How we became Nit Pickers……How Lice Beware, the area’s only lice removal company trained and certified in the Shepherd Method, came to be

Since opening Lice Beware, I have been asked many, many questions……How did you think of this?  Why in the world would you want to pick nits for a living?  How were you trained for this?  This is our story………

Shelly and I are both mothers who have dealt with head lice in the past.  We were both extremely grossed out by pesticide and chemical products.  We were both frustrated by the lack of resources there were in the area for help with tackling this problem.  Like many parents when I found out my daughters had head lice the first time, I freaked out!!  I bagged everything that would fit in a trash bag for a month (even some things that didn’t, yes I used two of them), ruined every brush by over sanitizing them, washed everything and went overboard with Lysol and bleach (which by the way does nothing for lice).  I was a crazed lunatic for weeks.  Not to mention what I did to my daughters’ poor head.  At one point, I mixed up a solution of vinegar, olive oil, and tea tree oil and put it on their head with a shower cap for an hour.  They smelled like bad salad dressing for weeks!!  When I calmed down and began researching head lice, I discovered that I was actually doing way too much of all the wrong things!!  I knew there must be a lot of other mothers in the same boat as me.  I began talking to other mothers and sharing what I had learned and helping them learn how to comb and check for nits.  Before we knew it, people started calling us when their children got lice.

When we decided to turn the corner and turn this into a business, we both agreed that though we had experience dealing with head lice, we wanted professional training.  We would never want to charge someone for a professional service without the proper training.  Because head lice removal is an unregulated business there is no training or certification required to charge for services, but we became certified anyway because we wanted to offer a truly professional service to our clients.  I would never go a hair stylist who has not been to beauty school so why would I pay someone to remove lice from my child’s head who hadn’t received the proper training?   After much research we came upon Lice Solutions (www.licesolutions.org) a non profit agency in Southern Florida headed up by Katie Shepherd, world renowned lice expert and author.  She has devised a method of treatment that is undoubtedly the most systematic and thorough approach to lice removal.  The training we received at Lice Solutions was over 40 hours of intense hands-on training.  Lice Solutions not only treats head lice, but they also research different products and methods all the time so they know what works and what doesn’t.

Also while in training we were able to see the benefits of opening up a treatment center versus treating in people’s home which is what we had been doing prior to our training.  Good overhead lighting is essential for identifying and removing lice and nits.  Also in a treatment center you remove a lot of other variables as well.  Children tend to be able to sit still longer when they know there are at the center to remove lice and thats it! We also make it fun with movies and video games.

So now you know when you call us you can feel confident that we are true professionals and can handle the toughest cases because we already have:)