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About Lousy Solutions
Making head lice easier to manage — with expertise, compassion and practical solutions.
At Lousy Solutions, we believe head lice should be a manageable problem, not a source of stress, embarrassment or stigma.
Our purpose is to help families, schools, and childcare communities manage head lice with confidence. We combine specialist knowledge with practical, evidence-based solutions to take the confusion and frustration out of head lice management.
Our philosophy
We believe that effective head lice management starts with understanding the problem.
There is a lot of conflicting information about head lice, from myths about how they spread to uncertainty about which treatments actually work. We believe families deserve clear, trustworthy advice so they can make informed decisions about what is right for them.
We take a calm, respectful and non-judgemental approach. Having head lice is not a reflection of personal hygiene, parenting or cleanliness. It is a common problem that can affect anyone, and there is no reason for a child to feel embarrassed or excluded because of it.
We also believe that managing head lice should not be unnecessarily complicated. Our role is to provide practical solutions that work in the real world — for busy families, for children, and for the schools and childcare centres supporting them.
Whether we are helping one family at home or working with an entire school community, our goal is the same:
Better information. Better management. Less stress.
Expertise and Vision
Yola - Founder of Lousy Solutions
My Qualifications: I qualified with a Bsc Hons (zoo) with a major in parasitology and have worked with anti-parasitic products during my career in pharmaceuticals, but my experience has not been all academic! It is balanced with the real-world insights of a mother of a once primary-aged student, who has experienced first hand the emotional stress, frustration and trepidation that comes with having head lice in the home, and has performed her fair share of head lice and nit removal. I also have experience setting up and managing lice management programs in schools and have developed a number of tools under the "Nit Patrol" banner, that assist schools to educate, reduce stigma, and coordinate screen and treat events.
My Vision is of a world (or at least my small area of it around Ryde, the Lower North Shore and the Inner West of Sydney) where there is no stigma around head lice infestation, where there is a clear understanding of what is an effective treatment and how to implement it, and where communities work together to take a coordinated approach to eliminate head lice.
My motivation: My Intrigue with all things head lice began at university where I was first captivated by Pediculus humanus capitis (head louse) and its resilience and ability to adapt. While working in corporate with companies that research, manufacture and market medicines, including anti-head lice products, I became aware of the social complexity that surrounds head lice infestations. It astounded me how the head louse, such a small creature capable of little harm, could wield such an impact, often bringing families to their knees and enforcing a "code of silence" that inhibited an united community approach, and allowed the louse free passage, back and forth, from head to head, always evading total eradication. Then when my daughter started primary school, I saw it all from a different perspective. So much misinformation and sensationalism often resulting inappropriate treatments and the perpetuation of stigma. Something needed to be done so with the support of some other mums we set about implementing a program to educate and coordinate screening and treatment. It was successful, and the reduced incidence and the normalising of the conversation around lice, were clearly beneficial to children, families and staff. The success of the program was evidence that something more could be done and so the early ideas for what would later become Lousy Solutions were formed.