Lice eradicator

Over the past year, teacher’s assistant and mother of three Theresa Culver has offered the people of Butte and the surrounding counties a friendly, organic head lice removal service. Through her mobile service, Lice Ninjas, Culver has been able to eradicate lice infestations in local homes, as well as on local heads, at an average of 15 calls a week. She also mixes her own FDA certified organic head lice shampoos, which she makes available to parents of afflicted children, along with her advice. Make an appointment by calling Culver at 736-9214.

How did Lice Ninjas start?

I’ve had the idea for a long time, but I’ve actually been doing head lice removal for about 10 years now. The idea to actually start a business came about two years ago. That’s when the idea really became solid. For the past year, I’ve been getting supplies together, ordering products, and deciding how I wanted to go about it. What products did I want to offer, did I want to go organic, that kind of thing.

What did you do before you started Lice Ninjas?

For the past few years, I’ve worked as a teacher’s aide in a kindergarten class, and currently I work in a preschool here in Chico. This [Lice Ninjas] is like a side thing right now. I didn’t expect to get full-time lice calls right away, so I do have the second job at the preschool …. I would eventually like to expand and make this my full-time occupation. It would just be a dream come true to be able to help that many people.

Why did you start doing head lice treatment?

I’m a big fan of kids, and I know that lice can make children and, really, whole families miserable, so I do my best to help with that …. My mother fought head lice with me when I was a child, using the store-bought products, which sometimes don’t work as well, and I just remember that it was stressful on the whole family.

How have people reacted to your service?

The need is out there. There’s really nobody in our area who offers this kind of in-home treatment, and a lot of the outskirts towns in the area have parents who need extra help getting rid of lice. Not a lot of people want to go into somebody’s home who has lice, so they need to be able to call somebody who isn’t afraid of it, and I’m not …. I use my own products—they’re preventative shampoos that will keep both you and your children from getting lice.

What kind of treatments do you offer?

I go in, and I educate people on how to avoid getting [a head lice infestation], and how to keep it from spreading. Then I shampoo their hair, and I comb out the nits with a high-grade nit comb. The combs I use I actually order online, because the stores usually only carry the plastic combs that come with over-the-counter lice treatments, most of which don’t actually work very well anyway. With the organic shampoo additives that I offer, you can even keep using your brand of shampoo.