Boy develops a horrific ringworm infection after getting a trendy fade haircut at a busy barbershop

A mother claims her son contracted a nasty case of ringworm after visiting a barbershop, while warning other parents to be aware of poor sanitation practices.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, took her 11-year-old son to the shop in Sydney on Sept. 4 to get a faded haircut for his birthday, one with the sides shaved short and the length left at the top. .

But she claims that a few days later, the fungal infection of the skin — which caused a rash and itching — appeared on the back of his head where the barber had used the clippers.

The mother said she called the store to report what had happened and was told by an employee that she was the third person to call that day with the same complaint.

“I was shocked by their arrogant attitude,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

“It was the worst case of ringworm I’d ever seen.

“It wasn’t a hole in the wall. It is a franchise store in a few locations.

“I feel angry at the blatant disregard of their responsibility to have proper and appropriate infection control mechanisms in place.”

The mother said the salon only seemed a little apologetic, offered no refunds and told her it was a problem many hairdressers faced because clippers hadn’t been sanitized enough.

Although the ringworm started to disappear after she sought medical treatment, she said the incident was extremely distressing for her son.

“He was incredibly ashamed,” she said.

“It was also uncomfortable for him.

“I’m going to get clippers now and do the fades myself.”

The mother contacted NSW Health, who told her that barber shops were not under their jurisdiction, but advised her to report the matter to the City of Sydney Council.

She said she was told to report the matter to WorkCover NSW and file a complaint.

The mother shared a photo of the back of her son’s scalp covered in red scaly bumps on Facebook this week to warn other parents about hygiene practices.

The post, which has garnered more than 200 comments, was inundated with comments from other parents reporting similar experiences.

“My son went through this too,” said one mother.

‘It took a while to get rid of it and turned into kerion (pus-filled sores). It’s been two years now and his hair is still very patchy in those areas.”

Another said: ‘My son had the same problem. It took six months to get rid of it.’

The mother told Daily Mail Australia that she wants to raise awareness about the importance of asking hairdressers if they have disinfected their equipment.

“It was Father’s Day when we went. Our boy was one of probably dozens of kids who had clippers that day and now have an unsightly and highly contagious skin infection,” she said.

“It’s a pretty dire situation, especially now that we’ve just come out of a pandemic and infection control should be a top priority for everyone.

“I think they have failed in their duty of care.”

The barbershop manager told Daily Mail Australia that the other two cases were not in his shop but from previous incidents in Queensland.

He said he apologized and thanked the mother for bringing it up so employees could be more careful about the matter.

“It just hasn’t happened now. It’s been happening for years. It’s very common in barber shops,” he said.

‘It’s not just remediation, it’s a fungus. It comes from cats and dogs, but maybe people have it and if you cut another customer’s hair, it ends up on the machines.”

The manager said his employees’ equipment was clean every morning and between customers.

He said that given the contagious nature of ringworm, and its ability to get from multiple sources, such as animals, they couldn’t determine where he caught it.

‘[The sanitisation] should kill the fungus. Ringworms don’t just happen to the machines,’ he said.

“How do we know it’s coming from here? He could have had it already. Sometimes it takes weeks for it to develop.’