HELP - Head Lice

[hayleypiesmom]

I recently found tea tree oil shampoo (along with conditioner and several other similar products) at Wal-Mart Supercenter! It was in the aisle down from the normal shampoos, etc., with some products like "hair mayonnaise" etc...

I dealt with this problem about a month ago, and had success with a very thick conditioner, and a plastic shower cap. I just let DD sleep with the conditioner/ shower cap, then combed it out, several nights in a row. She actually liked this... said it felt like sleeping in playdough!!!

The shower cap worked much better than saran wrap.... really stayed in place.

 

[VSL]

Wow, you all go wild over there for cleaning when you find lice - we only have to do that kind of wash-out over here if it's something like scabies!

I've never ever heard of cleaning cuddly toys, bedspread, car etc. for lice. We just have a special shampoo and comb and stuff. I imagine that maybe things have changed since I had it though, and it's been discovered that they can survive in other environments?

My advice - don't get too worried. It's an inconvenience more than anything, and little girls may get it more than once anyway. And keeping your childrens hair tied up with no loose bits (ie, a bun not a ponytail?) may help?
Think of it as a licey compliment - means your children's hair is nice and clean

 

[disneygals]

Does the robi-comb work? I actually bought one as more of a deterrent (sp?) because by the time I bought it, we had no more live lice, just nits. it doesn't work on nits. Our second time was last August, but I am still SO PHOBIC!!!!

 

[czycropper]

I've been combing & combing with the comb and my DD still has "nits" in her hair even with the several treatments I've been doing including the Tea Tree Shampoo. Tonight I'm going to do the Nix creme followed with the Tea Tree Shampoo and Conditioner.

I spoke with our our county's health officer and he mentioned to me that sometimes the "nit" we may find 8-10 days after all the treatments may actually be the casing of a nit that has stayed on the hair - has anyone heard of this happening? He even offered to look through my DD's hair, which he did and found nothing. He's going to call the school nurse to question her as to what she's actually finding, are real nit or a casing.

I'm so frustrated that I actually feel like putting a bill together and sending it to the parents of the kid that brought this into her class for the cost of all the "treatments" as well as time lost for my DH & myself - maybe that will open their eyes to actually say something instead of having the kid mention that he had lice in a boastful way (which is how it was found out).

 

[lmjacobs]

you can try olive oil and wrap hair in plastic or mayo and wrap hair in plastic. we used the mayo method and it worked to get the ones Rid missed. there's also another concoction but the ingredients may be difficult to find:
• 12 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
• 25 drops Rosemary essential oil
• 13 drops Geranium essential oil
• 25 drops Lavender essential oil
• 5 drops Tea tree oil essential oil
• 5 drops Cypress essential oil
• 5 drops Citrus essential oil
• 3 oz. vegetable oil

Shake ingredients in a shaker ie: cruet. Let sit on hair for 2-3 hours. Wrap hair in saran wrap or put a plastic shower cap over the hair. This should do 2 treatments. This is a very effective method of getting rid of these bugs (At least it worked well for my family



Paul Mitchell tea tree shampoo as a preventive

 

[kimwim8]

My heart goes out to you all! We went through this with DD last year. I pray every night that we don't go through that again (although I'm sure we will at some point).

Rid didn't work on DD, so we tried 2 prescription creams & me pulling the nits off of each strand of hair constantly.

Hugs to all of you going through this right now!!

 

[disneychrista]

Remember you can comb until your kids hair falls out but nits will not be removed, even with the lice comb. You must manually remove them. Grasp the nit and pull it of the hair. A vinegar rinse will help loosen the glue.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I've been combing & combing with the comb and my DD still has "nits" in her hair even with the several treatments I've been doing including the Tea Tree Shampoo. Tonight I'm going to do the Nix creme followed with the Tea Tree Shampoo and Conditioner.

I spoke with our our county's health officer and he mentioned to me that sometimes the "nit" we may find 8-10 days after all the treatments may actually be the casing of a nit that has stayed on the hair - has anyone heard of this happening? He even offered to look through my DD's hair, which he did and found nothing. He's going to call the school nurse to question her as to what she's actually finding, are real nit or a casing.

I'm so frustrated that I actually feel like putting a bill together and sending it to the parents of the kid that brought this into her class for the cost of all the "treatments" as well as time lost for my DH & myself - maybe that will open their eyes to actually say something instead of having the kid mention that he had lice in a boastful way (which is how it was found out).

I know what you mean about sending the bill. It cost me $100 for all the treatments, combs and sprays. Then another $200 for all the drycleaning (I know I'm paranoid) and I don't even want to think of what my water and gas (for the hot water) will be. I'm just so thankful that we haven't seen anything since the original - one nit and two nits respectively. Sometimes I wonder if the school nurse was even right since neither girl had anymore and ds never had any at all. I'm wondering with all the hysteria at school when they found the 3rd grade packed if they just saw dandruff and panicked.

 

[SueM in MN]

I spoke with our our county's health officer and he mentioned to me that sometimes the "nit" we may find 8-10 days after all the treatments may actually be the casing of a nit that has stayed on the hair - has anyone heard of this happening? He even offered to look through my DD's hair, which he did and found nothing. He's going to call the school nurse to question her as to what she's actually finding, are real nit or a casing.

People frequently confuse things they see on the hair and think they are nits, when they aren't. When I worked as a Public Health Nurse and as a school nurse, I frequently saw kids who had been diagnosed with head lice who actually had dandruff or something called hair casts.
Here's a picture that shows things that are commonly confused with nits. Nits are sort of teardrop shaped and are glued to the hair shaft. The adult louse produces a sort of glue that attaches the nit (egg) to the hair shaft. Pulling them off is the only way to get them off (alive, dead, or empty). You can pull them off with your fingers or with a very firm, very fine toothed comb.

If you can blow it off or remove it easily, it's not a nit (it could be a hair cast or dandruff).

This page has lots of good pictures. The very bottom picture on that page shows an empty nit case (like the nit casings that the county health officer found on your child's head). At the same time, you could possibly have unhatched eggs with live nymphs (immature lice), unhatched eggs with dead nymphs and nit casings.

If you know what you are looking for, it's pretty easy to tell the difference between a "full" nit case and an empty one. It's harder without a microscope to tell the difference between a live unhatched nit and a dead one. When I worked as a school nurse, I had a microscope so I could check for sure. Also, if I found only one or 2 nits on a previously treated child, I pulled them off and made sure the parent knew I had found them. If no more appeared in a thorough search the next day, chances are those one or 2 were old ones.

 

[czycropper]

Thanks SueM - that's what the county officer told our school nurse. Now I truly believe that she's been overreacting but on Monday I'm having my DH go in with my DD because I feel that I will lose it if she says it was not a casing. I'm just so happy that my youngest one is clear!

lmjacobs - I will definitely try the recipe if I find some nits this weekend.

Today is the 9th day since the first treatment so I'm going either do the RID or NIX treatment and keep my fingers crossed. The county officer recommended doing one today just as a precaution.

Thanks everyone, you have a wealth of information throughout this ordeal

 

[King Tritan]

My wife and I took in our neices from a not so good situation and to make a long story pretty short is that they had heads full of the buggers.
It took us over a month to get them completly gone. Our 2 kids got them (Of course how could they not!)
We used a couple of tricks I could not find the nits or runners, but I got a black light and then could spot the runners, the nits were still a pain. Sunlight works best for the nits. We would spend 2 hours a night going through hair everyday for that month.
I was to the point of shaving, but they were all girls if they were boys then no hair would be left.
We found a couple of local places selling home medications for this. They work just as well if not better than ridx or nix. We would wrap the pillows in trash sacks then the pillow case over that. Was all sheets everyday. being carefull not to fluff anything. They were gone.
Found out that the kids had them pretty much non-stop for over 3 years. they were really happy to get them gone.
I have experience and sympathy. your lucky though

 

[schweig]

I have taught Pre-K in public school for years. Here are some tips:

1. Girls - ALWAYS wear hair pulled back if it is long. Little kids rub against each other. Loose hair comes into contact with more heads. PUt in a stying produce and always spray with hair spray. This make it harder for nits to attach to hair.

2. Find out if there is ever a time where several student coats "touch". You wouldn't believe the piles of coats I have seen over the years. Students go into the cafeteria for breakfast and stack coats on top of each other - or go to lunch, sit on them and they over lap. If at all possible put them in a book bag or buy a plastic garbage bag with drawstring handles. Have your child put bookbag and coat in garbage bag and hand. You can always tell in our school when a class has had a problem - all the garbage bags hanging in the hall. Hats and gloves to into coat sleeves. This way they don't touch anyone elses.

3. If going to dance, tumbling, etc. wash hair asap. My former aide swore by strawberry scented shampoo. She was told that something with the smell is a deterent.

Hope this helps.

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

Well the unthinkable has happened. After years of feeling somewhat smug ( oldest four children survived school without ever contacting head lice) I am being brought down to earth. Now since yesterday afternoon I have used Nix on everyone, sprayed every surface imaginable, locked up all stuffed animals and some throw pillows in plastic garbage bags in the garage, washed every sheet, comforter etc. in hot water and have either washed in hot water or sent to the dry cleaners every other piece of clothing they own. I sprayed and vaccumed the beds and couches and vaccumed all the carpet.

Is there anything else I should be doing? Anything else that will help? I'm beside myself (plus I was up till 2 am washing comforters). Please help. I know I shouldn't feel this way but I feel embarrassed even though my house is always clean!

This is me!!!

I was always so an*l about washing DD's hair and last night..she was itching and she's got them!

I used RID on her, but now I am reading all this horrible stuff that RID and NIX and Kwell can cause...ie: neuro damage, seizures, liver damage and I am now really freaked!!

I am operating on little sleep (washing all night and nightmares when I did sleep...note: never watch "War of the Worlds" then find lice on you child...leaves you with nightmares about giant lice eating you)
and now I am afraid I just poisoned my child!

 

[MKCP5]

no worries she will be fine. it is all a huge pain in the a** but you can and will get through it. My best advice--go buy coconut oil right now--you know, the kind of suntan lotion we all used before we knew we needed sunscreen? and douse her head in it and wrap it in a shower cap or saran wrap until tomorrow morning. While you are at the store buy 3-4 things of suave coconut conditioner too. make sure the hair is coated every night in a mix of the oil and the conditioner. Wash it all out in the am and comb her hair section by section, picking for nits for a full week after you find the last one. Feel free to PM me for sympathy and help!!

PS evrything in the washer or if it can't be washed, in the dryer for 40 minutes on high heat!!!

 

[bedgraynexl]

Ugggh, I am having horrible flashbacks to my own childhood. I remember it took a long time for mom to get rid of all the lice. I am still not sure why my brothers and I didn't get a buzz cut.

I seem to remember the outbreak getting so bad they had to close at least one school.

Fortunately my kids havn't had it. Not something I really want to go through.

 

[czycropper]

I feel for you and I know exactly how you're feeling right now. I was so exhausted and yes, I broke down a couple of times crying and that actually helped. I think that my house is still recovering from all the cleaning that I did back at the beginning of November.

I still have my DDs washing their hair with the Tea Tree Shampoo. One of my DD7 classmate had them right before Christmas so I was paranoid that she would get them again so I made her wash her hair with the shampoo as a precaution

Just keep combing the hair with the wonderful pic. One of the products which really helped one of my DD was the natural one - can't remember the name or maybe I'm just blocking it out - the olive oil & cap

Good luck and it will soon be over - believe it or not!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Good luck - it sure can seem like a nightmare when you are going through it. I was lucky - we just had to do the two Nix treatments (two weeks apart). I was exhausted though - all that cleaning and washing. I think ours was found early - between the three kids one had two nits, one had one nit and the other had no nits.

I'm still putting the girls hair in braids and spraying it with hair spray every school day. I'm so paranoid, every piece of dandruff sends me into a panic. I still fine comb their hair every night.

It will get better. Hang in there.

 

[disneydancer1969]

i feel bad for your kids. when i was in kindergarten the nurse found 8 bugs in my hair. my mom seriously made me take a shower rubbing that lice stuff in my hair 4 times. because i have 5 siblings and they did not want to get it. but what was funny is below the schedule of who got it, how many bugs, and their ages at the time.
me (5)- 8 bugs (12/3-12/6)
kim (7)- 7 bugs (12/7-12/10)
ryan (9)- 9 bugs (12/11-12/14)
liz (11)- 3 bugs (lucky!!) (12/15-12/18)
diane (11)- 3 bugs (still lucky!!) (12/19-12/22)
cassie (13)- 10 bugs (not so lucky) (12/23-12/26)
mom had a field day with it! we weren't so happy either. i remember once i tried to scratch it mom gave me a look of "scratch it and you die" so before i could my hand went slowly down. i got a lot of sicknesses in kindergarten. the measels, mnemonia, (i do not know how to spell it) chicken pox, head lice, and the flu 3 miserable times!! anyway you are doing perfect! nothing more you need to do. by the way arthur is wrong when they said that head lice can jump. it can't jump!!! so you don't have to spread your kids out.

 

[scraptoons]

It took me 6 months before I finally won the battle.

Our 3 kids have been lice free since March!

My oldest DD got it first. Her hair is so thick, that even the school nurse didn't find the lice on her head, the very day that I combed out a dozen!

None of the lice shampoos in the stores worked. I would apply according to instructions to the max time allowed. Then sit and comb live stinkers out of their hair!!

I washed and bagged everything over and over and over.

I wanted to burn the house down.

The metal RID comb was the only thing that worked.

Every other day I sectioned off and combed and picked thru each hair of three kids with that comb. Sometimes sitting outside in the sunlight. It was HORRIBLE!!!!!! We had no life.

I'll never forget the last one I picked out. It was a big ol' sucker off the top of my ds bright red hair. Plucked it out with my bare hands, destroyed it and threw it on the ground. I am Momma, hear me roar!!!!

DH and I, and everyone we knew have never had lice, so we felt so alone and inexperienced. I sure could have used this thread last year!

 

[HappyLawyer]

Well the unthinkable has happened. After years of feeling somewhat smug ( oldest four children survived school without ever contacting head lice) I am being brought down to earth. Yesterday school nurse told me that there are outbreaks of head lice in my kids school and she found 2 nits on dd in 1st grade, 1 nit on 2nd grade dd and none on ds who is in kindergarten. She said the outbreak started in 3rd grade, but that since several 3rd graders have siblings in 1st she started checking them and their siblings. She will be doing the whole school today.

Now since yesterday afternoon I have used Nix on everyone, sprayed every surface imaginable, locked up all stuffed animals and some throw pillows in plastic garbage bags in the garage, washed every sheet, comforter etc. in hot water and have either washed in hot water or sent to the dry cleaners every other piece of clothing they own. I sprayed and vaccumed the beds and couches and vaccumed all the carpet.

Is there anything else I should be doing? Anything else that will help? I'm beside myself (plus I was up till 2 am washing comforters). Please help. I know I shouldn't feel this way but I feel embarrassed even though my house is always clean!

well at least it was detected early, my previous 4 foster kids had lice, and 3 of them had to have their heads shaved, that is how infested they were, make sure to go to walmart or walgreens or where ever and get the lice shampoo and the spray, best of luck.