Head Lice....HELP!!

[kellyg403]

What else are you doing to treat your home and her surroundings when she gets it?

You need to think long and hard about everything she comes into contact with. My boys kept getting it over and over. I had to become a detective and figure out for myself they were getting it at the kids hair cut chain I was taking them to. When I stopped taking them and started cutting their hair myself, they stopped getting it.

Lice don't jump. There has to be contact. They can only live for a couple days without being on a person. Think about your home and surroundings. Chat with the school nurse. Be a detective.

The only time my daughter got it a teacher at school had been selling bows and headbands and let the girls try them on. Oy. That one ticked me off.

Best of luck. This too shall pass.

This. My son kept getting it and bringing it home one year. As well as a few of his other little friends that played together only at home. The other mom's and I were at the end of our rope. Finally someone mentioned it to the other mom she should probably treat her son. It helped for awhile but eventually my son couldn't go to their house anymore. It just kept happening.

Lice is hard work! I second everyone's idea about using hairspray and a leaving condition if you can. My dd had long, thick, curly hair. Her brother had 3 cases in last than 2 months, but she only had it the first time. Picking her hair was the worst experience.

Good luck!

Kelly

 

[Ginny Favers]

When DD came home with it, I'd heard the nightmare stories about people not being able to get rid of it, so the first thing I did was call a "Lice Lady" into my house (they make house-calls on Sundays, too!). We all have extremely thick hair and I didn't trust I'd be able to get rid of it on my own. Not only did she comb through my DD's hair, she combed ALL of our hair, checking to make sure we were ok. She gave me a whole bunch of tips to make sure I prevented it going forward and could identify and get rid of it on my own, and special non-toxic shampoos and sprays, as well as the comb. It was a little costly, but it nipped that problem right in the bud and we've never had another problem since. I check my kids' hair every month or so, just to make sure. I consider it money well spent.

 

[kellyg403]

That's really unfortunate and irresponsible on the part of the school district. I would be approaching the principal, and if I didn't get anywhere, the school board. That's just crazy.

I think the same. I actually heard this from someone about the school district here. I can't put my head around it, but according to this person they it is not considered contagious so they are not required to send the child home and she has been battling it for a few months.

Not sure if its true, I have no little people in school anymore but if so, wow is all I can say. It may not be contagious, but it is EXPENSIVE to treat when you are doing it constantly. Not to mention the time drain on the teacher to clean her room constantly. As a matter of fact, I would stop being a teacher because all I would be doing is itching all day.

Kelly

 

[MomRN]

When we had a problem around here, I added tea tree oil to the shampoo. It isn't a flattering smell, but I didn't care. It seemed to have worked. One little bottle goes a long way, and we still have some left after using it for about a year.

 

[mjkacmom]

My daughter had lice a few years ago-as soon as I saw that nit I was on the phone to a place in Brooklyn called lice busters. They get rid of them without putting poison on my child's head and that was the most important thing to me-I didn't want her head drenched in pesticides. They simply used conditioner and combed and picked and combed and picked. They told me to wash the bedding and dry it on the highest heat, Vacuum one time and put stuffed animals and pillows in a bag and leave them go three weeks. I just tossed out the pillows and bought new ones. In 10 days we went back for a recheck and all were gone. I thought the whole thing was gong to be a lot more work than it really was.

We ended up at a place like this here, after we kept losing the battle (and we were going on vacation with other families).

What we were told was to not use the lice treatments, because they make the eggs sticky, and harder to remove. If you are combing well enough to remove each and every nit, you will surely get every live one - those are easy. You need a GOOD metal comb, and some conditioner. It will take many hours.

When we got home, we covered the hair in crisco, put on a shower cap, and had the girls sleep like this every 3 days. We also kept a lice comb in the shower, and had them use it for about 5 minutes each day in the shower.

Plus the usual laundry, bagging, vacuuming, etc. You want to attack - a couple of nits undetected means you are going to start again. I think too many people just do a couple of treatments, do a half-hearted comb with the plastic comb included with the treatment (piece of junk), and think they're good to go.

A bunch of moms raised hell with the school, and changes were made. They implimented a no nit policy, purchased a huge lighted magnifying glass, and kids were not allowed back in school until after a 30 minute lice check. Notes went home to all students, not just the students in the infected classrooms. Flyers on how to treat and prevent lice went home.

I have to say, it's amazing how much the school's new policy has helped!

 

[lizabu]

We ended up at a place like this here, after we kept losing the battle (and we were going on vacation with other families). What we were told was to not use the lice treatments, because they make the eggs sticky, and harder to remove. If you are combing well enough to remove each and every nit, you will surely get every live one - those are easy. You need a GOOD metal comb, and some conditioner. It will take many hours. When we got home, we covered the hair in crisco, put on a shower cap, and had the girls sleep like this every 3 days. We also kept a lice comb in the shower, and had them use it for about 5 minutes each day in the shower. Plus the usual laundry, bagging, vacuuming, etc. You want to attack - a couple of nits undetected means you are going to start again. I think too many people just do a couple of treatments, do a half-hearted comb with the plastic comb included with the treatment (piece of junk), and think they're good to go. A bunch of moms raised hell with the school, and changes were made. They implimented a no nit policy, purchased a huge lighted magnifying glass, and kids were not allowed back in school until after a 30 minute lice check. Notes went home to all students, not just the students in the infected classrooms. Flyers on how to treat and prevent lice went home. I have to say, it's amazing how much the school's new policy has helped!

Your comment about the metal comb made me think of a tip. When my kids were little I bought the over the counter lice shampoo. It came with a plastic comb. Those things are garbage. They bend and teeth can break off. I was finally saved when I was in the pet aisle at Walmart and saw these metal combs with fine teeth. They are meant for removing fleas from dogs but they were cheap and worked perfectly on people too.

 

[anniemae]

Our school does not have a no nit policy, but kids can't have any live lice.

When they detected in in my dd, she had to go home and would not be allowed back unless she was treated. I treated her that afternoon and she had to be checked the next morning before being allowed back. The nurse checked her and she still had some nits that I missed but could go back to school because there were no live lice.

I keep reading that lice is actually difficult to transmit. It pretty much has to be head-to-head contact. It's hard to believe though when it runs rampant through a school.

 

[kellyg403]

Our school does not have a no nit policy, but kids can't have any live lice.

When they detected in in my dd, she had to go home and would not be allowed back unless she was treated. I treated her that afternoon and she had to be checked the next morning before being allowed back. The nurse checked her and she still had some nits that I missed but could go back to school because there were no live lice.

I keep reading that lice is actually difficult to transmit. It pretty much has to be head-to-head contact. It's hard to believe though when it runs rampant through a school.

Actually the live lice can live a day or two off the host. So contact with lice itself is the issue. Like in a hat, your kid puts it on..lice. Sits on the couch one falls off, next person..lice.

And honestly, when my son was on his 3rd treatment my dsis was combing his hair and she was saying how it wasn't a bad case etc. For me, it was in my head my house and family were infested

I hope that is how they still do it. When my kids were in school that is the way they did it plus when there was an outbreak they sent out a note to start checking etc.

Kelly

 

[lizabu]

I think the problem with a school policy allowing nits is that they may start out the day as nits but by then end of the day they may have hatched. I think schools have to have a no nit policy. Little kids especially are playing in the classroom dress up area, hugging, sharing, playing in close quarters.

 

[tina.tina]

A friend of mine said that she always heard that Herbal Essence shampoo prevented lice. She said that's what her kids used and they never had lice.

We use Pantene, though, and haven't ever had it. But, I would try anything that might work.

Good luck.

 

[anniemae]

There are kids in class with active head lice who don't know it. Those are the ones mostly spreading it, unintentionally. When I got the call that dd had it, I was shocked. She could have had it for days. That is worse than a couple nits imho. As long as the parents are continually checking every night, and nit picking every night. We had issues at our school of parents not nit picking at all. The nurse had to address those parents separately.

In our school if there is a confirmed case of lice, the classroom is on alert and all dress-up clothes, stuffed animals, pillows etc. are bagged and removed. The kids are given garbage bags to keep their coat, hats, back packs, mittens etc. The entire class is checked, and a note goes home for parents to check.

 

[skw444]

What worked for us last year was drenching the hair in olive oil. Put up in a bun and put on a shower cap. Leave on as long as possible. Rinse with vinegar. Pick through as thoroughly as possible. We did this two days I a row. Then picked through every night for a week. Then I added tea tree oil to their shampoo and to the water bottle we use to wet the hair in the morning. Hope that helps.

This is what worked for us when my dd kept getting it last year. It was running rampant at school. We did the olive oil and vinegar treatment, combed through for nits each night and repeated the olive oil again 4 days later.

 

[minnie1012]

My daughter has very thick hair and when she came home with lice it was a nightmare. The lice shampoo didn't work and I was at my wits end. After some internet searching I soaked her hair in Listerine and put a shower cap on it for an hour. Rinsed her hair and then soaked it in white vinegar and put a new shower cap on for another hour (this loosens up the nits). This took care of the problem in 1 treatment. Never saw another one.

The Listerine is what worked for us as well. Both my daughters had it last summer. When you take off the shower cap all the dead ones are in the cap so you can see it worked. Then I used Pantene conditioner (because its very thick) and combed their hair every day with the Licemeister comb for like 2 weeks to make sure all the nits were gone. Now I spray the Fairy Tales products in their hair to try and prevent them from getting it again.

 

[JamesMom]

We just went through this in January. We homeschool so figure we got infected at WDW on our mid December trip.
The infestation was discovered when I took my boys to get their haircut. They sold me a natural kit with which I did two treatments on the boys 7 days apart.
Every day, I slathered them in conditioner and combed with a metal nit comb for about 30-45 minutes each taking care to brush each section in all four directions. One week later we went back to the same hair place to finish their cuts.
I had them check my head again and said I had them now. So, in addition to combing the boys for the another week (despite getting the all clear - I am paranoid at this point), I got to treat myself with the left overs in the kit. Then I combed my waist length, wavy hair daily.
I also colored my hair. Then I blow dried and hot ironed it every other day. Had hubby check me after one week and found nothing.
I still comb after a hair washing just in case.
For the house, I washed the linens on hot water once a week (as I do anyway) and then dried blankets, pillows and sheets daily for 1 hour on high heat during the initial 2 weeks.
So far so good. I still check the boys as with this cold weather they have dandruff and I keep checking to make sure it flakes off and doesn't stick

Good luck.

 

[anniemae]

Oh, I forgot the hot flat iron trick! Someone told me it kills the bugs and nits.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

The key is to break the cycle.

You have to pick the nits out at least once a day using a fine comb. The metal nit combs are way better than the plastic ones.

We went through it in the summer. The kids would bathe and then we sat on the back step and I combed and picked. I boiled the combs after using them to make sure there was nothing left to re-infect them.

Now we spray leave in conditioner that we have added tea tree oil into.

Hopefully we never go through it again.

 

[ccgirl]

My daughter had it once a few years ago. Part of the piece is prevention as well. No sharing combs/brushes or playing with other peoples hair. My DD is 11 and I still braid her hair every morn(while checking for critters). She is not allowed to wear her hair down in the fall/winter. Where do they hang up coats? My DD was no longer allowed to hang up coats as they were so close together the lice could easily crawl from one coat to another. She brought a trash bag to school in her back pack and put her coat in that. I did the olive oil with shower cap in addition to RID and it worked great. Mind you I spent hours (3+ for 3 nights in a row) nit picking. Make sure you wash all bedding in hot water or place in trash bag in basement/garage for 7-10 days. The lice cannot live without a host for longer than that. Also, if you have cloth furniture or car seats those need to be treated as well. We have used the Fairytales shampoo and spray for years.

 

[riley2008]

Best advice given to me from an old kindergarten teacher - Seargant's Skip Flea shampoo for dogs every Tuesday and Friday during the school year (the inexpensive kind in the green bottle is what she used; and I use whenever possibly needed). Condition as you please, but keep those kritters away.

 

[aprilgail2]

Best advice given to me from an old kindergarten teacher - Seargant's Skip Flea shampoo for dogs every Tuesday and Friday during the school year (the inexpensive kind in the green bottle is what she used; and I use whenever possibly needed). Condition as you please, but keep those kritters away.

I can't even think about putting all those pesticides on a childs head twice a week for months!!!!! My god just putting rid on a head once I would not even do nevermind twice a week!

 

[2binak]

We went through this a few months ago with DD. When we found the first lice, we immediately applied the medicated shampoo and went through her hair with the metal comb. We found 5 lice and a bunch of nits. I was talking to a relative that night who went this quite a bit with their DD and they suggested we get the Robi Comb. We bought it the next morning and went through DD's hair again, but without the Robi Comb. We didn't find anything. Then we went through it with the Comb and it found 3 more lice and a couple more nits. The comb kills the live lice on contact. We re-washed & dried all of the bedding and stuffed animals that day and then used the Robi Comb everyday for the next two weeks and didn't find anymore lice. We LOVE this Comb. If there are suspected cases of lice in your child's class, you can use the Comb to check your child and hopefully kill any live lice before they get a chance to lay eggs.