diff --git a/ssm b/ssm
index 0be637b..054803b 100755
--- a/ssm
+++ b/ssm
@@ -418,10 +418,6 @@ start() {
 
 	mktmpfiles || return 13
 
-	if [[ $service_netns ]]; then
-		service_command=( ip netns exec "$service_netns" "${service_command[@]}" )
-	fi
-
 	svc "${service_command[@]}" & job=$!
 
 	if service_oneshot; then
@@ -619,6 +615,7 @@ var flag_reset_exit = 0
 var flag_reread_service = 0
 var flag_forget_service = 0
 var flag_load_service = 0
+var flag_no_netns = 0
 
 ## check for some environment stuff
 var EDITOR := 'vim'
@@ -732,6 +729,9 @@ while (( $# )); do
 		(-i|--info)
 			action = 'info';;
 
+		(--no-netns)
+			flag_no_netns = 1;;
+
 		(--) shift; break;;
 		(-*) printf 'Unknown key: %s\n' "$1" >&2; exit 1;;
 		(*) break;;
@@ -828,6 +828,11 @@ flag_reset_exit && { reset-exit; die $?; }
 # Get the service config
 source -- "$service_config" "${@:3}" || die 7 "Failed to read the service config: $service_config"
 
+# Rexec ourselves in the requested netns
+flag_no_netns || {
+	[[ $service_netns ]] && exec ip netns exec "$service_netns" "$0" --no-netns "$service_name" "$@"
+}
+
 # “Load” the service into memory
 if ! service_config == "$service_config_current" && service_remember; then
 	cat "$service_config" > "$rundir/current/$service_name"