Love Bugs Head Lice Removal Salon

MInus 1 star b/​c they are so busy that they can’t get to their phones on weekdays. We had an infestation and I called in a panic x 3 (at night and in the AM) and didn’t hear back. so by 11am, I went in and asked for an appointment. They were able to squeeze me in at 1pm. They are really busy and focus on who is there before they answer the phone.
I trust them 100% and definitely would recommend taking your kids/​family here if you get infected or you suspect you are infected. They are good at their work and know their stuff.
though anticipate at least 1 hr per person getting treated.

Julia was through, knowledgeable and professional. She was also gentle with my daughter.

Very professional and friendly. The staff treated my kids well and were very friendly and helpful for my husband and me. Only complaint is that their treatment method may take 2 – 3 visits and on occasion I’ve been told they book up fast (which is a huge bummer when you have an outbreak in your family). Highly recommended!

Two of us educators came frantically through the Love Bugs entrance panicking and with many questions. Katie calmly answered our questions, educated us, did not try to sell us anything, and took the time to evaluate our hair and make a recommendation. This was all without an appointment and us purely hoping she was a compassionate soul. She is well educated, her recommendations worked, we found her professional, and the entire process (and salon) felt sterile (a concern of mine). I also felt other salons really banked on the panic one with lice may be in and their willingness to pay ridiculous amounts of money for treatments– but with Katie at Love Bugs this was most certainly NOT the case. Thank you Katie!

I work as a nanny. And the kids that I watch got lice. After trying like 10 times to call them without an answer, I decided to pop in here on the same day to see if they have an available 3 spots to get the kids treated. They were very busy! So I had no other choice but schedule the appointments for the next day.
The next day we came here about 30 minutes earlier and the started with the checks right aways. Since the checks are free I decided to check myself as well (no lice!!!)
The two girls are very professional and not waisting any minute! Which is important because they are charging you $ 90/​hour for a head. Even though there is some risk they take on themselves and they use quiet a bit of product. 90/​hr/​head is a little bit too much in my opinion. But it doesn’t seem like a lot of hard work.
They are lovely to the kids as well! The kids are able to choose a movie from a selection of dvd’s and they even got some snacks! After that they give you papers with information about how to treat you house, car and so on…
The place is very minimalistic which is great because it’s easy to clean.
In my opinion this place is a genius idea for a business!
Why 4 starts and not 5? Because even though they are busy and booked all day, they probably should answer the phone so people will be able to make appointments for the next day. Luckily we were in the area so that wasn’t that big of a deal…

I’m surprised by the less than stellar reviews of Love Bugs. A certain family member with long hair got lice. Having never dealt with it– and being squeamish with anything with more legs than my dog– I made an appointment with Love Bugs.
With my suspicions confirmed, I had them do a removal treatment on my itchy family member. The estimate was accurate and, in my opinion, fair. During the initial treatment, Julia took the time to educate me on what to look for and how to properly perform my own treatments. They also provide you with cleaning advice so that you can prevent a re-​infestation.
After we got home, I followed their advice– cleaning as directed and regularly combing through said family member’s hair.
The first comb through they performed was so thorough that there were very few nits/​casings found during my combings. Two complimentary checks later and she is completely nit/​lice free.
As far as I am concerned, this was money very well spent. If you are reading this review and are dealing with this problem for the first time, do yourself a favor and address the problem head-​on with the help of an expert at Love Bugs.

AMAZING! I never knew such a place existed, I am so so very glad a friend referred me to Love Bugs! My daughter has psoriasis on her scalp on top of MOUNDS of very long thick hair… needless to say we needed help! Nikki was amazing she calmed me down explained everything to me including the cycle & how we can stop it. Nikki also showed me a lot of good tips to check my girls thoroughly! I would 100% recommend Love Bugs to anyone and everyone! 90 an hour seems steep however they are doing such tedious work it is understandable. Thank You again Nikki my girls and I left feeling so much better!

I think their issue is that they underestimate themselves. They were the only place open on Sunday and we needed help. They took care of the problem the first time but made it sound like that would never be the case so I paid for a full second treatment for two people — they found nothing on the repeat treatment so it was a large waste of quite a bit of money. I like the places that guarantee if you go through one treatment with them and use their product then they guarantee success — I would encourage them to go to that model, they seem too nervous to guarantee their own work.

In addition to the excellent & effective service, I highly recommend their hair products. I was pleasantly surprised with the shampoo and conditioner containing tea tree oil. I originally purchased it for my children, however after trying it myself I will start using it as well. My hair was soft and shiny, removing build up without stripping my hair. ;-)

I don’t usually take the time to shout out for things, especially for something so creepy as lice, but this was a string of so many wrongs that turned out to be right, so I need to say a few words. My daughter caught lice at a sleepover. My wife got the call from the other mom at 11:00 on Sunday morning. Of course the other mom was already at LoveBugs in Lafayette having her 2 daughters treated when she called, so we rushed over there and they did not have time for us right away. We did not think to call first and book an appointment, who can think logically at a moment like that?
They wouldn’t be able to get us in until later on in the afternoon so they gave us the phone number for LoveBugs in Los Altos. Luckily, they had a 1:00 opening for us, and it took about 45 minutes to get there.
My daughter had lice but not the rest of us. They checked all of us and they could have easily told us that we all had it and we would not have known any better, but they were honest and they treated my daughter and we were back home in 3 hours, which wasn’t too bad. We were able to do our follow up checks at LoveBugs in Lafayette.
LoveBugs was very helpful when we were frantic

My child complained of an itchy scalp so we went in for a lice check and sure enough, we all had it, even the child who never complained of being itchy. I ended up having a few nits as well and I never once felt itchy. So in other words, it’s worth it to get checked even if you have no symptoms of lice.
It cost the three of us over $ 300 total for the treatments, plus tip. But the gals who work there were understanding and patient as they tediously combed through our hair, inch by inch. The lice check is free, and it’s $ 90/​hour for the treatment. You can also buy their shampoo, which I think I’m going to pick up on our follow up check.
Three friends had recommended Love Bugs to me. While we were there, the phone was ringing and ringing. They were doing a booming business! This is the end of summer and I guess a lot of kids, like mine, may have picked up lice at summer camps.
I wish they had had a place for people to wait outside. The shampoo/​cond treatment had a strong smell, so it would have been nice to be able to sit on a bench or chair outside or to have had access to an open window for ventilation. Also, even though I know we can’t pick up lice there, it just feels safer to be waiting outside and not right next to a child who is waiting to be treated. So my suggestion to Love Bugs is to add some outdoor seating.
Also, a step-​by-​step explanation of what it was they were doing would have been helpful. I know they see so many lice infested heads every day, so it’s same old, same old, but to many of us, it’s our first experience with these annoying little critters.

I was horrified to find lice on my daughter’s head one afternoon and my own and did a quick Unilocal search for lice removal services and found Love Bugs. I called and was so glad when someone answered and said that they could work on us if I drove right over. Yay! My other daughter got checked as well and was also found to have lice. So all three of us did the ‘treatment’ — a quick spray of our hair with something slightly fragrant and bubbly followed by shower caps and a 30 minute wait. This is not a pesticide — it doesn’t kill the lice. It just ‘slows them down.’ Hmmm. 30 minutes times 3 at $ 90/​hour equals $ 135 just to ‘slow the lice down.’ Not sure I like that math, but we were desperate. We got to watch a DVD so it made the time go by pretty quickly for the girls. After the 30 minutes, we were all supposed to get combed out with the lice comb (very fine tooth comb that catches nits and bugs). But new people kept coming in to get checked or treated, so in reality I probably waited an hour for my turn to start.
Their literature says that severe infestations may take THREE OR MORE treatments to be lice free. WHOA. That’s at lot of money and time! I wondered, why can’t they get them all out the first time?
But then, $ 380 later, we were all announced to be lice free and ‘clear’ to go to school. I was hugely relieved. We were told to come back in 3 days for my daughter who had been ‘severely infested’ and in a week for the other two of us to be rechecked.
I decided to recheck my girls the next day and FOUND SEVERAL LIVE LICE — big ones, not tiny babies that had hatched overnight — on my daughter and myself as well as nits. Lots of nits. About 60 on my daughter. Free and clear we were not! I was so mad! I could understand maybe missing a nit or two. But not actual big lice and that many nits. I felt really ripped off!
I continued to recomb us every day with a nit comb I bought at CVS. (I recently ordered a nice comb on Amazon for about $ 12 since then and hugely recommend everyone does the same just to have it in your medicine chest with the tylenol and thermometer!)
Even with daily combing, the girls weren’t lice free for four more days! I think I could’ve gotten them all the first try if I’d already had the nice comb rather than the CVS kind. But the reality is that lice are just that pervasive and it’s very, very hard to find every single one.
Since I couldn’t comb myself completely accurately, I went back to LoveBugs at the 3-​day mark. I got retreated and the girl pulled out the last three nits. For $ 120! So that’s a total of $ 500 before tips! I would like to think that these girls get a good portion of the $ 90/​hr but I have a feeling they don’t. I hate spending more on top of such outrageous prices, but the girls deserve their tips. I think the owner must have huge overhead to have a space in Los Altos, but is also just making a killing on a business that gets parents totally freaked out and willing to open their wallets.
The girls working there worked hard but definitely had scheduling issues — they’d overscheduled themselves and were pretty stressed out about handling all the treatments and walk-​in head checks and upcoming appointments. I think this made them work a little less carefully. They also didn’t greet people walking into the shop. I think they were just too overwhelmed to acknowledge that they had more customers waiting. On my second visit, there were supposed to be two girls working, but only one had shown up.
Overall, I think it’s a great idea for a service. I think the price would be worth it IF they actually got out all the bugs and nits THE FIRST TIME. I’d give them 5 stars even. But since they SEVERELY FAILED, I just can’t say it’s worth the money.
Two stars because their service is valuable for the freak-​out moment of finding lice, but minus points for the crazy price, customer service and for not being thorough and careful enough to actually get us nit-​free and bug-​free after our visit.

I received a call back about 5 minutes after I completed the online form. I don’t know about the service yet but will tomorrow.

Our experience was pretty mixed, nowhere near as bad as some nor as good as others. I got a live human being on the phone pretty quickly, and found out that they were booked solid for several days. My daughter’s school asks that you treat your child before sending them back, but doesn’t have a «no nit» policy, so I put lots of work into home treatments and sent her back to school. We continued combing at home until Love Bugs had room for us, and then went in to have the last few taken care of. The place was a madhouse, with no room to sit, and none too clean looking, as others have mentioned. When I finally did get a seat I kept my head carefully away from the back of the chair.
Like others, we waited, despite our appointment. You pay by the hour, and we got lucky and got the slowest and least experienced worker. So we wasted more of our afternoon, and had to pay extra for the privilege. We also paid for the time that the lotion needs to sit and take effect, and for the time after the timer rang, saying that my daughter was ready to be combed, but when they weren’t ready to start yet. It was pretty expensive for peace of mind, since it turned out that the combing and treatments at home had worked and they were essentially gone.
On the plus side, they didn’t try to get us back for unnecessary additional treatments. and they were thorough.

First of all, the Palo Alto address listed here is way out of date. The location is currently on the north side of the Rancho shopping center in Los Altos (Riverside Dr.), and has been for at least a year.
Secondly, I’m really surprised there are so few reviews (and so many of them negative) given how many kids in the area encounter lice and how enthusiastically the schools and other parents refer lice-​infested families to LoveBugs. They must be doing something right!
I had a good experience with LoveBugs. When we found lice on my daughter at 7:30 pm on a school night, I was totally freaked out and had no idea what to do. I called the number expecting to get an answering machine, but thankfully the number was forwarded to a live person who was calm, friendly and talked me through what I needed to do at home, and also put our whole family down for appointments first thing the next morning.
She explained that we could all be checked for free, but treatment was $ 90/​hour if lice were found. Yes, that’s pricey, but well worth it not to have to do it myself! They also pro-​rate the hours if it takes less time — I think my daughter took 45 minutes as her case was very light, and we were charged accordingly. (Also, some insurance apparently covers the treatment and they will provide forms). We arrived early for our 8 am appointments and a nice employee was already available and ready to go. Unlike in other reviews, were the only people in the shop and had her full attention.
She first checked my husband so he could leave for work, then my other child and me. While she administered the treatment (allegedly organic) to my infested child, she gave my other lice-​free kid a cute braid (free of charge) to reduce her chance of catching the lice. It was easy and she did not try to talk us into subsequent treatments, just encouraged us to come back for a (free) follow-​up appointment in a week and told us how to carry on at home.
The shop was not as clean and «spa-​like» as their website would suggest (thus the lack of one star) but given its function, it was adequate. I liked that there were kids movies on for the child getting treatment (to distract from the combing), and a kids table with books and games for siblings who had to wait while another kid was treated.
One small note, they do have a big sign saying tips are welcome for the «free» head checks… but even a dollar or two seems welcome (and the checks don’t take long if there is nothing to find). Finally, they also sell their own organic shampoo and conditioner for something like $ 18/​bottle… it’s unclear whether this was really needed or an «upsell» to paranoid/​exhausted parents, but I admit I bought it just in case.
Bottom line: we were lice free after one treatment, LoveBugs was very responsive, and we had great peace of mind knowing they were in the neighborhood. Hopefully Unilocal will update the address info soon!

Fantastic! Okay, I did take a star off for the fact that they’re hard to reach on the phone, but I don’t understand folks who gave them scathing reviews just for that. A de-​lousing enterprise is not the kind of business that can support someone sitting by the phone all day long waiting for calls. If you or your child has detectable lice, they’ve been there for a while and haven’t killed anyone yet. So take a chill pill and be prepared wait up to overnight for a call back. Once I reached them (yes, it was the day after I left my message), they got my daughter in the same day and did a terrific job of removing those nasty nits. Her hair is long and enviably thick, so the job was too much for me to tackle myself — Love Bugs was a lifesaver! Highly recommended.

Ahhhhhh… Where do I begin. I am a hairdresser and in theory this place seems like it would be a mom’s dream. Let me just say that we have three girls and have lice several times over the past two years. It is hard to avoid with school and activities that the kids are in. When I first heard of Love Bugs, I was extremely excited that this service existed. We rush happily to the Love Bugs in Palo Alto. My expereinces there have been TERRIBLE!!! Customer Service is NON-​EXISTANT! I am sad to say this, but it is said with confidence because I gave them a second try. My first experience was great when we first walked in the door and they happily collected $ 450 for lice removal of my three girls. When you leave they tell you to come back within 2 weeks for a FREE check. I think Awesome and schedule one for my girls. When we arrive for our follow up appointment they have us waiting for 45 minutes and then check my kids hair. One of my daughters had an egg so that means she gets a free treatment, but wait… THEY DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DO IT FOR 4 HOURS!!! Are you kidding me??? I was upset and furious and after talking to the owner (who was not very accomdating) we decided not to go back. My second experience was with hesitation. It had been almost a year since we had been there so I figured I would give them a second chance to make my life easier. We bring in the girls and do the treatment which was awesome because you are paying of course! The problem began again with the follow up. I bring in my kids and make sure when I made the appointment that they would have time to do the follow up service right away. We get to Love Bugs and they do the follow up treatment, but somehow this time there is a «loop hole» and I have to pay for one of the kids again to get another treatment ($ 90).
I give you all of this information so as a parent BE CAREFUL going to an establishment where all they care about is making money and will charge you WHENEVER and HOWEVER they can. It is not worth it!!!

On their website love bugs states «SERVICES COVERED BY MAJOR
HEALTH INSURANCE». This is not accurate, as I only found out after spending nearly $ 700 at their place of business. When I submitted my receipts, my health insurance told me that the services are not covered, and that no major health insurance covers lice removal. Check with your health insurance before spending a fortune at this place.

I took my kids to Hair Spies in B’game to treat our first lice outbreak a few months back. When younger kiddo turned up with lice again today, I thought I’d try Love Bugs since it was closer to Redwood City. I figured they’d be pretty much the same. Wow, I could not have been more wrong!
The place was jammed when we arrived, despite the fact that we had an appointment. The «salon» is basically one big room which is quite run-​down and didn’t look especially clean. There aren’t enough chairs to accommodate the waiting parents. It was hot. There was a fly buzzing around. You get the idea! We waited a long time to get my daughter treated. The time passed very slowly with all the crabby siblings waiting to either get treated or checked.
The only positive thing I have to say is the two gals who were working there did their best to keep things moving. Apparently there was supposed to be a third staff person, the supervisor, but she skipped out leaving the other two short-​handed! Very unprofessional.
I would never go back to this place again. It’s SO worth the extra drive to to go to Burlingame. I’ll be writing my Hair Spies review next!

When my daughter fell victim to a lice outbreak at her elementary school, the woman who runs the school office suggested we call Love Bugs for help in clearing her head. My daughter has a head of amazing thick hair and our friend in the office wisely knew we’d need some professional help. Too bad Love Bugs wasn’t there for us.
I started calling them at 9AM leaving desperate voicemails and got nothing but an answering machine. I had a kid who was desperate to go back to school. She simply didn’t want to miss anything and I was willing to come to the salon on a moment’s notice. I even requested an appointment via their web request system — and I got nothing!
I realize it may be a busy time for them. I know that several elementary schools in the area are having head lice problems but, this place should at least set up an auto response explaining their situation. Information is always a good thing! This was our first experience with the head bug and to say it was a headache would be putting it lightly! We had no idea what we were doing. By the time we called this place we had already been sifting through our little girl’s hair for about a day. We were at our wits end and she had pretty much had it with us. If Love Bugs had simply let me know that they are booked, busy or wouldn’t be able to return my call for whatever amount of hours, I certainly would have a much better impression of the place!
We finally heard back from Love Bugs at 3PM — 6 hours after the first call I placed. My email request was never acknowledged. By that time we had already visited another service and our daughter had been back at school for hours.