CBS 5 - KPHO Super lice need super treatment

Super lice need super treatment

It's the four letter word no parent wants to hear: lice! Once those nasty little bugs make their way into your kid's classroom, there's no telling how much trouble you might be in.

Dealing with lice once it's infected your home is more of a hassle than you might think.

Some aren't even responding to popular chemical treatments anymore, so you'll need more than a bottle of shampoo to break the bug cycle.

"They don't care whether you're clean or dirty. They don't care if you're rich or poor. They don't care what ethnicity you are. They just want food, and they'll go where they need to get it," said Hair Angels founder Hilary Scofield.

"We got a call from the school," said mom Katy Owens.

Her 7-year-old was sent home with a few extra friends upstairs.

"We basically field phone calls from frantic parents. They call, they've found lice on their child's head and we send a tech to their home," Scofield said.

Scofield is somewhat of a lice expert.

The mother of three has seen her fair share, and thought...

"That might be a great business opportunity," Scofield said.

She and another mom started up The Hair Angels.

They make a living off lice, getting rid of the bugs so you don't have to deal with it.

They've already been to Owens' house and used the Louse Buster on her daughter.

It looks like a FlowBee on steroids.

It attacks the bugs and dries them out, then the tech can comb them out.

It's a chemical-free solution with no legwork from mom.

"When I saw what they were doing, what they were getting from my daughter's scalp with magnifying glasses, I thought there's no way a parent could do that. No way," Owens said.

Of course, it isn't just the kid that needs treatment.

You have to delouse your house.

Owens had to stick all her combs and brushes in the freezer overnight.

She also put the kids' bed sheets in the dryer.

Fortunately the family dog, Ginger stayed lice free.

"No, pets cannot get head lice," Scofield said.

That's myth number one.

The other myth is that those over-the-counter shampoos are always effective.

"We have people who call us, they've been dealing with it as long as a year," Scofield said.

She says your best bet is to assume if you have kids, at some point lice might come knocking on your door.

"It's nothing that they did wrong, it's just being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Scofield said.

If you hear lice is in your school, pull your kid's hair back into a pony tail or a french braid which makes the hair harder for the bugs to climb.

And spray something that smells like mint in their hair.  Scofield said lice are attracted to your scent so if you mask it, they're less likely to leech on.

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