MIRROR WORKS

Lice work (if you can get it)

How my firm got a head by blitzing nits

The Hairforce got a full page (!) in the Daily Mirror – the coverage, the reach!!!

Hairforce Lice Assassins hard at work

HOW MY FIRM GOT AHEAD BY BLITZING NITS

In their white uniforms, chic bandanas and chunky belts – from which hang a scary arsenal of weapons – they could be mistaken for futuristic warriors. Who’d have thought a “nit nurse” could look like Barbarella?

But when Dee Wright founded Hair Force one year ago – boasting the UK’s first crack squad of highly-trained Lice Assassins – she was determined to put a new spin on this particular area of pest control.

“I’d promised my girls that I was going to make the whole business of lice and nits glamorous,” laughs 47-year-old Dee. “We needed to get the humour back into this serious problem.”

With two daughters – Mia, 11, and nine-year-old Ines – Dee was well aware of the headache and expense involved in getting rid of headlice.

“The market in hair products to wipe out lice is worth £30million a year in the UK – with a massive 80 per cent of products being completely ineffective,” she says.
Instead, her Assassins carefully nitpick their way through infested heads, ridding people of creepy-crawlies without any useless chemicals.

“I read about a similar service in New York and thought what a great idea – I was so convinced I could do a good job that I just went for it,” says Dee, who previously worked in advertising. “I spent 18 months looking into the concept. I found the Business and IP Centre in the British Library which has everything you need to research a new business. And I used Business Link to help me get up and running.”

She also contacted the National Pediculosis Association (NPA) in America for their advice on eradicating lice, and began arming herself with specialist equipment.
“We have a Lice Hoover from Denmark, special nit combs from the NPA and magnifying glasses to help us spot the critters and eggs,” she says.
“We use special lights to get a perfect view of the head. Add a special brand of ruthlessness and there is no escape.”

Having tested the market through friends and a local school, Dee turned part of her North London home into Head Force HQ, and was up and running.
Two services are offered. The first is a 30-minute checking process. If anything is found this slips automatically into the 90-minute clearing service.
“We apply conditioner, section hair off and start meticulously combing through,” explains Dee. “Four days later we repeat the clearing process, then again four days later. It’s vital to break the life-cycle of the lice.”

It costs £90 for a full clear, but as Dee says: “People spend hundreds of pounds on hair products that do not work.”

In 12 months her service has proved so successful that she is considering franchising it. As well as interest from schools, it also boasts celebrity clients. Jonathan Ross and his children went to see Dee’s team. “It’s a brilliant idea,” says Jonathan. “We used to dream of something like this.”

And Body Shop founder Anita Roddick – who heard about Head Force when Dee joined a mentoring scheme – calls it a “visionary” business which will “transform lives”.
What’s more, her girls have finally got over the embarrassment of their Mum being a nit nurse.

“At least I think they have!” Dee laughs.

CONTACTS

Get in touch with Dee and her team of Lice Assassins on 07720 838 271 or visit www.thehairforce.co.uk

For help in setting up a business visit British Library’s Business and IP Centre at www.bl.uk/bipc and Business Link at www.businesslink.gov.uk

More on lice is at National Pediculosis Association

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Eco ‘Lice Assassins’ have real star appeal

By Meynem Hussein

Getting ourselves in the local news…

‘Head lice may not be the most glamorous of topics – bringing to mind images of scratching scalps and pungent potions. But the latest trend on the leafy Georgian streets of Primrose Hill is organic and eco-friendly louse-busting that counts among its fans celebrities such as television presenter Jonathan Ross, the Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick and lifestyle guru and Cherie Blair’s friend Carole Caplin. The Hairforce, which shuns chemicals in favour of lice hoovers, special combs and nit-picking by hand, was launched a year ago. Since then, business has boomed.

It is run by Dee Wright, who used to be a partner in the agency behind the Pot Noodle and Tango adverts, from her four-storey home in St. Mark’s Crescent, Primrose Hill.
Ms Wright, 47, said: ‘When we started out, we had two lice assassins and me – and maybe two or three customers a week. ‘Now we can have up to 25 to 30 customers a week and, including me, seven lice assassins.

‘I have probably had about 10 celebrities including actors, major business owners and writers. Carole Caplin came here with her god-daughter and then wrote about it in a magazine. We had about 400 calls.’

Jonathan Ross’s family has come in. Anita Roddick has mentored me and brought in someone for treatment. ‘It’s really beginning to take off.’ So why has the business been so popular? Ms Wright said: ‘It’s a simple solution to a massive need.

My daughters – Mia, 11, and Ines, nine – have had lice maybe a dozen times each in their lives. Lice are prevalent in schools and parents are always talking about it. ‘Nearly half of four to 11 year olds get it every year and 50 per cent of people don’t itch.

‘But people are throwing money on chemicals that half the time won’t work. She added: ‘We get environmentally conscious people who don’t want to use any chemical-based things on their children. Others have used lots and lots but have been driven insane because the products have been ineffective.’

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HAM & HIGH SERIES

Ex-Ad exec really enjoys nit picking

With the help of Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, Lice Assassin Dee Wright has become a Hairforce to be reckoned with, writes Bridget Galton

The Ham & High Lifestyle section featured us in early action:

A Lice Assassin prepares to 'comb to kill'

Dee Wright has abandoned a high-powered career in advertising to set up a business picking nits out of children’s hair. 

Seven days a week, the former dining room of her immaculately decorated Primrose Hill house is given over to “lice assassins” who hoover and comb out the parasites under specialist lamps.

If that sounds like an odd career choice then Wright will tell you otherwise.
Her extensive research revealed an increased immunity to traditional nit shampoos, leading to an epidemic – predominantly among primary school aged children. 

Based in St Mark’s Crescent, The Hairforce is a guaranteed service that takes the misery out of headlice with funky purple treatment chairs, space-age uniforms and a wealth of books, DVDs and games to play while the nits are zapped. 

The mum of two says: “I had wanted to set up a business for a while when I saw an article about a nit and lice removal service in New York. There has been a lot in the media about the problem accelerating in the last five to 10 years, but no-one was really solving it. It was very much something that mums were struggling with on their own at home, often desperately fighting a losing battle because 80 per cent of the products do not work.”

The Hairforce staff are sensitive to their clients’ feelings and try to normalise nit infestations by presenting the service as; “a pampering spa treatment for children.”
“Children have talked about how eroding the stigma is for them. One child sat at the back of the class so no-one could see anything crawling out of her plait; another didn’t take a part in a school play because she didn’t want any focus on her, and another had been bullied over it.”

Sporting medical magnifying goggles and white suits bearing the slogan “Comb to Kill”, Wright’s lice assassins clear infestations over three 90-minute sessions costing £30 each. 

The hair is divided into controlled areas, hoovered; then slathered with organic Aveda leave in conditioner; combed with a nit comb; then picked through with tweezers under specialist lighting.
“It is a very thorough process and has to be repeated three times at four day intervals to break the developmental life cycle of lice, who each lay 10 eggs a day that take seven to 10 days to mature,” says Wright, who admits a deep respect for the highly evolved parasites.
“They feed off the blood from the scalp but can live for up to 48 hours off the head. The female only mates once then stores the sperm in a special sac to keep fertilising their eggs. They are genetically programmed to get off the head so they don’t breed with their siblings, but they don’t fly or jump, they crawl – up to 23cm in a minute.” 

Wright, who is mentored by Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, has been bedding in the business for the past year, but now hopes to franchise it nationally.
“Anita is great to talk to. She’s a real encourager of ideas and an enormous supporter of this. She thinks it’s one of the most innovative ideas she has seen for years.” Wright laughs that Roddick was unsurprised to see her running the business from her dining room. 

When the Body Shop was in its infancy, she made soap in her kitchen and distributed it from her car. “My family have been incredibly tolerant. This is a good way of testing the business to see if it works, but I will be pleased to get my house back.”
To book an appointment, call 07720 838271 or email help@thehairforce.co.uk.

Ham and High

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