BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Raymond Ruiz keeps a wide array of state-of-the-art equipment at his head lice removal salon on Harbor Boulevard — most importantly, a wide-screen television and a collection of hand-held video games.

The owner of Lice Control, which opened at the start of March, has never had head lice himself, but he can sympathize with the people who sit in his chair for an hour while technicians remove tiny bugs from their hair.

To fend off boredom and discomfort, Ruiz offers Nintendo DS Lite games for children, and since a number of his clients are adults, he provides the TV for all ages.

“They come in, and they’re very apprehensive,” Ruiz said about his youngest clients. “But then they sit and do all this stuff, and by the time they come back for the second treatment, they feel at home. They jump in the chair and grab the remote.”

Ruiz, a Castro Valley resident, opened his second salon in Costa Mesa just 16 months after starting the first one in his hometown. He came to the job through necessity rather than passion. Nine years ago, Ruiz’s oldest daughter contracted head lice, and Ruiz — who had recently been laid off from an electronics company — tried unsuccessfully to find an effective cure for it.

Finally, after five months of combing his daughter’s hair and trying a number of medications, Ruiz heard about a head lice removal clinic in Florida. He flew there and trained for 10 days in the clinic, then returned to California and launched his own business out of the home. In November 2006, after demand had increased enough, he opened the first Lice Control clinic in Castro Valley.

The salon offers treatment at $80 an hour, with $50 for a re-check the following week; both services are $100 for a home visit. Ruiz and his assistants use a stainless steel comb with serrated teeth to sort through hair and remove lice and eggs with tweezers or fingers.

Head lice, Ruiz said, can make people lethargic or even anemic because the insects suck blood out of the skin. Women, he noted, are far more likely to contract lice than men because their longer hair gives the bugs an easy entrance.

Amy Shubin, a Fullerton resident, stopped by the clinic for her second treatment Thursday. She had gotten the lice from her daughter, who struggled with it in school for several months.

“She was tired all the time,” Shubin said.

LICE CONTROL

OWNER: Raymond Ruiz

SPECIALTY: Head lice removal

LOCATION: 2001 Harbor Blvd., Suite 210, Costa Mesa

HOURS: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday

CONTACT: (949) 764-1700

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].