You May Say, Ewww! But It's A Business

Woman turns entrepreneurial itch into thriving lice removal company

(Tuesday, July 24, 2007) -
They're itchy, persistent, and parents are left to deal with them. But a Toronto woman made her first-hand ordeal with lice into a thriving business, and it may be coming to Halifax.

As a young mother, Dawn Mucci and her child got lice and didn't know where to turn.

"I was panicking and didn't have any help," said Ms. Mucci.

She went to her local drugstore but didn't feel comfortable dumping chemicals onto her child's head or her own.

"I thought I would do anything for help with this and then I thought, why not become it."

After several years of research, she found alternatives to using chemicals and new tools for removing the eggs in a short period of time.

Her business, Lice Squad, started out with just one other person making house calls in 2002, but it grew so quickly that Ms. Mucci couldn't keep up with demand.

"Franchising seemed to be the best way to make the help available in a larger area."

Her company now has 15 franchises in Ontario and is looking to expand to other areas across Canada, including Halifax.

Ms. Mucci needs entrepreneurs willing to take up the franchise in their communities and has already had interest from locals who want to be trained, she said.

"There certainly is a need out there."

In Ontario, Lice Squad's billings in the last year reached $750,000 and the company had more than 25,000 customers, she said.

The company services camps, day cares and schools, but the bulk of its business is done in private homes. The hourly rate for removal is $55 and the average time spent in a home is two hours.

Andy and Denise Copping, parents of an 11-year-old daughter and four-year-old son, said they would have welcomed the service when they had to deal with lice on both of their children's heads.

"It's very intensive," said Mr. Copping, sounding exhausted at the thought of their lice crisis. "In terms of the treatment, it's not just washing with the product once."

Mr. Copping said it took between a week and 10 days to rid their kids of the pesky critters.

"Between two working parents, you're exhausted after work and the last thing you wanna do after cooking dinner and helping with homework is deal with lice."

Mr. Copping said the information on treatment is conflicting and he is opposed to the chemical route.

"You're basically putting pesticides on your kid's head."

"Any help would be nice," added Mrs. Copping. "It's crazy. I hope to God we never have to go through it again."

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