Lice encounter led Cedar Rapids moms to business opportunity

When one of Mary Jensen's daughters - and many of her school classmates - came down with lice, Jensen did the same thing as most of the other mothers.

The Cedar Rapids sales representative bought a bottle of chemical lice treatment, applied it, and combed her daughter's hair regularly for almost two weeks while checking for more signs of lice.

Ten days later, Jensen's other, older daughter also found lice in her hair. The same chemical treatment she'd used on the earlier outbreak provoked a recurrence of her daughter's asthma.

The experience sent Jensen on a search for alternative lice treatments and led to the opening last week of Bug Bunnies Lice Removal of Iowa by Jensen and business partner Valerie McDowell.

The business uses a device called the LouseBuster to remove lice and their eggs without chemicals. The LouseBuster uses a carefully controlled stream of hot air that is applied to each section of the scalp for 30 seconds while the scalp is combed in a circular motion using a curious looking brush attachment.

Jensen said the FDA-approved medical device kills the lice and eggs in the simplest way by causing them to dry up.

"In the past two months, I've learned more about lice than I ever imagined there was to know," Jensen said.

Jensen said she initially was concerned that the chemical lice treatments can be absorbed through the skin. She later learned, she said, that lice are becoming more resistant to the chemicals.

Bug Bunnies charges $25 for a lice inspection. If a customer has lice, it applies the $25 assessment to the $189 cost of lice treatment using the Louse Buster.

Jensen acknowledged that it isn't cheap, but said treatment is reimbursable under Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Accounts. And, when it comes to creepy-crawly lice, she said most parents don't want to mess around.

Jensen has heard of parents who've been so desperate to remove lice that they've resorted to folk remedies such as applying kerosene and mayonnaise to infested hair.

Jensen and McDowell take appointments by reservation. Their first clients were three siblings and a mother who all had lice infestations last Friday, Jensen said. The progress of the treatment is dramatic, Jensen said, as the dead lice fall out and land on the cowl the client wears to protect their clothing.

The procedure takes less than 30 minutes.

To get the word out about the lice treatments, Jensen and McDowell have been explaining the process to school nurses, day-care centers and pediatricians, among others.

Jensen said one thing she learned early on is that people don't like to talk about head lice even though it's one of the more common issues children face because of the stigma that associates it with lack of personal hygiene.

"You don't see moms posting on Facebook, 'The kids all have lice,'" she said.

While it's common to think that frequent shampooing will keep head lice away, Jensen said lice actually have a harder time reproducing in oily hair than in clean hair because they need to be able to lay their eggs on the shaft of the hair. If the hair is too oily, Jensen explained, the eggs won't stay attached.

She can reached on the company's website at

http://bugbunnies.com.