Two Working Moms 'Disentangle' Lice With FDA-Cleared Medical Device

Photo: Jackie Carey O’Connell and Katie Schickel, co-owners of Disentangle in Mt. Greenwood treat lice problem with FDA-cleared AirAlle device.

As children go back to school in the next few weeks, so will lice, feeding on your child’s innocent, clean smelling scalp.

Short of having your identity stolen nothing causes more stress than your kid coming home from school with a head full of nits. With few local services available for ridding the nasty little buggers, two working moms from Evergreen Park and Mt. Greenwood who also happen to be licensed hair stylists, have opened a new business dedicated entirely to treating lice called Disentangle.

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“Dealing with lice ensues panic, fear and anger at everyone around you while you take care of the problem” said Katie Schickel, co-owner of Disentangle. “Not having the education to get rid of lice is something we’re trying to do with the business. It doesn’t need to bring on anxiety, anger or panic when kids come home with lice.”

Schickel, who also owns Beverly’s Tranquillity Salon, 9909 S. Walden Parkway, along with her business partner and fellow hair stylist, Jackie Carey O’Connell, began noticing the problem when parents would come into the salon desperately seeking help to rid their children’s heads of lice.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that between 6 and 12 million children are infested with head lice annually. Very often parents contract lice from their children.

While there many types of lice, the head louse or Pediculus humanus capitis, is a parasitic insect that can be found on the head and, more rarely, the eyebrows and eyelashes of people. Head lice (the plural form of louse) feed on human blood several times a day and live close to the scalp to maintain their body temperature.

“It seemed as if every local school was dealing with a lice outbreak,” O’Connell said. “The reason why lice are so rampant today is that they’ve developed a resistance to the over-the-counter pesticides that you buy at Walgreens, like Rid or Nix.”

Seeing the surge of lice in the community, the hair stylists and moms, who have eight kids between them, decided to get into the lice-removal business.

What they soon discovered is that most over-the-counter products contain 70 more neurotoxins than your average can of Raid, and weren’t that effective in eliminating lice or their nits (eggs).

With few to none comb-out services available in the Southland, they discovered that many moms were bringing their children up to Chicago’s North Side to have their hair professionally nit-picked for 4-5 hours at a rate of $95 per hour.

The women’s research brought them to AirAlle (pronounced “Alay”), an FDA-cleared medical device and all-natural treatment that uses heat to delouse hair by killing lice and their nits through dehydration.

“It was important to us that what we were going to use was natural, chemical free and safe for our kids,” Schikel said. ”I have six kids who have been in two different schools. In the last couple of years I’ve probably gotten 20 letters saying there is head lice in the schools.”

Although lice removal may not be the most glamorous business, what Schikel and O’Connell do at Disentangle, located in Mt. Greenwood, is pretty fascinating.

AirAlle treatments take about 90 minutes. The revolutionary device blows heated air through its applicator tip along the scalp and hair shafts at a higher flow (but cooler temperature) than a hair dryer. The treatment is then followed by a traditional comb out to get rid of the dead nits.

“The AirAlle can handle anything,” O’Connell said. “There is nothing on the market that kills nits besides this device.”

A 90-minute AirAlle treatment costs $195 and is guaranteed for 30 days. In addition, parents are sent home with an after-care sheet that explains how disinfect the itchy bugs from clothing, bed linens, towels, pillows and your child’s favorite doll or teddy bear.

Disentangle also sells chemical-free products that naturally repel and prevent lice from transferring to your kid’s head or her siblings.

Parents who contract lice from their kids, or adults from head-to-head selfie contact, are also welcome at the business.

Disentangle, 11104 S. Kedzie Ave., in Mt. Greenwood, is a member of the Lice Clinics of America network. Treatments are by appointment only. While you might not need their services now, you may want to store this number into your phone, 708-581-NITS (6487) should you get the dreaded letter home about a lice infestation at your kid’s school.