ParkBench.com’s Rachel Collins Freidman sat down with Organic Lice Solution’s Owner and Operator, Jessica Hart, to delve into what we do for the community and why it matters to families. http://parkbench.com/usa/california/solanabeach/solanabeach/blog/organic-head-lice-solutions-solana-beach
Describe your business.
Organic Lice Solutions is a Solana Beach mom bringing sanity and effective treatment to the chaotic problem of head lice. I travel to people’s homes and use only organic products. My service gets rid of the entire case in one treatment. It is a method developed over the last twelve years by a school nurse and taught to me at her lice salon. I offer a 30 day lice free guarantee.
What made you decide to open this business?
These days almost every kid gets lice at some point during their childhood. It goes around the schools, camps, and sports teams every year. While in grad school, studying acupuncture, I got a job for a head lice removal company to help pay the bills. I found the work to be gratifying, and discovered I am good at it. Once I graduated, I opened an acupuncture practice in Boston and continued with the lice removal as well. When I got pregnant and moved to Solana Beach, I needed a job that meshed with motherhood, so I started Organic Lice Solutions.
What was it like when you first started?
Scary, I was not sure if I needed to be afraid of the bugs getting into my hair. Turns out the main way lice are transmitted is head to head contact, which is easy to avoid with my patients. I learned the necessary precautions from women who had already been treating lice for years.
What would your customers say they love most about your business?
They love that I relieve their worries and they get fast results. Many parents who select non-organic or DIY treatment approaches end up battling lice unsuccessfully for months or years. They also often say that they ended up spending more money total on a series of ineffective out-of-the-box kits than if they had just called me as soon as they found the lice.
What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had working with a customer?
I was really surprised when I got a request for treatment for a 3 month old baby. I could not imagine the baby had enough hair to actually have lice, but she did! She had gotten them from her 4 year-old brother. I treated both kids and mom too.
Do you have any exciting plans for the future that you want customers to know about?
Not plans really, but I would love the opportunity to give informative talks to schools, parent associations, and local families. While I help support my family by treating lice, I never wish for anyone to get it. In fact I work hard to educate Solana families about how to prevent transmission and how to treat lice effectively. There are a lot of misconceptions. When you google head lice, there appear to be many different treatment options. In reality, most of those options do not work as advertised and most contain harmful pesticides that really should not be applied to children’s heads. The more you know, the more you can avoid getting and spreading them. I offer free resources on my website www.organiclicesolutions.com
What is something most people don’t know about the business?
Lice can’t jump or fly, they just crawl. So the only way to get them is from head contact.
Do you have any advice that you want to share with other parents?
The most important thing parents can do to prevent kids from unwittingly getting lice is to learn how to do a proper head check on wet hair. I can teach anyone in a matter of minutes
What do you like most about being an entrepreneur?
I like having control over what treatments I use. This includes the products and the amount of treatment. There is a lot of over-treatment and over-charging done by other lice services out there. I like to be in control of the ethics of my business. I am a member of the community – I am committed to my neighbors. I naturally run into my Solana Beach clients around town and love hearing how satisfied they have been with the experience. When someone knows they have lice or is concerned they might, they know they need help but are embarrassed to ask or confused about what they need. I don’t judge, regardless of how many bugs you have or how long the case has been going on. I’m there to apply my expertise to solve the problem. When I treat a mom, she often remarks that the treatment feels like a head massage.
You are on a deserted island. You can only bring three things. What are they?
Carlsbad Alkaline Water, a compass and a toothbrush
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandiegolice/
