I know some of you have been here - Head lice!

[Glennie5]

My children have never had head lice but I am a hairstylist and have run into it many times with clients. All the suggestions you have been given are excellent. The only thing I would add is to make sure you vacum their mattress and any fabric furniture they may have sat on, (don't forget the seats in your vehicle). Many people treat the hair and not anything else and that is usually why they return. Heat is the best thing to kill them so if you have a flat iron turn it on high and go through their hair in small sections, getting as close to the scalp as you can. A hot iron will kill those suckers better then anything. Good luck and I hope you get rid of them quickly!

 

[ElenaRN]

No personal experience with this, but I have heard great things about a product called Fairy Tales. Natural but works great for lice.

YES! My 5 nieces had lice this summer. My sister used the Fairy Tales products. I think the active ingredient is rosemary, so it smells pretty nice. They have the shampoo but also a hair spray that is a repellant. After we did the treatments, we put their hair in tight braids and sprayed the repellant on.

My poor sister!

 

[snubie]

YES! My 5 nieces had lice this summer. My sister used the Fairy Tales products. I think the active ingredient is rosemary, so it smells pretty nice. They have the shampoo but also a hair spray that is a repellant. After we did the treatments, we put their hair in tight braids and sprayed the repellant on.

My poor sister!

http://www.fairytaleshaircare.com/
We have been using these products for 2 years now. We have the shampoo and conditioner, the spray in conditioner, the hair spray and the gel. It smelled pretty good and seems to work. There have been several outbreaks at DD's school but she has not gotten them yet. She has long hair and we tend to keep it in a ponytail for school and spray it good with the fairy tales stuff.

 

[GRUMPY D]

we found this out after a 2 month battle with lice . lice will also live on animals to so if you have a indoor pet ( or outdoor pet/animal that the kids play with alot ) you need to check and treat them also

 

[brymolmom]

Just in case anyone bookmarks this in case it happens to them, here's my take on all the suggestions that I've tried so far:

Day #1 - The great reveal
Brought kids home from school, had them strip beds and bring pillows, animals, blankets, etc. down from their rooms and made a huge heaping pile in the living room. Started on load of laundry #1 in HOT water.
Washed DD's hair with chemical treatment shampoo (OTC at pharmacy). Left on the directed 10 minutes. Rinsed out. Started combing through with plastic comb included in kit.
METAL COMB IS KEY! DH bought one later that day
Found live bugs in dd's hair and a LOT of nits (maybe a thousand??). After an hour and a half we were both in tears...I saw no end in sight and no improvement. Gave us both a break.
Did ds's head with the chemical shampoo - did a comb through and it was way more effective because his hair is so short AND he had it way less time, so not as many nits (saw a total of maybe 20?)
Did 2 more treatments on dd this day - using MAYONNAISE with saran wrap around it for a couple of hours. This seemed to at least kill the bigger ones. I think I got all the big bugs out this day with combing/picking out.
ENDED UP WITH A BOWL OF RUBBING ALCOHOL THAT I WOULD DIP THE COMB AND MY FINGERS IN WHEN I FOUND STUFF. I found this method way easier than using a tissue every time to wipe it down.
DAY#2 - Wet hair and did a comb through in the morning. School nurse cleared them both to return to class even though dd still had a LOT of nits visible. DD called to ask to come home an hour later since she was so itchy.
Did a vinegar treatment on her that night. Followed by soaking in olive oil. This is one thing that actually seemed to work - the next mornign after sleeping in the olive oil, the nits actually started coming out. Not easily - but at least started seeing somewhat of a dent.
Day#3 - DD went back to school. her head has been way less irritated.
Day #4 - I did another comb through of both kids today - found some tiny baby bugs in ds's head. DD only found nits.

From all the online research I've done my best guess is that there is nothign that is tried and true and will eliminate lice. As far as I can tell it is persistance and arm-breaking work of combing/picking and also cleaning/laundering bedding, etc. I think we finally have a handle on it. I plan to do another vinegar treatment tomorrow on both kids. Then I plan to do 1 - 2 comb-throughs a day throughout the coming week. Right now there are still a lot of nits on dd, but there are some coming out each combing. I will do more olive oil too as that seems to be the only thing that helped at all (although they didnt' 'fall out' as I had read online - just helped get at least SOME out ).

Hopefully I'm right and by continuing to follow this plan and just stay on top of things we'll be lice free in a week or so, but I'll let you know if they win the next battle.

Thanks for all the advice.

And about the pets - I looked up online and it said that guinea pigs won't get human lice?? Now I'm worried and want to go check the pig.

 

[veraletta]

My daughter got it while we were on one of our disney trips about 25 years ago. I would say that about a week into the trip she was itching and I looked at her head and notice something in her hair. Called a pharmacy nearby disney and was told what to get.
I treated everyone as I was told to do, and I even did them two times, while on our disney trip, it's a wonder we didnt all get sick, but i was young and never had to deal with this before.
Once I got home, I called my children's doctor and he order something for me to pick up at the pharmacy, what ever it was it worked.
I was told while at the disney pharmacy to never let your children try on hat that sit out.

 

[grafxgirl]

To make it easier to comb through the hair why not use a detangler spray? My daughter has really thick, long hair so we have to use the detangler in her hair every morning to get a comb or brush through without her crying that I am pulling her hair. I use Suave Detangler for Kids.

 

[aes74]

Oh boy. We have had lice twice this year as they are having a huge outbreak in the schools in our county. My daughter picked it up sitting on the school bus.

So remember, lice LOVE clean hair. It makes it easier to grab and hang on. Here is what I've learned:

removal: I put a hiker's headband/lamp on my head and it shines into the hair perfectly. Yes, I look like a dork. I use my fingernails rather than a comb, that ensures I get every last one. I put in on a paper towel and when finished it goes in a paper cup which goes straight out to the dumpster. Vacuum all decorative pillows, wash everything on hot water, and don't forget to clean car seats/booster seats!

-- buy the fairy tales products. They are great
-- Blow dry your child's hair. The heat helps to kill anything you might have missed.
--Load up your child's hair with gel and hairspray. Remember, lice do not like dirty hair.
--Get it into your lovely child's brain not to hug anyone (where their head touches), try anyone's hats or headbands or sweaters on, no dress up clothes at school, etc.

Breathe!!!

 

[pls5286]

We are dealing with lice here this week! I hate them. DD8 gets them from her cousins. I have informed her dad that I am not happy about it. Anyway. this is what we have had to do here.

1st round of shampoo ineffective. DD still had live lice. We picked and combed and picked and combed and thought we had them all, but nope, when we took her back to school on Thursday morning, the nurse found 1 more live louse and several more nits, so back home. This was after 9 hours of picking.

2nd round of shampooing. This round got DD a nice 10 min scalp massage. I rubbed her head good. While this cramped my hands up big time it was effective. We shampooed this out and proceeded to comb. This time we took cuticle scissors and sniped each nit out of her hair. That afternoon after about 6 or 7 more hours of picking she was declared nit and louse free by the nurse at the health department and cleared for school on Friday.

The key we found easiest was snipping the infested hair. DD was highly infected because she wouldnot tell us her head was itching because she did not want to get in trouble. Poor kid. This is not the first time she got lice from these cousins, but I have spoken to her dad and it should be the last.

 

[JoShan1719]

I didn't read the responses, so I don't know if this was mentioned already, but when I was a kid my stepmother used this stuff called A200 to get ride of my lice. She used the other stuff, Rid or whatever it's called, and nothing happened. Used this stuff once and it killed the lice and the eggs. She washed everything I owned in really hot water to kill them. I had one bear that was to old to be washed, so she stuck him in a gallon sized ziplock bag where he lived for about a year. GL, lice sucks to get rid of.

 

[trina830]

I second the person above who recommended LiceMD. This worked very well for us, but it was in combination with daily, very thorough nit and louse removal. A tip I haven't seen here that came from our school nurse is to use a popsicle stick to separate a small section of hair for viewing. You can use your fingernail against the stick to remove a nit and drag it down the hair shaft. I think diligent nit removal is really the key to solving the problem once and for all.

During our daily comb-throughs I wore a hiker's head-lamp (someone else suggested that) and used a magnifying glass. It took at least 2 hours per night for a boy with medium length hair. I probably should had made it easy on myself and given him a buzz cut, but he had spent several months growing out his hair.

We were lice-free within 2 weeks.

 

[monorailsilver]

Oh boy. We have had lice twice this year as they are having a huge outbreak in the schools in our county. My daughter picked it up sitting on the school bus.

So remember, lice LOVE clean hair. It makes it easier to grab and hang on. Here is what I've learned:

removal: I put a hiker's headband/lamp on my head and it shines into the hair perfectly. Yes, I look like a dork. I use my fingernails rather than a comb, that ensures I get every last one. I put in on a paper towel and when finished it goes in a paper cup which goes straight out to the dumpster. Vacuum all decorative pillows, wash everything on hot water, and don't forget to clean car seats/booster seats!

-- buy the fairy tales products. They are great
-- Blow dry your child's hair. The heat helps to kill anything you might have missed.
--Load up your child's hair with gel and hairspray. Remember, lice do not like dirty hair.
--Get it into your lovely child's brain not to hug anyone (where their head touches), try anyone's hats or headbands or sweaters on, no dress up clothes at school, etc.

Breathe!!!

I do the same. It is the only way to see them. I go thru a ton of batteries nit picking. But I use tape to put the lice & their eggs on. I can get the ones that are crawling so much easier if I tape the scalp as I see them.

 

[mjkacmom]

Just a tip - we keep a metal lice comb in the shower, and my girls, after putting on conditioner, run the comb through, for a few minutes. If they pick up one at school, hopefully this will prevent it from multiplying. They also have to wear their hair up in school.

 

[sassie_kat]

Not sure if it's been recommended yet because I don't have time to read through all the posts before heading out for kindergarten, but try and get your hands on the Nit Free Terminator comb. You can get them on Amazon but I'm not sure where you might find them locally.

And, you are NOT bad mom!!! Lice are hard to spot if you're not positive what you're looking for. Also, lice cannot live on dirty heads. Once you've got her treated and the lice are gone try a little hair spray in her hair every day. Or, you can also use tea tree oil.

 

[mommakacie]

My DD had them one year at school and the school refused to check her class, so it took us FOREVER to get rid of them. It was a horrible experience. But here's what I've found out:

Use tea tree oil shampoo. I buy the huge liters of the paul mitchell brand and our whole family uses it. For some reason lice don't like the smell of tea tree oil.

I mix a few drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle of water and spray on the furniture and on my kids before they leave for school in the morning.

By doing these things, we've had pretty good luck the past couple years (hope I didn't just ruin it). It was a rough few months of going through rolls of masking tape and spending hours of going through my poor daughter's hair. My son was 3 at the time, and we found a bug in his hair, so we shaved his head. You can do that with boys, but not the girls. I feel for anyone that has to deal with it.

 

[Geomom]

We went through this last school year. My youngest (then 6)had a really bad case...took me a while to realize that it 'wasn't' dandruff. I called the pediatrician's office and they told me to do the Cetaphil treatment. Buy the nit combs, coat the kid's head in Cetaphil cleanser so that it's drenched. Start combing out the nits, lice, and excess Cetaphil. Blow dry. Leave in overnight. Do a vinegar/water rinse the next day. If it's really bad it will take days to get all those nits out. I went through her hair every night with a nit comb. Repeat the cetaphil treatment every 2 weeks for a total of 3 treatments--this is the key. If you have missed any nits and they hatch, you need to get rid of the 'new' lice before they're old enough to lay new eggs and start the cycle all over again. And of course...my youngest shared with my oldest...so we were treating 2 kids. Luckily the oldest had a 'mild' case.

Best of luck. I know how awful it is to go through this!

 

[squirrel]

My DD had them one year at school and the school refused to check her class, so it took us FOREVER to get rid of them. It was a horrible experience. But here's what I've found out:

Use tea tree oil shampoo. I buy the huge liters of the paul mitchell brand and our whole family uses it. For some reason lice don't like the smell of tea tree oil.

I mix a few drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle of water and spray on the furniture and on my kids before they leave for school in the morning.

By doing these things, we've had pretty good luck the past couple years (hope I didn't just ruin it). It was a rough few months of going through rolls of masking tape and spending hours of going through my poor daughter's hair. My son was 3 at the time, and we found a bug in his hair, so we shaved his head. You can do that with boys, but not the girls. I feel for anyone that has to deal with it.

I guess it depends on the exposure. My sister put the tea tree oil in my niece's shampoo before they were even exposed to any lice. She also added it to the water & conditioner spray that she spray's their hair down every morning to style it as they both have curly hair. She did all of that because she wanted to avoid dealing with lice. Her kids got it numerous times and my sister was so annoyed that she was spending so much money on the treatment shampoo and spending hours going through their hair each night. That's when I found out about the Robi comb on the Dis. She bought it and hasn't had any more lice. If a notice comes home that someone in one of the classes has lice, she uses the Robi comb. It's so easy to use and doesn't hurt the kids. Faster than searching their hair.

Robi comb is available at Walgreens Rite Aid and CVS pharmacy. You can also order it from their website.

 

[quandrea]

Ok - So first off I'll admit I'm a horrible mother. DD's head has been irritated/itchy for a few weeks. I immediately checked for what I thought I needed to look for for lice (had always heard white-ish flakes right at the root and scalp connection). My mother also looked. We saw nothing. I thought it was due to a new shampoo we had tried. Changed shampoos, did a dry-scalp treatment (which seemed to help - likely killed some of the lice for awhile) and noticed that she had a lot of 'dandruff'. Well, my son complained of itchy head last night and then it finally clicked - a dry scalp doesn't travel from kid to kid. So anyway - both of them have it and dh and I have been going crazy all day today with cleanup/treatments. This is where we are:
1) DS likely had it for way shorter AND his hair is way shorter so I did one treatment (the RIT shampoo followed by comb-out) and also one wet-down and comb-out later in the day. I would guess in my now expert manner that he likely is 90% clean.
2) DD had it a LONG time (bad mommy) and has long hair so I did one RIT shampoo and comb out (this one was about an hour and a half - we were both in tears by the end). Then two mayonnaise treatments followed by comb-outs. I think I got all the actual bugs but the nits, which for those who might be interested are not right at the scalp but instead look like dandruff in the hair a few inches from the actual roots, are still there - and I mean A LOT are still there. She struggled going to bed tonight because she's still itchy and now doesn't want to scratch since she's afraid she'll get a bug on her finger. I thought she would feel SO MUCH RELIEF today after 3 treatments that I'm so disappointed. I know she can't go to school tomorrow and it's starting to look like I can't go to work either.

Has anyone had this happen where there are a LOT of nits left after treatments? I tried combing and I tried pulling them out with my fingertips and I got a lot...but I would guess there's at least a hundred left - I would pull and pull and many just would not budge.

I read that olive oil might 'loosen' them up to make it easier to get them out? Has anyone done this? I'm thinking of trying this next.

Any other tricks??

Thanks so much!

I haven't read the whole thread (no time with three kids), but here is my advice. Do you have a Lice Squad (company that helps you tread lice in your community)? I went to them and they got the lion's share of them out. The treatments don't work. Combing out is the only thing that works. As for cleaning, just put everything in the dryer on high heat for 20 min. I put the bedding in every day for two weeks post lice.

Here's how to comb out. Slather your child's hair with conditioner. Take a good nit comb (Lice Squad makes a good one, there is also the Licemeister). In small section comb over the hair 10 to 12 times, then wipe the comb with a paper towel. You will see all the nits (tear shaped reddish brown things) as well as the lice. Do this over the whole head. Do this every night. It will take between 20 and 45 minutes. Do it for two weeks. Lice treatment is all about reduction. Eventually you will get them all.

You are not a bad mother. I used to live in fear of them getting lice, but now that I've dealt with it once, I don't fear it. It's a pain, but you can over come them. Even the cleanest kids get it. The conditioner in the hair will put an endd to the tears during comb outs. Let us know how you make out. I'll be thinking of you. HUGS.