossal problem and can have a crippling effect on the business and livelihood of a salon.

If a client and her children were to be contaminated with lice at a local salon, you can only imagine the large-scale damage that will be done to the salon’s professional reputation, as well as all the stylists and hairdressers working for the salon! In a nutshell, this is why your stylist won’t touch your hair while you still have lice, and rightfully so.

It is your right as a client of a salon to have your hair cut in a safe and clean environment when you pay to have your hair done. Thus, it is ultimately the responsibility of the stylist to do their best to eliminate any factors that could endanger this right of the client.

You would expect the same courtesy of the stylist if you were on the other end of the spectrum of this scenario. Thus, rather make sure that you get rid of the lice before you go to the salon. There are lots of ways to get rid of them, including special shampoos, home remedies and chemicals.

You can even ask your stylist for advice regarding this, as this will make her feel rest assured that you are taking care of the problem, and consequently she doesn’t have to be nervous once you make your appointment after you’ve gotten rid of the lice.

©Hairfinder.com

See also:

Head lice treatments

Home remedies against lice

Human hair and fleas