Why?

People always ask us how we got into this business. Darned good question. And really not the same for any individual although we all seem to have of touch of OCD for lack of better ways of expressing it. We worry that we will miss something. We literally pick nits.

The women in our company are kind. We want to make people feel better. We also have a great sense of pride in our work. Human error happens and it takes a long time not to become devastated if something goes wrong. It makes us perfectionists.  It also make us good at assessing situations  and excellent communicators. We have to be crystal clear about what we can do, what we guarantee and how the client needs to be responsible in the situation to create a safe place for themselves against a recurrence. In other words, we cover our behinds as much as humanly possible from being an error because failing to stop the lice feels too bad. We charge them money.  Failure is unacceptable.  But we are human and humans aren’t perfect…..See? It is OCD stew.

You get used to it. It is part of life. Just like we get used to being “on call.” Instead of waiting around the treatment center all day, we come in for scheduled appointments. Which means that one day can be very very quiet and then next day we are working on a family of three with another one lined up right behind them. Most people feel better with a certain level of certainty regarding what they are going to do today and how much money they are making. We get paid if we work and we don’t if we don’t. We are counting on head lice for our financial well being.  On the other hand, we can also come and go as we please, put in our availability to suit our personal needs and, in general, have a lot more freedom than other types of jobs allow.

The treatment center also has a special clubhouse feeling that comes from inviting a concentration of people all in a situation that nobody wants to be in into the same space. Notes are compared. Social stigmas are weakened. House cleaning techniques examined. Wives tales dissected against the backdrop of professional reality. No one minds being found out that they have head lice in their family here…maybe only here…because it is a normal day at Lice Aunties Newton. And what happens in Lice Aunties, stays in Lice Aunties.

Earlier on, we did mostly a house call service but since the treatment center came along, we have the luxury of not flying solo as often. It’s wonderful. We have a second set of eyes if we are doubting our own judgment as a result of getting tired. We have a second set of hands to switch LouseBuster ™ device treatments with comb outs so that we don’t burn out. There is  intense concentration involved and it can be exhausting. I have a lice comb callous on my thumb. Company is so nice!

It is clean and tidy and routine there. There is little variety in treatment. Some hair types need to be dealt with more time and physical effort….we had an arm wilting 5 hour comb out on one head a couple of weeks ago….but mostly it is an hour and a half, maybe two and then they are gone. We wave to them as they leave, “We hope we never see you again!” and we all laugh. And we all mean it. It is a good feeling. We fixed their bad thing.

Then we do paper work. Clean up. Wash combs. Do laundry. Go home. Wait for the phone to ring or not the next day, not worrying about what happened the day before because we know that lice lost again.

For more information on our services please go to www.liceaunties.com

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