A word about nitpicking services and the products they use...

In 1997, Roberta MacPhee and I (Joan Sawyer) started the American Head Lice Information and Resource Center and produced the award winning video, “Head Lice to Dead Lice,” promoting the use of olive oil instead of, or in addition to, increasingly ineffective pesticides. 

At that time, we considered marketing an olive oil based solution to market to the general public, knowing we could make a lot of money.
But when we looked into the potential hazards of various essential oils,including Lavender oil, Rosemary oil and Ylang Ylang oil, we decided it just wasn’t worth the risk.  Various essential oils are linked to uterine cramps and miscarriage, breast growth in young boys and hallucinations. Others can cause eye damage, rashes or asthma. Very few essential oils are considered safe for infants, young children or pregnant or nursing mothers.  And since we knew that would be our main market, we decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. 

Olive oil is safe, and is known for its almost mystical healing properties (it takes 30 years for an olive tree to bear fruit).  Olive oil won’t hurt the eyes.  In addition to smothering insects, olive oil contains spartame, an enzyme that dissolves the exoskeleten of insects. 

After all these years, the Five Step Battle Plan is still the most effective way to completely eliminate an infestation. 

The Five-Step Battle Plan includes extensive nitpicking, which is essential no matter what you use to kill the live lice. (No product kills nits.  You have to remove them.) So, if you can afford the services of a good professional nit picker, by all means get help.  (Alternatively, any parent with decent eyes, some patience and a good pair of binocular magnifiers can learn to be an effective nit picker.)

While you’re researching nitpicking services, be careful of those that want you to purchase expensive snake oil concoctions.  If you’re tempted to use them, make sure you find out exactly what’s in them.  Don’t use anything with lavender, rosemary, tea tree, anise or ylang ylang oils on infants, young children or pregnant or nursing women, the elderly or those who may be pregnant.  Look up warnings about other oils on reliable web sites.

Olive oil already contains the enzyme you need to help eliminate lice.  But if you’re tempted to purchase an additional enzyme product, make sure there are no warnings regarding children’s eyes.  If the nitpicking service uses enzyme products, be sure your children’s eyes are adequately protected.

We prefer nitpickers that require an olive oil treatment and comb out before you go into the salon or before the nitpicker comes to your house.  The olive oil treatment will kill the live lice and give you a head start combing out the nits.  It also means the nitpicker is less likely to have been exposed to live lice from another client and is less likely to be infested.  And it will reduce the amount of time the nitpicker has to spend on your family’s heads, thereby saving you money.

So, for those of you in the market for a nit picking service, here is the most complete list we could compile.  We will continue to add listings as we learn about them.


Back to The Nit Picker List