Middleboro Hair Salon: We Are ‘Not the Lice Place’

MIDDLEBORO (WBSM) — A hairy situation is unfolding in Middleboro that has one local business feeling pretty lousy about having to redirect people out of its shop.

New Concepts Hair Salon is located at 111 Center Street C in downtown Middleboro. Just a couple of doors down, at 111 Center Street A, is Lice Clinics of America, which offers treatment to help those afflicted with head lice.

The problem is, hair salon owner Patty O’Brien says there isn’t adequate signage on the clinic, and says she spends too much of her time dealing with people looking for the lice clinic and who walk into her business instead because it also has to do with hair.

She went so far as to change her sidewalk sign and instead of promoting her business, she is using it to direct people to the clinic.

“This is NOT the Lice Place,” the sign reads, with an arrow directing people “Lice Removal That Way.”

O’Brien posted a photo of the sign to her business’s Facebook page Monday morning and wrote that the clinic “refuses to put up a sign” and that “people seeking treatment are walking into the salon.”

“So for now, when their lights are on, we put the sign out,” she wrote.

WBSM reached out to O’Brien, who said the situation has been going on “for several months.”

“I have had conversations and made suggestions about what kinds of signs work and even sent them a link for a sidewalk sign,” she said. “When nothing happened, I had a conversation with corporate. I was told that each business is individually owned and they had no control but would certainly make a suggestion to them.”

However, she said “nothing has changed.”

“I now have to advertise for them on my sign which should be advertising my own business,” O’Brien said. “I’ve walked their clients over on several occasions and told them a sign would be helpful for people.”

Naomi Golden, owner of the Middleboro location of Lice Clinics of America, told WBSM that they do have an “LCA” sign on the door and photos of children in the windows, but that apparently that hasn’t been enough to indicate where clients should go when they arrive.

“The issue has more to do with landlords,” Golden said. “Although many have no problems letting our clinics put up signage, some are a bit skittish because they assume that there might be some pushback from other tenants not wanting people with lice in their stores.”

She said that “in deference to that,” they only put the “LCA” on the door.

“The irony is that our friends at New Concepts Hair Salon have more of our clients walk in there than if we had our full name on our clinic!” Golden said.

“We are therefore hoping to work with our landlord so we can get a Lice Clinics of America sign on the clinic,” she said. “In the meantime, we appreciate New Concepts directing our clients our way.”

What Is the Lice Clinic of America?

The Middleboro clinic is one of 120 Lice Clinics of America around the country. The network has treated more than a million cases of lice, with just one treatment needed to kill all the lice and eggs on a person.

“I guarantee you that families who have been so frustrated trying to treat lice with products that are ineffective have no qualms about walking into our clinics to get our signature treatment,” Golden said. “We use an FDA-cleared medical device that eradicates an infestation in a single one-hour treatment.”

Advice About Lice

Golden also pointed out that people have misconceptions about lice and those who have lice.

She said that lice do not spread without head-to-head contact, they do not jump or fly, they do not spread from clothing, furniture or stuffed animals, and that people with lice are not dirty; in fact, lice prefer a clean host to a dirty one.