ISpy Nits Founder Brings Global Head Lice Research Home to Help Families
When Auckland founder and mum Kate Ricketts created ISpy Nits, she wasn’t just building a new head lice treatment product — she was trying to change the way New Zealand tackles one of the country’s most persistent family health frustrations.
Now, after an intensive research trip across the United States, she’s returning home armed with global expertise she believes can “really help everybody.”
Ricketts’ two-step system has already reshaped how many Kiwi parents approach treatment. The system combines a dimethicone-based lotion with her innovative UV-activated identification powder The focus of her US trip was bigger than the product. It was about understanding the latest international research, learning from leading experts, and turning that knowledge into practical, digestible guidance for New Zealand schools, families, nurses and communities.
“This whole trip was mainly about going to find out what the latest research is instead of relying on Dr Google or Wikipedia,” Ricketts says. The catalyst for the journey was an Air New Zealand Dream Seats campaign. Ricketts applied, explaining she had been invited to meet head lice researchers in the US but couldn’t justify the travel cost while building a regulated medical device company. The airline gave her a return ticket to Los Angeles.
The ticket enabled her to design a two-week, multi-city itinerary spanning New York, Florida, Denver, Austin, and Los Angeles, meeting researchers, clinicians and industry leaders in a US market where head lice treatment is a US$2.3B industry with dedicated lice removal clinics.
In Florida, Ricketts met Dr Shirley Gordon, a leading academic studying the social impact and stigma of head lice on families. The pair discussed how chronic infestations can cause low-level pain, hidden stress, and long-term disruption for households — issues often misunderstood or minimised in public conversation.
“One of the things that came out really clearly was that we should all be doing regular checks,” Ricketts says.
She says parents often assume lice are gone after spotting no live bugs, but experts emphasised that eggs laid behind the ears and along the nape of the neck are the real cause of recurring cases. “People don’t see them,” she explains. “And that’s why they keep coming back.”
For Ricketts, head lice are as much a social issue as a health one. She notes that misconceptions spread easily, stigma is entrenched, and school policies can be inconsistent.
“Lice are just as common as the common cold,” she tells school groups. But unlike colds, lice carry outdated shame and modern systems often make it harder to address. Teachers can’t conduct checks, schools can’t identify which child has lice, and parents juggle cost-of-living pressures that make treatment harder.
Ricketts believes that clear, research-backed education could significantly reduce the cycle of reinfestation and stigma. Her goal now is to collate the learnings from her US trip into a national resource for parents, schools and health workers — something practical, accessible and evidence-based.
While ISpy Nits sells treatment kits, including the signature glowing identification powder, combs, and fragrance-free dimethicone lotion, the brand’s mission extends far beyond retail shelves. Ricketts describes her approach as educational, holistic, and rooted in scientific communication.
The reframing is intentional. When her own son struggled with lice and sensory sensitivities, she used UV powder and light to turn the experience into something empowering rather than distressing. Today’s kits continue that philosophy, complete with glow-in-the-dark “Nora” dolls and interactive elements that help children feel competent instead of ashamed.
“It’s meant to help parents identify the lice better, but it’s also to empower them,” she says.
The entrepreneurial journey has had its challenges beyond the science of lice treatment, Ricketts explains, “developing the product was the easiest thing I’ve ever done in this whole process.” What followed — regulatory approvals, manufacturing, global compliance, and market education — proved to be a multi-year obstacle course. She describes the regulatory landscape as “an expensive game,” one where you must spend heavily long before a single product can be sold.
ISpy Nits now holds Grade 1 medical device status in Australia, cosmetic FDA registration in America, and maintains a global product information file covering the UK and EU markets.
One of her biggest learnings has been the value of sharing ideas widely. Through incubators and entrepreneurial programmes, she realised that telling as many people as possible about an idea, within the bounds of IP protection, exposes blind spots and strengthens the concept. She often advises young founders to avoid consulting only a single audience. “Everyone will have a different angle,” she says. Listening to those perspectives taught her to refine her communication, adjust assumptions, and adapt quickly.
As she returns to New Zealand, Ricketts carries not only the latest science, but also a powerful network of international experts she can now draw on whenever schools, parents, or health organisations need answers. She hopes this knowledge will help shift long-held assumptions and spark meaningful change “one classroom, one pharmacy, and one informed parent at a time.”
Interview and story by Katherine Blaney.
Innovation Nation is a series celebrating stories of innovation and diversity in entrepreneurship from around New Zealand.
Innovation Nation proudly supported by:
