BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Hair Lice epidemic

I cut my hair by choice. I was in high school and it had to go. When you have hair to your waist almost, it is hard to get them all out. We treated everything in my house a number of times. My mom blames it on my loving to try on hats. Hasn't stop me yet!

I know for certain that works. I once had an older client - very fastidious - who would have died if I had told her while I was doing her hair that I saw a couple of lice on her. Fortunately I was applying haircolor and was pretty sure it would kill them. It did. Never saw a sign of them after the hair color.

I would never do that again. As a hairdresser, I am not allowed to work on anyone with lice. I have to stop working and ask them to leave the salon, no matter what state their hair is in when I find the lice.

Wow, that sounds a bit harsh. I can understand that you aren't allowed to work on people's hair when they have lice, but when they are desperate and rely on a hairdresser because they think their knowledge is what makes it worth it, why shouldn't they trust and fall back to you?
My mother did it for me when I had lice once, but when I would have them now, I would rely on a hairdresser myself since they have the knowledge about lots of hair-related stuff...
So sad to see that you just have to tell them they have to leave. It's bad enough already that they feel ashamed of having lice. I think nobody asks for this and wants lice on purpose.
I don't know what to think of this, but it sure sounds harsh!

I'm going to assume that there are some sort of state board laws or health ordinances that require you to not work on those clients because you can infect other people. Not just lice but other things.

I think that if you do have a client like that you would tell them to seek a medical professional. Cosmotology school does teach about all the different disorders and diseases which can help to spot them. But you have to let a medical professional deal with them.

I could be wrong.

It does have to do with State Board regulations. It is contagious and we can't put other clients at risk. We don't just tell them to leave, we tell them that there are products in the drug store to treat the problem. They can also talk to the pharmacist or doctor.

Hairdressers aren't equipped to treat contagious disease or disorders.

An article about natural remedies for head lice has just been added. It is the third in the series linked to the article mentioned above.