Lice!

[luvsJack]

From what I understand, they are becoming resistant to a lot of things now. I have heard that tea tree alone will not work (though you can become lucky) but it also needs rosemary and eucalyptus. Not sure any of that has any scientific proof though.

Well that would certainly explain the difference in what I read here and my own experience.

 

[robinb]

Blech! It is no fun, but they don't carry disease.....

Slop your head with conditioner, and comb. Repeat, often.

We combed on this schedule....
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/theliceprogram/index.html

Good if you are scientifically inclined-gives you lots of info on the life cycle of lice.....

Good luck, and stick with it!

That is exactly what we did and I recommend that site every time someone asks what to do about lice.

Like the OP, my DD shared her little critters with me. We tried the shampoos, oil treatments & the Fairytails stuff but none of it worked. We battled them for nearly a month using conventional methods and we were both still infested even after using the shampoos more often than recommended. What worked for us was The Lice Program, or combing out the live lice before the had a chance to lay more eggs and then to comb out the hachlings before they had a chance to lay. Eventually all the eggs hatched and all those lice were removed. What I liked about the The Lice Program is that you get a few days off from combing which really helps mentally. I also liked that I didn't have to worry about nits as they would eventually hatch and be removed as lice. It helped that my DD's school didn't have a "no nit" policy but a "no live lice" one.

 

[aprilgail2]

I don't know if you're in Northern New Jersey but if you are I think Lice Treatment Center will come out there. They are incredible!!! There is also Lice Busters in NYC.

I can't even express how great Lice Busters is! The lady that owns it is so nice- even invited us to stay for dinner LOL- she gave the kids ice cream when she was done and it took only one hour to be totally lice free per person-one load of wash- one vacuum of the house and that was that! We drove over 2 hours in traffic to get there but I would never do it any other way! My flex spending plan actually covered it too!

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

We went through this with my younger two boys in December. Yuck! I was so relieved that my dd didn't have a trace (she has long, thick, curly hair).

We used RIT. Then, I soaked their hair in Listerine, covered with a shower cap, and left it in for an hour. Someone had shared that advice with me. That night, we soaked their hair with conditioner and combed through. We repeated the conditioner on day two. We nit picked heads. For the following week, I sprayed their heads with a water/listerine mixture each morning before school. I have read that lice don't like that smell, so that would help any re-infestation.

After 10 days, we repeated it all...and got a clean bill of health from the health room!



A few weeks ago, I found a live lice on our bed. I swear that's what it was!! I repeated the process even though we never found any other sign of them! I don't know where that lonely critter came from.

I'll tell you, my head itched so badly just from the idea. I guess I've been lucky to have lasted 13 1/2 years of kids before having to deal with them!

 

[ccgirl]

I wanted to say I feel your pain. We got off our disney cruise on the 20th and when we called home we were greeted with the news that 2 of our 3 kids (one of them our daughter with thick long hair) had lice! We shaved the boys' heads along with treating them, but my daughters has been the worst. I have gone through her hair with the comb and picked out nits and live ones after many treatments. Tomorrow they start back to school so I am hoping that is the end of it, but I'm still going to keep checking her (today she was clear, but it seems like every other day I find a live one?)

Talk about a welcome home. So sorry you have to go through this. Lather her hair with olive oil and then cover it with a shower cap. Have her sleep overnight with this then wash it out with Dawn. This will kill any live lice. The problem is that if all nits aren't picked out they can hatch and start again. I find the metal nit combs work much better than the plastic. Others here have suggested the Robi comb. While I haven't used it I have heard great things about it. You can also google nit pickers and see if there are any near you. Good luck!

Just wanted to let you all know that even Fairytale products are not 100%...I also used the shampoo and leave in conditioning product and my dd got a horrible case of lice that she kindly shared with her brother and me. Fun times. I used the robi-comb and lots of nit-picking and a lice-free spray I found at Walgreens. HTH! We now just use a homemade tea tree oil spray on her hair...several drops of oil combined with water in a spray bottle.

Yup...nothing is 100% unfortunately. Luckily, the lice don't carry disease and are more of a nuisance than anything. What a pain in the rear these little critters can be if you don't get them all.

 

[robinb]

I also wanted to recommend that when you comb for lice you do it with conditioner in the hair. First of all, it makes it easier to comb and secondly it makes it harder for the lice to move around.

 

[huntforjulia]

My dd when she was young seemed to attract lice no matter what I did. In tears I called the IA State Dept of Health, was told to wash & condition hair as usual, Blow dry on highest setting person can stand and then comb for 14 days, (kills all the live ones and any newly hatched each day) dept of health said this was how it had been done in europe for years. dd is 26yo now and Never had a problem again. I'm a nurse now and have done this for patients for years, think lice is bad at home? try having someone at a nursing home get it! Clean up and laundry for 70 + patients Friends/family have done it too with great success. Start the first you hear of an outbreak, always seems to be outbreaks in the fall and then a smaller one in spring, we used to just do it at these times as a prevention. Bonus No chemicals!

 

[pilesoflaundry]

White vinegar works very well at dissolving the nits and eggs. The biggest thing you have to do is comb and comb. If you miss even one egg you start over. Make sure once you think you are clean, comb a few more days and then repeat in 10 days and again 10 days after that.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

OP I feel your pain. I am so sorry for you. DD came home from KDG with lice...seems a few girls in her ballet class had it and we all got it after the recital (bad bad mommys shared the kids combs with others!!). My DD now uses Fairy Tales shampoo. The only downside is she tells people all the time I love how my Lice Shampoo smells!!! No, no its ANTI lice shampoo!!!!!
Dr. said a huge culprit is the back of movie seats....kids movies little heads fall smack dab in the middle of the nice uplostered seat.......makes me want to bring a garbage bag to cover the seat when we go to the movies now!!!

 

[bucket o' butter]

I don't know if anyone has posted this or not. I didn't have time to read all the responses. I teach school and I have a few kids each year get lice. I have found that after the original medicinal treatment, you should follow up with olive oil treatments weekly. Once a week, coat your hair in olive oil and wrap in a towel or a shower cap and sleep with it on. The olive oil smothers any bugs or nits that are left. It is also a wonderful treatment for the hair whether you have lice or not. The hardest part is getting the oil out of your hair. The best thing for this is Dawn dishwashing liquid, followed by your regular shampoo. Boys are so easy to treat because you can buzz their hair. Girls and women are a bit more difficult. My daughter who had long thick hair got lice and we followed the olive oil treatment for several weeks. She had the shiniest (and bug free) hair! As yucky as it may seem, lice is a very common problem. Just work diligently to get it out and you should be fine.

 

[kato0627]

Where do you get the tea tree oil?? how many sprays in the bottle??
Good luck to the OP.

 

[daisyduck123]

if you have cloth seats in your car....clean out your car.

My friend's DD caught lice just by riding in her cousin's car (the cousin had lice and my friend had not been told)

 

[Granfan]

The Robo comb is battery operated and electrocutes the live lice and combs out and kills the eggs. Price is high but so much easier to use and better results. You can hear a snap if it comes in contact with anything so good to check heads if you are worried but don't see anything. Walmart did have the Robo combs and may still.
Note: hair must be dry so it actually may not work so well on curly or tangled hair.

 

[sahmoftwo]

Where do you get the tea tree oil?? how many sprays in the bottle??
Good luck to the OP.

We got our tea tree oil at a natural food store...ours is called Sprouts, but a Whole Foods type place would have it as well. We put 6 drops in a cup of water in a spray bottle.

 

[cnorth]

We have used licekiller in the past, when the drug store stuff didn't work. My daughter has super thick, curly hair, and it's really difficult to get it all out. But this stuff really worse. It does take some time to do (we usually set aside 2-2.5 hours), but it's worth it!

http://www.licekiller.com/

 

[ccgirl]

if you have cloth seats in your car....clean out your car.

My friend's DD caught lice just by riding in her cousin's car (the cousin had lice and my friend had not been told)

Yes, any type of cloth seats can have lice on them. I am thinking my DD may have gotten them from the airplane when we were at WDW??

The Robo comb is battery operated and electrocutes the live lice and combs out and kills the eggs. Price is high but so much easier to use and better results. You can hear a snap if it comes in contact with anything so good to check heads if you are worried but don't see anything. Walmart did have the Robo combs and may still.
Note: hair must be dry so it actually may not work so well on curly or tangled hair.

I looked at those at thought they were a lot of money, at first. Until I bought two rounds of the lice killing treatments. The Robi comb would have actually been cheaper and we could have used that over and over again.

 

[robinb]

Yes, any type of cloth seats can have lice on them. I am thinking my DD may have gotten them from the airplane when we were at WDW??

Lice can't live for long off their hosts, so there is really no reason for a louse to leave a nice warm head for an inanimate object like an airline seat. I think most lice are shared by kids putting their heads together and the lice move from one head to another or sharing combs/brushes where the lice have been forcefully removed.

I looked at those at thought they were a lot of money, at first. Until I bought two rounds of the lice killing treatments. The Robi comb would have actually been cheaper and we could have used that over and over again.

Don't beat yourself up over not buying the Robi Comb. During my first go-round with lice I bought the Robi and it was pretty useless. I returned it for a refund because it was so ineffective.

 

[ccgirl]

Lice can't live for long off their hosts, so there is really no reason for a louse to leave a nice warm head for an inanimate object like an airline seat. I think most lice are shared by kids putting their heads together and the lice move from one head to another or sharing combs/brushes where the lice have been forcefully removed.



Don't beat yourself up over not buying the Robi Comb. During my first go-round with lice I bought the Robi and it was pretty useless. I returned it for a refund because it was so ineffective.

Yes. I know they can't live long off their hosts. The problem was nobody in her class had it nor did anyone in the family. I just remember thinking how quickly they were ready to get us in the plane after it just landed. And, we never share combs or brushes, our vehicles have leather seats not cloth. Who knows where she got it...could have been a lot of places I guess.

Interesting you thought the Robi comb was useless. I, myself, have never used it but I remember thinking it would have been so much easier to use that than picking the nits out for 4 hours. Glad to hear the other side of it too.

 

[daisyduck123]

Lice can't live for long off their hosts, so there is really no reason for a louse to leave a nice warm head for an inanimate object like an airline seat.

Yes, but they do, quite often. That's why stuffed animals need to be bagged up, carpets vacuumed daily, etc. It would be great if the little buggers ONLY stuck to people's heads. (And I've never even had lice, but deal with it every year in my classroom ).

 

[twimomako]

Have you guys tried the mayonnaise treatment? I've read a lot of testimonials that this works! Just coat the hair with mayonnaise then cover with shower cap, then sleep on it. Some let is stand for 4 hours, and will not leave a single louse alive. the challenge comes when you rinse it off. others used dish washing liquid to remove the mayo.