First, I went thru this and am now the resident nit picker for friends, family, some students etc. There a lot of fallacies. around and this is what causes the lice to continue.
Do not know if your vaccum is bagless or bagged.SIL's Brother put a vaccum bag in an open trash can in his DD(4) bedroom during the big lice clean-up.
They think that is how the lice came back.I do not know if true thought I would tell you just in case it is.Nobody wants to deal with lice and BTW lice like cleaner people and just like bedbugs anyone can get them.
It is correct lice like clean, dry hair. Putting a vacuum bag in an open trash can will not cause a reinfestation. Lice cannot fly. It is more likely an egg was left in his hair that hatched and caused the cycle to continue.
It was HORRIBLE. I have extremely thick hair (my hairdresser says I am the thickest hair she does) and I had my MIL nit comb my hair for two weeks, flat ironed it and dyed it. Someone on these boards suggested hair dye as the chemicals would kill the lice/eggs.
We got everything from the kids and me on the first treatment, but we picked for two weeks, washed bedding for two weeks and vacuumed everyday for two straight weeks.
It'll take some time and hard work, but worth it. Good Luck!
Nit comb often is a necessity. Especially with your hair. Dyed hair preventing lice is a fallacy (althought that is what my hairdresser advised as well). Flat ironing is also not proven.
Make sure you follow the instructions on the shampoo and repeat in 10 days. The same thing happened to me, and I too have thick curly hair. I combed my hair every day with the special comb also.
It is very important to do the treatment again in 10 days as PP mentioned.
Another fallacy is cutting short hair. The eggs and nits live very close to the scalp as they need the neat to survive.
This is what I did and my DD got rid of them and nobody else in the house got them.
I had a lot of plastic disposable gloves and shower caps on hand.
Day 1: used Rid shampoo. This got most of the live lice. I still found 1 live louse even after the shampoo.
Get a good metal nit comb. I spent 4 hours nit picking/combinb my DD's hair. I had a white paper towel lined on my counter. Each time I ran the come thru I wiped it on the paper towel and rolled that portion up. I did it in sections. It is best to nit pick when the hair is damp.
Once I got rid of everything (or so I thought) I put olive oil in her hair and covered it with a shower cap. This is how she slept. This will suffocate any live lice remaining as well as loosen up the glue the nits/eggs use to stick to the hair shaft.
We washed all bedding, coats, clothing, hats, gloves etc. We also bagged all pillows and stuffed animals. We sprayed all couches, and seats of the car with the lice spray.
Day 2: Wet her hair and nit picked for 3 hours. Still got more out. Olive oil and shower cap again.
Day 3: Wet her hair and nit picked for 1 hour. Did not find anything.
Day 4 - Day 6: Nit picked for 30 minutes and did not find anything.
Throughout this time we checked each other as well. I always wore the gloves and changed them frequently. I also wore a shower cap on my hair as I was checking to lessen the probablility of lice transfer.
I'm sure it was overkill on my part but we got ride of them and nobody in her class or at home got them.
We now use lice prevention shampoo from fairytales. You can google it. Not only does it have tea trea oil but it also has rosemary, thyme and other things. My DD is no longer allowerd to hang her jacket up at school; she must put it in her backpack. She also always wears her hair up.
Her class just had an outbreak where 3 girls and 1 boy had it. The 3 girls were her best friends. 1 sat right next to her. She did not get it this time.
Good luck. You will get through it. It is more common than you think.
