PROBLEM SOLVERS
‘I was approaching it as a parent who cares’
Eileen Hutchinson, 55, from Hemel Hempstead, is the founder of NitNOT, a head lice treatment that she launched after finding that existing treatments failed to tackle her daughter Molly’s head lice.
THE IDEA
As a single working parent, with five part-time jobs, including three cleaning jobs, my schedule was packed… and then my daughter, Molly, who was nine at the time, got head lice and nits. The miserable cycle of trying to get rid of these pesky parasites then began. Molly suffers from eczema, and the various treatments that I tried irritated and inflamed her skin. I researched natural products – seemingly harmless alternatives – and was disappointed to discover that they were just as bad.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
In the summer of 2014, I set that worked. I investigated other products on the market and sourced research papers on the ingredients they used. I questioned the use of ingredients in products, why they’re added, what they do, the side effects and their environmental impact. I also spent time in online parenting groups, and found out that other parents were having the same issues with head lice, which led me to conclude that there was a gap in the market. I launched my product online and, two years later, in 2017, opened a NitNOT treatment clinic in Hertfordshire – the demand was huge.
