Spent $1000 for lice treatment - I feel sick! UPDATE Day 10: I THINK THEY ARE GONE!

[mjkacmom]

Continuing to comb out and pick nits is as important as the initial treatment, don't let it go even a day longer and risk that any nits will hatch and start the infestation all over again..

This. I never heard of any device that can kill the eggs. You have to remove them. OP, I know the laundry is time consuming, but when dealing with lice, it's all you do. Order pizza, forget about cleaning. Just comb.

Ironically, dd had just sprayed her hair with Fairy Tales lice repellent before I checked her - my girls use it daily.

 

[dumbodame]

My daughter caught them at her daycare several years back. We did the trick similar to the mayo...

I PLASTERED her head with hair conditioner and placed a shower cap on her head overnight. The next morning the little buggers were all suffocated and combed right out of her head.

The conditioner was easy to rinse out of her head too.

 

[dustysky]

Holly guacamole!!
I am in the wrong business. The laundry would have waited and I would have made time. That is robbery!

 

[Elianor]

Wow, that really is terrible.

I had this experience last spring. DD went on a sleep over and a week later was scratching her head and fussing. I had never dealt with lice before and was horrified and embarrassed. Luckily, I did talk to a co-worker who talked me through the process. It took about two weeks to feel like the house was clear again.

We did the rid treatment on her hair first to kill the live lice, then I sat with her for hours combing and pulling out the nits. DH couldn't even see them because they blend so well. He washed bedding and put all her stuffed animals into black trash bags after they had been sprayed with the house spray to kill the live bugs. Then we sprayed the mattresses and floors and vacuumed everything to death.

You will need to keep an eye out in case any of the nits were missed. I *LOVE* the koolaid dye idea and will use that if I need to do this again.

Just remember, it's something that just happens and is NO reflection on you, your home's cleanliness, or your personal habits.

 

[teacup princess]

Wow. That's alot! Lice went through my daughters school earlier this year. I freaked out and bought all kinds of products and combs, ect. What actually worked was LiceMD. The little cheap plastic comb that comes with it was the best of all the combs I bought. It's basically made of hair grease that smothers the lice. Apply, leave on for 10 minutes, then continually part and comb through each section a couple of times. I did this once a day for 3 days and it took about an hour each time. It was really hard to wash out and made her look like a Greaser from the Outsiders or something but luckily it was over a holiday weekend so by the time she went back to school all the grease was gone.

 

[mefordis]

How often do I have to keep doing the wash? Do I have to change her sheets each night? I am worried my washer/dryer is going to explode from over use! I'm still catching up on washing the clothes that were in the suitcase from our trip to DC.

Thank you all for your input! I will mourn the loss of that $1000 for a very very long time. I wish I could rationalize it but it was out of sheer panic and ignorance that I spent that money!

 

[gracie1]

Wow!! I would never spend that on a treatment. You could've just went to the store and got the rid which is for your head and got the stuff for the bed treatments and all much cheaper.

 

[mefordis]

Wow!! I would never spend that on a treatment. You could've just went to the store and got the rid which is for your head and got the stuff for the bed treatments and all much cheaper.

But what about the 6 hours to pick the nits out of the three of us? They charged me that for nit picking, not shampooing. I just don't know who would have checked my head for me.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

If someone told me it would cost me a grand to pick lice out of my family's hair, we'd have shaved heads within an hour. I'm not kidding.

 

[ccgirl]

How often do I have to keep doing the wash? Do I have to change her sheets each night? I am worried my washer/dryer is going to explode from over use! I'm still catching up on washing the clothes that were in the suitcase from our trip to DC.

Thank you all for your input! I will mourn the loss of that $1000 for a very very long time. I wish I could rationalize it but it was out of sheer panic and ignorance that I spent that money!

I was in the same place of you. Same over active 2 1/2 year old and everything! However, no way do I have $1,000 to pay someone else to do it. I went thru her hair each night after my son went to bed. I had her sleep with olive oil/shower cap for 3 nights in a row. Washed it out in the morning with Dawn dish detergent. I then had her sleep with a shower cap every night for a week. I know...probably over kill but nobody else got it and she had a BAD case! Be sure to use a different shower cap each time. I just bought a bunch from the Dollar Tree. I also bought a bunch of combs and just threw them out after each use. Nothing will kill nits. You have to pick them out.

As far as changing the sheets/pillowcases - I did that every night for the first 3 nights.

Good luck.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

But what about the 6 hours to pick the nits out of the three of us? They charged me that for nit picking, not shampooing. I just don't know who would have checked my head for me.

I had no idea that there were "professionals" that did this. It sounds like they robbed you of money - $150 an hour to comb out eggs and nits? Eeks.

Do you have a spouse/friend/neighbor that could come over next time and help out? I know if I asked my girlfriends to help me with my kids, they would in a heartbeat. They would have deemed me insane if I shelled out money like that for lice removal.

 

[mefordis]

If someone told me it would cost me a grand to pick lice out of my family's hair, we'd have shaved heads within an hour. I'm not kidding.

I know, that's the problem! I signed up for $150 an hour but I didn't know it was going to take 7 hours to pick through and treat our hair. If I was told $1000 up front, I would have found another way but I panicked and hired them at $150 per hour and the hours just added up!

 

[JB2K]

Nope, just picked nits for 7 1/2 hours and put the shampoo and oil on our hair. They spent a LOT of time slowly combing through the hair.

How could I have done this myself and been as thorough, I keep asking myself. While doing the truck load of laundry we had!

Methinks if your laundry was that big of an issue, you could've taken it to a drop-off laundry facility and had everything cleaned/folded/pressed way less than that grand you wasted on the "nit-pick housecall".

I know, that's the problem! I signed up for $150 an hour but I didn't know it was going to take 7 hours to pick through and treat our hair. If I was told $1000 up front, I would have found another way but I panicked and hired them at $150 per hour and the hours just added up!

Sounds to me like they took full advantage of your anxiety (it goes that way quite a lot in N.J.)...

 

[mefordis]

No, unfortunately I don't have anyone within driving distance that I would feel comfortable asking to do that.

I had no idea that there were "professionals" that did this. It sounds like they robbed you of money - $150 an hour to comb out eggs and nits? Eeks.

Do you have a spouse/friend/neighbor that could come over next time and help out? I know if I asked my girlfriends to help me with my kids, they would in a heartbeat. They would have deemed me insane if I shelled out money like that for lice removal.

 

[Kitzka]

OP-I know you feel bad about the $1000 but honestly, i think that is a good price. DD has never had it but she has had friends who have had it and their families took them into NYC to a place (hair fairies maybe?) and they spent about 1800 just on the removal. the poor child had a LOT of nits.

if it were me, i would have spent the money to know i was checked and things were clear. they can come back so i would change sheets every night for a week. my friend's daugthers had it for weeks because they tried lots of at home remedies first. when they finally went to the hair fairies they had been dealing with it for 3 weeks.

so, think of the $1000 as a huge time saver.

Lara

 

[dustysky]

After that I took red kool-aid and put one pack of it in a spray bottle and added a small amount of water. I sprayed it on her hair making sure to cover the entire area. The nits that were attached to her hair absorbed the red color and seeing the nits was much easier thus easier to pull out.

This didn't stain the hair itself?
My daughters babysitter thought it would be cool to "help" her get a red streak on the underside of her hair and she used red cool aid, it stained for MONTHS!
I didnt care, we are pretty "free-to-be" but I would hate to see some folks here get the shock of a lifetime when there darling little children end up with a drastic change in appearance.

 

[mefordis]

I definitely learned a lesson -- still don't know how I could have had myself checked for nits though, without them. I keep going back and forth about that. I should have stuck with the one day treatment, perhaps, but when they came back they pulled out a bunch more from all our heads. Mine, too.

Moms - how did you treat yourselves when your kids had lice?

Methinks if your laundry was that big of an issue, you could've taken it to a drop-off laundry facility and had everything cleaned/folded/pressed way less than that grand you wasted on the "nit-pick housecall".



Sounds to me like they took full advantage of your anxiety (it goes that way quite a lot in N.J.)...

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Moms - how did you treat yourselves when your kids had lice?

I haven't dealt with this as a mom *my sister and I took lice home from school 20 years ago ~ WOW!!* I would have my DH, mom, or sister help me, you are married right??? Or just do it myself!

$1K on hair picking ~ you got scammed honey.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I definitely learned a lesson -- still don't know how I could have had myself checked for nits though, without them. I keep going back and forth about that. I should have stuck with the one day treatment, perhaps, but when they came back they pulled out a bunch more from all our heads. Mine, too.

Moms - how did you treat yourselves when your kids had lice?

If you didn't have anyone nearby who could help, then you did what you had to do. Paying the $1,000 is tough to swallow, but what choice did you have?

When my DDs had lice, I gave myself every treatment they got (Rid, tea tree oil/mayo/vinegar) just in case. The first time (Rid) I had DH comb through my hair (by then it was about 2 am because I'd been up all night treating all 3 DDs), he didn't really find anything, so all subsequent treatments I did myself and combed out myself. Having a metal lice comb was definitely a lifesaver as the plastic combs kept creating tangles. (They sell them in a 2 pack at Walgreens). Even though I found no evidence in my hair, I still spent about 1 hour total combing. I cannot stress enough, treating every 3 days and combing out is ESSENTIAL -- skip just 1 day and you could be in trouble again. We decided to try the tea tree/mayo/vinegar approach because I was afraid of using Rid so often because it is a pesticide and not recommended for sustained use.

 

[mefordis]

Wow! Thank you so much! I feel a tad better now. Yeah, I am racking my brain thinking of how I could have handled it less expensively and without involving my husband who works long hours at a stressful job and is tired when he finally does get home.

OP-I know you feel bad about the $1000 but honestly, i think that is a good price. DD has never had it but she has had friends who have had it and their families took them into NYC to a place (hair fairies maybe?) and they spent about 1800 just on the removal. the poor child had a LOT of nits.

if it were me, i would have spent the money to know i was checked and things were clear. they can come back so i would change sheets every night for a week. my friend's daugthers had it for weeks because they tried lots of at home remedies first. when they finally went to the hair fairies they had been dealing with it for 3 weeks.

so, think of the $1000 as a huge time saver.

Lara