LICE....does olive oil help?

[dmslush]

In my office (children's services) we use vinegar and cetaphil facial cleanser. We rinse the kids hair with vinegar and then cover their heads in the walmart generic of cetaphil. We then leave it on their heads for a while, and then comb it out. The cetaphil seems to turn the nits loose so that they slid off easier. We like it because it is not a pestacide like the RID and many of these kids have chronic lice and they need something that won't be toxic to them.

Here is a site that explains how they use the cetaphil. They blow dry the hair.. I've not tried that, may have to:

http://nuvoforheadlice.com/method_explained.htm

 

[beattyfamily]

In my office (children's services) we use vinegar and cetaphil facial cleanser. We rinse the kids hair with vinegar and then cover their heads in the walmart generic of cetaphil. We then leave it on their heads for a while, and then comb it out. The cetaphil seems to turn the nits loose so that they slid off easier. We like it because it is not a pestacide like the RID and many of these kids have chronic lice and they need something that won't be toxic to them.

Here is a site that explains how they use the cetaphil. They blow dry the hair.. I've not tried that, may have to:

http://nuvoforheadlice.com/method_explained.htm

This sounds interesting. I'm going to make a mental note of it.

Thanks!

 

[yasmina]

All of the replies have been awesome!

Let me make one additional suggestion:

For getting the oil out of the hair, first wash the hair with dish soap, then spray it with dry shampoo. The dry shampoo is specially formulated to remove oil. Don't bother with the expensive kinds for different color hair. The regular Pssst! brand worked just fine for us, and was much cheaper! You just have to make sure to brush the hair thoroughly.

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

I've always used vinegar. My DD preschool teacher swore that it helped prevent then too. I would rince the girls hair in it, everytime we washed it.

 

[pktflack]

My daughter (8) had lice at the beginning of school last year. At that time she had hair all the way down her back. It was also very curly. I used RID the recommended 2 times but also olive oil between RID doses and after for 21 days on the interval schedule of every 3 nights overnight. I did this because she contracted lice at the end of September and we went on a Disney cruise on October 19th! I checked for nits and live lice every day until Christmas It took forever for the dead nit bits to finally get out. However, I never saw live lice after the last RID treatment. I also was vigilant about vacuuming and washing all the bed linens, mattresses, blankets and towels that might have come in contact with anyone's head and put all non-washable pillows and stuffed animals in those giant Ziploc bags for 1 month to be extra sure. Even though we never had lice, the rest of us (dad, mom, 12 year old brother) used RID and I even did a few days of olive oil too! We have curly, dry hair so it was just like a hot oil treatment for us! A messy, drippy hot oil treatment! Good luck! And your head will feel like it is itchy until you feel like you're in the clear. My head feels itchy just talking about it again.

 

[disneygals]

Don't bother with the expensive kinds for different color hair. The regular Pssst! brand worked just fine for us, and was much cheaper! You just have to make sure to brush the hair thoroughly.

Wow, they still make that??

Based on a website info, I bought Herbal Essence clarifying shampoo and it works great for getting the oil out...usually just two times.

 

[kaygela]

I'm going to get cetaphil today and add that with vinegar to our regiment.
Thanks for all of these posts. They are really helpful!!!

 

[LisaNJ25]

Ok, maybe I am just cranky, but these replies are not helping. I feel like the posters are having a laugh at my expense. This is a horrific situation, and I am at wit's end. I am not feeling well and should be resting in bed. But, instead I am vacuuming, doing ridiculous amounts of laundry and wondering if we will ever be free of these bugs. My husband is a huge help but he is not as thorough as I am and thinks alot of what I am doing is unnecessary, but I am only doing what everyone says you should do and what makes sense to me. I was really looking for some advice or people that had experience doing the olive oil thing.

I went though the with 4 out of 6 of us getting them this summer. It was a first for us.

I have heard that oilve oil does help.. I did it with myself and my 1 dd. Of all things Dawn dish soap helped get the oil out of my hair the best, But the key to comb comb comb.

There is also a certain oil.. I think pepermint or is ir tea tree... that helps keep them away.. I am sure sommeone can correct me. They make shampoos with it.

For my son I shaved his head. My older son and dh shaved theirs also even they didnt catch it,

 

[nephthys43]

ugh! i'm itchy just reading this thread.

i don't have any advice other than to use hair dye. that's what i used. i had to spend the night at one of my more unsavoy relative's houses and came home with lice. my hair was 3 feet long. i tried everything. RID, oil, tea tree... nothing worked. i had to dye my hair for a show i was in and wouldn't you know it. 4 boxes of hair dye later (yes my hair took 4 boxes), no more lice.

though most people wouldn't go this route.

 

[Realgrumpy]

I live on Long Island too, and had the Licebeaters at my house. They were great, very well informed. The treatment with the olive oil that they told me to use worked great. If you listen to all the advice you get here, and from people you know, you are going to go nuts. The women that came to the houses are professionals, nurses in fact. Listen to them. I work with children I am the director of a preschool, when one of the kids had it last month, she had every mother telling her all these different remedies to try. I told her to do exactly what the licebeaters told me to do(minus the $200.00) and it worked for her, and her house and three kids were infested.

 

[kellyg403]

Ugh...I know how you feel. When my kids came home with lice, I was a crazy person trying to make sure I got rid of it. Bad news is, my kids kept getting it back for 2 WHOLE MONTHS from the school. Some other parents are not as thorough as others, or think they have gotten all of it the first time. So, please make sure that the teacher is aware, if you work with people you have been in close contact etc. I know it is embarrassing but those suckers jump from person to person and you have NO idea who could be reinfesting your family.

Also, one of my dd's had very long curly hair and I had long hair. One of the recommendations we got was to blow dry our hair every morning and use a mousse in our hair. The nits can not attach to the products. We did this every morning...every single one of us. The boys didn't seem to take long to get rid of. Remember to take all stuffed animals and put them in trash bags for awhile to kill anything that might be on them. We did use olive oil and baby oil on the little ones hair. It did take a couple washings but truthfully on weekends when we weren't going anywhere, I would not wash their hair to thoroughly clean out the oil, hoping that nothing would be able to attach that I didn't know about. I felt like a momma monkey for months.

Good luck!

Kelly

 

[tiff211]

My DD2 had a case of lice from daycare. I researched and researched as I was terrified it would get into the rest of our heads. I use olive oil (which does suffocate the live lice and nits), and then vinegar before combing as this breaks down the glue that holds the eggs on the hair shaft. I also learned that the white eggs are actually the CASING and means the eggs have hatched. Before hatching the eggs are reddish brown (the color of the baby lice which are impossible to see in darker hair color. What I did was dip the comb in hot water after each comb through and saw lots of reddish brown specks floating in the water. I combed through until I didn't see on red speck. I put her hair up in a bun and hairsprayed it for the next week or so. So far, all is well and that was over a month ago but DH calls me Momma Monkey as I am always checking DDs heads to see if I find anything and when I see a white speck I panick! I am not sure how to tell if they have it and that scares me. I swear I feel creepies in my hair all the time but there is nothing there, I hope!

 

[Nikel]

Tea Tree oil -= the oldest trick in the book, just comb a little through with hair conditioner. The lice hate it and won't come back

Yup, TTO is great. It can be for all kinds of stuff.