As a student, can I publish a paper without including the head of the lab as co-author, against his wishes?
To help answer the question "is it ok to publish without a supervisor/head of lab?", consider the following points:


Having more names listed as authors doesn't dilute your own contribution. At job interviews, you will be asked which of your articles you consider the most significant, and what was your contribution to them: your ability to explain these points has nothing to do with the author list.
Having a more experienced researcher co-sign one of your articles may attract more citations. When writing, nobody should ignore previously published relevant work; in practice, getting cited is easier when co-signing with "big names" in a field (not saying I like this situation, but it is what it is...).
Simply by allowing you to work in their lab, this person made a significant contribution to the article (although not a "substantial intellectual contribution"), in the sense that the article would not be the same without you being able to do work in this lab. Some might think this is what the acknowledgments section of an article is for; it depends how you used the lab's resources (was it more like a service that you could have easily found somewhere else, or did you benefit from this lab's unique expertise or equipment?). If it looks more like a collaboration, including this person as author would be fair.