Winnipeg mom launches lice fight

WINNIPEG – Slice of Lice owner Sarah Phillips wants to help Winnipeg families beat the pests, which have made a comeback in recent decades.

Phillips, a mother of three who was a hairdresser for 15 years, was certified in lice removal and launched her business after one of her own children had lice.

“It was brutal to deal with,” she said. “There was nobody to go to. There was nobody to see.”

The pharmacist gave her a pesticide-laced product and she spent weeks cleaning and picking nits out of her daughter’s hair. Her daughter also stayed home for a week in an effort to prevent the lice from spreading.

“It was so frustrating for myself, for my daughter,” Phillips said.

Slice of Lice offers families peace of mind, she said.

“I come into your home and I check your child,” she said. “As long as one person has lice, the chances are somebody else will have lice, so I will check your whole entire family.”

She then goes through the painstaking process of picking the nits from hair, using only pesticide-free products, she said.

“Hair by hair, strand by strand, I pull out those nits with the comb, with my fingers,” she said, a process that takes about two hours. “For somebody at home, it’s going to take five, six hours.”

She also hopes to remove the stigma for those who get lice.

“Be a friend, tell a friend,” she said. “If you have lice, you’re giving it to somebody.

“It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”