Can Hair Salons Remove Lice?

If you find lice on your head or a family member’s head, your first inclination may be to run to your hair stylist. After all, they deal with hair so this should not be anything new to them….right? WRONG!

Will Hair Salons Check For Lice?

Whether it is a quick hair salon where walk-ins are welcome, or the family friend who owns the local salon and cut your mother’s hair, your mother’s mother’s hair and your sister’s hair for as long as you can remember, you should think twice before going in to a hair salon for lice removal. While hair stylists may be trained to identify lice and their eggs (nits), they are not allowed to invite you in for a free head check. It is a health code violation for them to do this. 

Can Hair Salons Remove Lice?

What if you schedule an appointment for the sole purpose of getting a head lice treatment? Will hair salons treat lice? If they know you are coming with a confirmed case of head lice, they should have precautions they can take to ensure you do not pass the case of lice to any other clients...right? Unfortunately, this is not possible. State health departments have strict rules that hair stylists must abide by or they run the risk of losing their license. While you may feel comfortable with your personal stylist and confident in his or her ability to treat your case of head lice for you, going to a hair salon to seek treatment for head lice is not an option.

Can You Go To a Hair Salon With Lice?

If you have confirmed, or suspect you have a case of head lice, but you already have an appointment scheduled, it is best to re-schedule if a thorough head lice treatment involving the removal of all lice eggs (nits) and bugs cannot be completed prior to your appointment at the hair salon. Do not worry, your stylist will understand. In most states, if a hair stylist finds a single lice egg or a bug during the course of an appointment, no matter what service they are providing at the moment, they have to stop. Obviously, they would prefer the minor inconvenience of a cancellation over the uncomfortable situation you both will be in if they have to inform you that you have lice and they have to discontinue the service. Best to keep in mind that your hair salon is not a lice hair salon.

When choosing professional treatment for head lice before your appointment, make sure that the service includes the removal of all eggs and bugs. We receive calls from clients all the time who have sought treatment from lice treatment services claiming to dehydrate all eggs, ensuring they are dead and will not hatch. While this may be possible, if your stylist finds a lice egg in your hair, she or he will not be concerned with, or try to discern whether the egg in your hair is, in fact, dead and no longer viable or not. In their profession, a nit is a nit, and they are required to cease treatment if they find one. Period.

Can You Get Lice From a Hair Salon?

Despite the fact that the main way head lice is spread is via direct head to head contact with another person, it is highly unlikely that you will pick up lice at a hair salon. Rules and regulations for cosmetologists and hair salons are very strict. Not only are they required to sanitize all of their tools between clients, but as mentioned before, they cannot provide services to clients who have any sign of head lice. 

Where Can You Go For Professional Head Lice Treatment?

If you suspect that you have lice and have an important appointment scheduled with your hair stylist and want to make sure nothing gets in the way of it, call LiceDoctors at 800-224-2537. Professional technicians are mobile and skilled at removing even the tiniest of eggs, eliminating a case of head lice in just one appointment. This ensures you can walk into your appointment with full confidence. In fact, unless you tell them, your cosmetologist will not even know you ever had a case of head lice.