Is this in any way meaningful as an understood idiom?
It seems quite odd. I mean, I know I have COVID hair, but I don’t think my husband is quite ready to kick me out of the house over it…
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Just one of Italy’s many colourful idioms. Change your ways or else, perhaps.
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Indeed, in fact similar comments have been left for the English version of the sentence on Tatoeba back in 2014 and again in 2015:
This sounds a bit strange in English.
Perhaps this is some kind of Italian proverb.
and
This sounds a bit strange in English.
I wonder in what situation this sentence would be used.
I wonder too indeed… a quick Google search didn’t turn up any real-life usages of it.
Or perhaps it was just added as a joke?
When I saw this sentence I identified immediately with this situation. That what a mom would say to her teenaged child after seeing something outrageous (in her opinion) on that teenage head. For the purpose of learning I view it as a colorful exercise that is legitimate. I remember seeing “llama malata” in a different course and thought it was ridiculous to waste my time on of such phrases. The love of my life replied: it is a language learning, you are picking up new words, even this silly phrase has its merit. (But I do block curse words when I encounter them in CM and blame my upbringing for that )
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Yes, I have an idea that my mum said that to me…
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English Translation
Change your haircut, or your house.
Yes, I have heard that sort of parental threat…the emotion behind it is not communicated so it just comes off sort of bland and nonsensical.
Not to Italians, if I may say so;-)
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It was immediately understandable for me, and I think it’s quite colorful and strong.
We have a similar expression in German
“Solange Du die Füße unter meinen Tisch setzt , …”
“As long as put your feet under my dining table, …”
I might have heard that concerning my haircut a long time ago, after seeing “Hair” in the cinema while holding the hand of a weeping girl, some time in the age of aquarius … 
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In our family it was “You treat this house like a hotel, so you’d better pay for your room!”
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It feels odd in Italian too.
If it were a parent addressing a teenager, it would be more like:
'Vatti a tagliare i capelli, o vai via di casa!"
As a minimum I would drop the possessives:
“Cambia taglio di capelli (o acconciatura), oppure casa!”
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