Dear PhinneyWood readers, as 2019 winds down and turns to 2020, we are taking the time to highlight some of our incredible neighborhood businesses that make PhinneyWood what it is. We will return to regular news and events Monday, January 6.
The word “lice” elicits many different responses from people, most of which would qualify as negative. For Daria Whettam, owner and founder of The Lice Clinic across from the Greenwood Library, that doesn’t seem to bother her.
“Lice happens to anyone. It’s not bad hygiene, it’s not embarrassing, and it happens for all the right reasons: hugging, play, sports, camps – it’s like a love bug.” Indeed, her first-ever client at the clinic told his mom that he hoped to get lice again so he could come back to Daria’s cheery and entertaining space.
Born in Poland and growing up outside Warsaw, Daria was obsessed with the USA and American culture. Unable to study English in public school – just Russian was taught and private English lessons were prohibitively expensive – she came stateside as an au pair in 2004.
After attending Eastern Washington University on scholarship, she stared working in a hair salon cutting children’s hair. Almost every day at least one child would come in with lice, which prevented the salon from being able to provide services to them. Daria and the salon owner researched how to best deal with lice and started a separate business around ridding their clients of the pests.
After converting the business to a mobile service for a time, Seattle’s traffic motivated Daria to seek a brick and mortar location here in Greenwood. Daria loves the neighborhood, connecting with the community, the numerous coffee shops, and all the resident dogs she has come to know. “I might have a bad day, but I know I’ll always leave Diva with a smile.”
The Lice Clinic
8009 Greenwood Ave N
(206) 457-2397
theliceclinic.net
