In the four years since Marcy McQuillan opened Nitless Noggins, a Scotts Valley salon dedicated solely to destroying and removing head lice, she has gained international notoriety as an expert, being interviewed by media outlets across the country and globe on the subject.
McQuillan and her staff of six now operate out of locations in Scotts Valley and Campbell, seeing clients in their salons as well as conducting school visits with the AirAlle — a specialized device that uses concentrated heat to kill lice and their eggs.
Now, thousands of patients and probably millions of lice later, the entrepreneur announced on Tuesday, March 10 that she will release her official training and certification program, with the goal of empowering the global community of stay-at-home moms to embody their own community’s “local” movement.
McQuillan, who began her business more or less from scratch, said that by showing other mothers how she’d become successful, they could simultaneously empower themselves and avoid many of the lessons she learned the hard way.
“I provide them with the information on how to get their business going,” she said. “I took all the information that it took to get my business up and running.”
Those who sign up will participate in a six-month training and certification program that starts at $500 per month. That number increases if the students then wish to use the Nitless Noggins name or the AirAlle devices.
Since opening her business, McQuillan said she has been amazed by the amount of support that she’s gotten and the success she’s seen.
“I had no idea how much lice was out there,” she said. “Head lice is really an issue now.”
In particular, she said, there has been a sharp increase in recent years of middle school, high school and college-aged people coming to her for help with head lice — due in great part by younger people’s fondness for pressing scalps together to snap “selfie” photos with their camera phones.
“It’s more than the little kids now,” McQuillan said.
She added that schools have loosened the rules for sending a child home if lice or eggs are found, which — coupled with parents’ social stigma of announcing a lice problem to other parents — has kept her busier than ever.
Using the AirAlle treatment, lice and their eggs can be destroyed in one or two visits, McQuillan said. This prevents the need to use harsh chemicals and shampoos, which can require numerous treatments to be effective.
She said there are many things about lice and their proliferation that people are simply not aware of.
“The stigma of head lice keeps people from talking about it,” McQuillan said. “Lice is spread by head-to-head contact, and they prefer clean heads, where they can crawl around and lay their eggs.”
Despite being confronted by creepy crawlies on a near-daily basis, she said, she and her six staff members are as dedicated to their work as when they began.
“The coolest part is that we can help the community,” McQuillan said. “If you can find an idea that you’re passionate about, and it helps the community, and you can work with your friends — what’s better than that?”
For more information about Nitless Noggins, call 566-6978 or visit www.nitless.com.
