Lice Charmers Lice Clinic: Founded in 2017

Lice Charmers Lice Clinic has been removing head lice from Portland-area families since June 2017. Founded by Alexis Charriere and Conor Duggan, the clinic grew from a single Portland office into a two-clinic operation, supplemented by a mobile service that covers the broader metro area. This page covers the clinic's founding, its growth, and the consistency of its approach over those years.

In-Home Appointments

For Portland-area families who prefer to stay home, Lice Charmers Lice Clinic also offers mobile in-home appointments. The technician arrives with the AirAllé device and provides the same professional treatment in the family's living room. Families with multiple children often choose mobile because everyone can be treated in one block of time without the logistics of getting several kids to a clinic. The single-visit promise holds for mobile appointments just as it does at the clinics.

Where the Clinics Are

Two Lice Charmers Lice Clinic locations serve the Portland metro area, the SE Gladstone clinic in Portland proper and the Beaverton clinic on the west side. Hours at both locations: 7am to 8pm, every single day of the year. Weekends and holidays are not exceptions, they are deliberately included. Families come in from across the Portland area, including Sellwood, Hillsboro, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, and the surrounding suburbs. Same-day appointments are usually available at one or both clinics during business hours.

Understanding the Situation

Beyond the treatment itself, Lice Charmers Lice Clinic technicians take time to explain how lice actually spread. The realistic transmission route is closer to direct hair-to-hair contact than to shared inanimate objects, which means the aggressive cleaning routines many parents imagine, bagging stuffed animals for weeks and washing every fabric in the house, are largely unnecessary. Technicians explain what cleaning is genuinely needed at home (much less than most parents assume) and how to monitor for any sign of reinfestation over the days that follow.

How the Treatment Works

Lice Charmers Lice Clinic relies on the AirAllé, an FDA-cleared medical device that uses precisely controlled heated air to kill both lice and their eggs through dehydration. A standard appointment takes about 90 minutes and resolves the infestation in one visit. The heated-air phase is followed by a thorough comb-out, which removes the dead lice and any remaining nit casings from the hair. By the time the family leaves the clinic, the active problem is generally resolved, with no follow-up treatment required.

Why No Chemicals

Pesticides are not part of the process at Lice Charmers Lice Clinic. The treatment is purely heated air followed by careful comb-out, which sidesteps the resistance issues that have made drugstore lice products unreliable over recent decades. Parents who want to avoid putting permethrin or pyrethrins on a child's scalp often choose the clinic specifically for this reason. The treatment is also free of the smell, mess, and prolonged application time that come with chemical shampoos sold for home use.

Treatment Pricing

Pricing for full treatment at Lice Charmers Lice Clinic ranges from approximately $189 to $260 depending on hair length and other factors. Itemized receipts are provided to support FSA, HSA, and most health insurance reimbursement claims. Free professional head checks are also available for families who want a confirmation before committing to full treatment, which can be useful after a school exposure notice when nobody is quite sure yet whether there is actually an active infestation in the family.

Origins of the Clinic

The clinic was founded in June 2017 by Alexis Charriere and Conor Duggan. Several years on, it is still family-owned and family-operated. That ownership structure matters to the founders, who built Lice Charmers Lice Clinic around the kind of treatment they would want for their own kids and who continue to set the tone for how the operation runs. The single-visit, chemical-free approach has been the defining feature of the clinic since the doors first opened in Southeast Portland.

Taking the Stigma Out

Stigma around head lice is more harmful than the lice themselves, in the view of the Lice Charmers Lice Clinic team. Staff approach each visit with the same neutral professionalism a family would expect at any medical appointment, and reviewers regularly note the calm and discreet handling of what can be a deeply embarrassing situation. The clinic's appointments are scheduled with enough spacing that families do not run into each other in the waiting area, which adds to the privacy of the visit.

The Limits of Permethrin

When the school nurse calls about head lice, most Portland-area families' first instinct is a drugstore run. The problem is that over-the-counter lice products have lost their effectiveness against modern lice populations, which have developed widespread resistance to permethrin and pyrethrins, the active ingredients in most drugstore shampoos. Families end up applying the same product two or three times to a child's scalp without ever fully resolving the problem, then call Lice Charmers Lice Clinic out of frustration with the failed drugstore approach.

Verification Service

The clinic offers free head checks for parents who are not sure whether an infestation is actually present. This is especially helpful after the school nurse sends a note home and nobody is certain yet what is going on. The check itself takes about five minutes per person and uses the same professional lighting and inspection technique the clinic uses for full treatment intakes. Families who turn out not to have lice leave with confirmation and peace of mind, with no obligation and no fee.

Word From Past Clients

Over 200 five-star reviews from Portland-area families point to the same pattern: families arrive stressed and leave with the problem resolved in one appointment. Reviewers consistently mention the calm, non-judgmental tone of the staff, the speed of the treatment, and the practical guidance they take home. The free head check service also gets mentioned often, as it lets parents confirm whether there is actually a problem before committing to a full appointment, particularly after a school exposure notice.