My lousy lice story
Why does helping people cure head lice mean so much to me?
It is my life’s calling.
It was in 1991, in Toronto Canada, when I got lice the first time. I was about 26 years old my head started itching like mad. I did not know what it was. I never suspected head lice.
I had never seen it, nor knew nothing about it.
I never had head lice as a child. In fact, I distinctly recall looking at those strangers
( women in white coats) who came to your elementary school and inspected our heads for head lice with sticks, and thought to myself, what a horrible, lousy job they had!
Isn’t that amazing! Then 30 years later, I am one of those strangers.
The difference between them and myself, is I provide the parents with the HOW and means to CURE the infestation, not just detect it.
I asked my dad what to do about my itching head. He said it might be dandruff ( a fungus I believe). He told me to use dandruff shampoo as it worked for him. That did not work. Many months later I discovered that my intense itching was because I had head lice!
I had never had it before. I was in shock. And I had it really bad.
I went to the pharmacy and tried the over-the-counter pesticides, over and over, and they did not work. That was in 1991. The bugs were already resistant 19 years ago. I used the Lindane too. The lice did not all die either with that. No matter what poison I put on my head, it would not go away. I wore my hair up in a hat as I was horrified that I would give it others. Nothing I tried worked.
I asked my mother to help me and she stepped back in horror and said “No..!”
She too did not know how to deal with the lice infestation.
I was all alone in my struggle with head lice. It was about the worst experience of my life.
That was the first experience with head lice.
Fast forward five years. It’s now 1996. Still in Toronto. Lice are once again in my life.
Now there was myself with lice but also my son, my boyfriend, his ex-girlfriend, and my two young step-daughters. It took four months of hard work and constant nitpicking to cure all 5 of us.
We used pesticides on the adults without success. We tried margarine ( bad idea), and mayonnaise. The combs sold were useless, or worse: torture devices that ripped hair and caused huge clumps or hair to be pulled out. It took four months of nitpicking work to clear my family of lice.
Eventually, a solution would be found. I decided that parents needed help, and set out to do so.
About 2 years after I founded LiceBusters in Canada, ( LiceBusters is my company and I own the trademark), it took me just two hours to cure each of the girls, rather than four months.
Over 3600 humdred families have called to receive the help they desperately need.
I look forward to providing you with the light so you can see your way easily out of the lice infestation.
Yours for a nit-free world,
Karen Tilley
Head Lice Removal professional and Trainer