Madcaps Salon | Austin's Quality Lice Removal Service

Lice Removal Services Compared

Karen Greenberg — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 02:19:44 +0000

As moms get busier and busier we find that there are some things that just beg for outsourcing. Lice removal is one of them! Contrary to popular thought, just because we have ovaries does not mean we have nit picking skills. The dreaded realization that one of our children has lice can bring a sane competent mom to her knees. Thankfully there are options beyond the usual over the counter pesticide shampoo, crying child, combing endlessly scenario.

Most major U.S. cities have several lice removal services to choose from. Mobile lice removal services will come to your home and treat family members in your own environment. This has some benefits if you want absolute discretion and there is adequate space, lighting and distraction for kids in your home. Make sure the company you are hiring is bonded, includes a recheck in the pricing structure and offers a guarantee.

Another option in lice removal services is the lice salon. Lice salons offer lice removal treatment in a salon like setting and are usually equipped to work on more than one family member at a time. When looking for a lice salon, make sure the salon has been certified in the Shepherd Method of lice removal. This certification ensures intense training and hands on experience of the lice service technicians. Pay close attention to the pricing structure. Beware of hidden costs. The industry standard is for salons to provide a one week recheck and guarantee of treatment to be included in the original price.

Lice removal is a week long process no matter which method you use for treatment. Be skeptical of any business that proclaims your family “lice free” without performing a recheck. While most of the lice infestation should be eradicated after the salon or mobile treatment, it is reasonable to for parents to be expected to quickly comb through family members’ hair a couple of times before the one week recheck. If extensive combing or frequent treatments are required of the family by the lice removal service, they may not be doing their job properly.

We at MadCaps provide a salon based lice removal service in Austin, Texas. We are certified in the Shepherd Method of lice removal and co-owned by a nurse practitioner. We offer a simple fee schedule, a one week recheck and a six week guarantee as long as all household members have checked for lice. Our treatments are nontoxic and environmentally safe. We have a bright, clean cheerful environment to make kids and parents as comfortable as possible. Each child has an ipad for gaming or movie watching during treatment. Unlimited free snacks are available. Work space and free wifi is available for parents. We offer sound research based education on lice removal, treatment of the home and lice prevention in the future.

Moms no longer have to suffer through the time, money and frustration of lice removal on their own. Options are available to outsource this pesky problem! Be an educated consumer and let someone else do the dirty work for you!

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Do Not Shave His Head!

Karen Greenberg — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:26:17 +0000

As the owner of a lice removal salon, I am always amazed by people’s insistence (usually fathers, I’ll admit) to have their kids” head shaved if they think they’ve found lice. It’s a solution for some, I’m sure, but the truth is, this quick fix better be crazy short to make a difference. Here’s why it’s not everything it’s “buzzed up” to be.

Shaving the head or cutting hair doesn’t always address the issue. So many parents walk into my salon and say, “Go ahead and cut our hair if it will help with treatment”. LIce can live in as little as 3 millimeters of hair. Although it defies logic, I’ve pulled more bugs off a little boy with a crew cut than a little girl with waist long hair. During our lice removal treatments we focus most of our attention on the first five millimeters of hair where most bugs and eggs reside. They need to be close to the scalp to feed. They must lay eggs close to the head to incubate on the warm temperatures of the head. Simply cutting the hair, even crew cut style isn’t enough to treat these pesky bugs. Unless you are shaving the head (with shaving cream) the extreme cut is unnecessary and causes stigma.

Super short cuts can be traumatizing for a little boy who loves his locks, but what is really bugging me is parents who “shave” a little girl’s head. Way too often, I hear parents say they are going to shave a girl’s head. Sometimes they say it in jest and sometimes in all sincerity. Not funny. Lice carries enough stigma without a schoolgirl returning to class with an “I had lice” haircut. It is likely something she won’t ever forget or forgive. We’ve had girls not tell parents they had lice for fear that the parents would make good on a previous threat of head shaving. This results in a much more severe infestation than usual. In the state of Texas, shaving a girl’s head without her consent is considered child abuse.

I’m not entirely scissor shy however and in some cases, cutting a little girl’s hair into a cute fashionable style is a good idea. We have treated many young girls who refuse to keep their hair up or braided and who don’t take care of it. So often these same sweet girls willingly share brushes and accessories with friends. In these situations, a more manageable hairstyle may be called for. There’s a point where keeping your daughter’s hair well groomed and back makes sense for everyone. If your girl seems to be a lice magnet, shorter hair will help with treatment and maintenance in the fight to be lice free. Teach your daughters to keep it back or up, or well trimmed so it’s easy to manage. Make sharing combs and brushes a no no.
Make regular lice checks part of your family routine so you can spot a problem before it becomes an emergency.

So parents, although it’s tempting to quick fix this problem with a pair of clippers, back away from the shaver! The truth is lice happens, sometimes more to one person than another, for reasons we’ll never understand. Teaching kids to be responsible with their hair, by keeping it up or braided and keeping their proximity to others in mind is a far more kind way to help keep this out of your home and everyone healthy, happy and in good spirits. If lice happens to you, get the facts at www.madcapssalon.com and know that it is a manageable problem without resorting to drastic measures.

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Lice on a Plane

Karen Greenberg — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:54:41 +0000

At MadCaps, our lice removal salon, we often hear sad stories about embarrassment and stigma associated with head lice, but our story this week takes the cake. Fasten your seatbelt and keep reading.

Daisy is a cute 6 year old who goes to a progressive private school in Austin,TX. At a routine head check for lice, the school nurse found lice in Daisy’s hair and sent her home. Her parents brought her to MadCaps for lice removal. Daisy was unfazed by having lice (a typical kid reaction). We treated her for lice and she enjoys her salon experience. We give her a note to return to school lice-free. Her parents are lovely and want to make sure she is “sans lice” because she will soon be travelling all by herself to Los Angeles to see her Grandma and Auntie.

The day after Daisy gets to LA, MadCaps received a heartbreaking phone call from her mom. Daisy is traumatized because of some really unprofessional and insensitive grown ups she encountered on her solo flight. It seems that once she was safely on the plane, Daisy struck up a conversation with her seatmate. It wasn’t long before she told the adult that she had just been treated for lice…Uh oh.

A series of unfortunate events and bad decisions followed Daisy’s innocent announcement. The person sitting next to her on the plane loudly informed the flight attendant “this child has lice!” (which was untrue, she’d been treated). Next the flight attendant ran to the cockpit and alarmed the pilot that LICE (not a terrorist or tuberculosis) was on the plane. The pilot radioed in to LAX and demanded that the girl’s grandmother be at the gate waiting to explain how such a child could have been put on a plane. Daisy was escorted off the plane by a latex glove wearing flight attendant acting as if she’d been exposed to Ebola. The pilot gave poor Grandma a dressing down. Poor Daisy was ashamed and demoralized.

Instead of a fun vacation with her relatives, Daisy had an unforgettably horrible flight experience. It got worse on the ground as her auntie and grandma called back to Austin with accusations and fear of lice. It took a phone call from MadCaps to calm her aunt down and convince her that her family wasn’t at risk since Daisy had been TREATED!

Daisy’s parents did the right thing. They were alerted to the problem and immediately came and had the problem solved! At her follow-up check, Daisy remained lice free but was a different kid. MadCaps was no longer a fun place to take care of her pesky problem while sipping chocolate milk and watching iCarly. It was a reminder of her trip filled with alarmist grown ups that let her down due to their own ignorance.

Part of our mission at MadCaps is to increase education and reduce stigma about head lice. We have our work cut out for us…

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A Parent’s Perspective: Alexis, mother of two

Karen Greenberg — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:22:47 +0000

What was your first thought when you heard there was a salon that dealt exclusively in lice removal?

My first thought was Holy S*&%, there are professionals who do that now? The world needs that? And the world can afford that? Wow, the world has changed. We now have a whole new service industry. But then I was like, Oh my Gosh we need it. I mean, the lice have improved. The home kits are only 45% effective because the lice have built up a tolerance to it. It’s turbo lice we have now. They’re Terminator lice!

You obviously got over the disbelief in professionals?

A friend of mine in California had gotten it in her family, and she had used professionals. So, hearing her story, I had already broken down my barrier that there should be a professional. My friend had said, “seriously, you throw money at the problem.” The stress is removed when you put it in the hands of someone else.

What was your experience with MadCaps Salon?

Jessica called and said, “Don’t worry, it’s all going to be okay.” She went to that emotional place. So I immediately felt like I was in good hands. The emotional place they go to is worth even more than the service. They meet Moms with calmness and a solution. By the time a mom calls them she is panicking. So it’s like talking them off the ledge. And they seem to do that well.

So, that was my impression before I even got there. Then, being there was wonderful. Clearly they’re aware that there’s a stigma. The whole iPad, snack, lounge thing makes it like a salon and those signals are so great. I was impressed with the whole thing.

Did you learn anything about lice while you were there?

Oh my God, I came out of there so well educated. They’re definitely lice removal advocates. When I learned the etymology of lice, like the nits can’t live off your head for more than 24 hours, I went from OMG they’re winning to Oh, this is lice Zen. I didn’t feel like I was at the mercy of the lice.

So, did the experience change your perception of lice in general?

Yes, now I wouldn’t be ashamed if a friend comes over because I know it’s not going to jump from head to head. When my girls had it, before I came in to MadCaps, I didn’t go to a soccer thing because I thought it was that contagious. Which killed me. Schools make it seem so drastic. The owners of MadCaps, they’re really myth busters. They’re empowering people in the fight against lice. That’s why it’s so incredibly valuable.

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Top 10 Things Men Say About Lice

Karen Greenberg — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:01:30 +0000

Or, the 10 stages of denial, usually reserved for Dads.

1. I can’t have it, I don’t have any hair.

2. I don’t see anything.

3. Honey, have we ever had lice?

4. That’s her deal.

5. Isn’t there a pill for that?

6. Why does this have to be such a big deal?

7. Why can’t you just shave their head?

8. Can’t you just wash their hair really well?

(and about us specifically…)

9. You’d pay someone to do this?

10. Can I get lice just walking in there?

Top 10 Answers:

1. Lice cling to the follicle, so short hair can attract them, too.

2. Look harder.

3. Uh, yeah, four times.

4. Thanks.

5. No. Is there a pill for you?

6. Sigh.

7. Heavy Sigh.

8. As if we usually just sorta kinda wash it?

9. In a NY minute!

10. Only if you walk in and rub your head against someone who hasn’t been treated yet. In other words…No.

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On Becoming a Mompreneur

Karen Greenberg — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:38:46 +0000

Co-mompreneurs Karen Greenberg and Jessica Knight

I’ve been in the workforce for over 30 years. From flipping burgers and flirting with surfers at a beachside cabana to working in high- pressured medical practices as a Nurse Practitioner. No matter the job, I have always been employed. And almost always by men.

Having men as bosses was sometimes annoying, like the drunken restaurant manager looking for one of us waitresses to come back to his “crib” every night, and sometimes frustrating, like the boss who asked, “Do you think you could postpone your maternity leave?” after my water had broken.

Seriously?

But, the reality of always having male bosses really became problematic once I became a mom. My nuclear black and white world exploded in Technicolor once I had my first baby. I was suddenly propelled into the throes of motherhood without a net. It was a constant struggle to juggle and justify the needs of my kids with those of my job. I found that the male bosses I worked with just didn’t understand when my child was sick, my daycare closed early or a 2nd Grade Earth Day performance was scheduled at 1:30 in the afternoon. Wherever I was, I felt I should be somewhere else. At work and missing a soccer game? GUILT! On a Daisy field trip instead of work? GUILT!

This year, I did something that has allowed me to design a guilt-free life. I took an enormous leap of faith and became a mompreneur.

My fabulous business partner and I opened MadCaps Salon a few months ago. Between us, we have five kids (ages 6-12). Our partnership works because, thankfully, we both understand the mommy dance. I’m suddenly able to be more honest. I can block out time on my schedule for a hair appointment and actually write HAIR APPOINTMENT instead of MAMMOGRAM or FUNERAL.

We look out for one another’s needs whether it is a root touchup, a parent teacher conference or a morning off to run family errands. You don’t know how liberating it feels to be able to tell the truth. And we’re able to compromise. Imagine that! We seamlessly pick up the slack when we need to and just know it will be reciprocated.

Unlike many of the men for whom I’ve worked, I don’t get to say, “My wife takes care of that”. I am the wife.

There are still some things I miss with my kids. After all, the business world doesn’t come to a halt for the mom stuff. But it is so much more manageable now that I get to work with someone who gets it.

I love co-owning a business with another mom where we can be real about our lives, and do what we need to do to raise our families and our businesses equally.

And for the first time in 12 years, I can actually breathe.

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Who knew lice removal could inspire poetry?

Karen Greenberg — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:07:48 +0000

A fellow Austin Mom with a lice story to tell went so far as to write a poem about her experience with the little critters. Her blog, A Well-Versed Mom, is full of wonderful advice for Moms, presented as tongue-in-cheek tales written in rhyming verse. It’s very Shel Silversein-esque. We love this poem because it does what we aim to do here at MadCaps. That is, to adopt a more light-hearted approach to lice removal. See, it can actually be fun. We swear it can!

This poem by Carlotta Stankiewicz proves we’re not the only ones who think so. And we do appreciate it when people make us feel a little less crazy. Thank you Carlotta!

Lousy Advice

Lice aren’t nice,
but if you want my advice,
don’t sweat ‘em
‘cause you’ll get ‘em — if you’ve got kids — maybe twice.

How does a critterful collection
sprout without a mom’s detection?
Well, it happens to the best of us
and even to the rest of us:
that sighting on the head
as you tuck the kids in bed…
or the letter they bring home
suggesting chemicals and combs.

Sure, you’ll start to feel lousy
once you know they’re in your housey
as you scratch throughout your hair
though there may be nothing there.

You know what you gotta do:
get a lotta that shampoo,
and although it’s rather icky,
take that comb and get nit-picky.
It’s not as bad as you might think;
you just wash ‘em down the sink,
then you scour clothes and sheets
till the creatures meet defeat.

Lest you start to feel ashamed
make sure other kids are blamed
long before it is suggested
that your home was first infested.

Lice aren’t nice,
but if you want my advice,
don’t sweat ‘em
’cause you’ll get ‘em — if you’ve got kids — maybe thrice.

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Lice Season: 6 Back to School Prevention Tips

Karen Greenberg — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:03:58 +0000

Back to School is fun for kids. And busy for parents. What, with all the new clothes to buy, schedules to memorize, carpools to organize and children to motivate. Not to mention the reintroduction of bedtimes and alarm-clocked awakenings. Oy!

Once that bell rings, the kids rejoice in seeing their friends again. But there’s one “friend” nobody’s too thrilled to see again. Especially parents. LICE!

In the midst of this flurry, it’s the last thing we want to think about. I mean, we’ve just got our days back. Now this! It’s enough to bring even Supermom to her knees. While lice cannot be completely avoided, here are some tips to help keep the evil critters from invading your home.

1. Know When Not to Share

While lice is mostly spread through head to head contact, it can be transmitted by sharing personal items. Sharing is great but not hats, scarves, brushes, combs or hair accessories.

2. Beware of Close Encounters

Lice are easily spread between kids when they work or play with their heads together. Lice can’t jump or fly but they can crawl lightening fast through hair. Show kids how they can share a book or computer screen without touching heads.

3. Learn to Love the Up Do

Put your child’s hair up in a braid or bun if possible. Lice have a harder time traveling through braided hair and a bun ensures that her hair won’t be hanging close to another child’s head.

4. Be Offensive

Make your child’s head less inviting to lice. Lice actually like squeaky clean hair the best. Decrease the frequency of hair washing so there is some natural oil in the hair making it more difficult for a louse to travel. Use a preventative spray on your child’s head each morning. Essential oils including mint, rosemary, lavender, geranium and tea tree can serve as a lice repellants.

5. Become a Detective

Check your child weekly with good lighting and a good quality lice comb (the Terminator is the best). Pick a night each week to run a lice comb through your kids’ hair so you can catch an infestation early before it becomes unmanageable.

6. ‘Fess up

If you do draw the short straw and find that you have lice in your family, make notifying friends and family part of the treatment strategy. The only way to control lice in a school community is to de-stigmatize the problem and communicate with one another. Don’t assume that the school will notify other families.

Lice happens. It’s not personal. Catching lice is no more a commentary on your parenting or household than is getting the flu. Just like hand washing can help prevent illness, using some preventative measures can lower your risk of catching these pesky critters.

Happy Back to School everyone!

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