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

[bridgie04]

http://www.nuvoforheadlice.com/index.htm

Above is a link how to use Cetaphil for head lice treatment. It is done 3 times, a week apart. It works like a CHARM, is not expensive, and does not involve all the chemicals in the lice shampoos.

 

[mefordis]

I'm combing through and checking while wet, but also while dry. It is my new hobby now: picking my daughter's heads whenever possible. Just like a monkey.

I have not read the whole thread, so this might have been covered...

Are you checking her head when her hair is wet or dry? My friend's daughter had lice and they had a horrible time getting rid of them. She was checking her hair when it was wet, after her shower. She learned that they were easier to see when her hair was dry. She would check her and find her nit free, and send her to school. The nurse would check her before school, find nits and send her home. Finally the nurse asked if she was checking her hair when wet.

Good luck!

 

[robinb]

I'm combing through and checking while wet, but also while dry. It is my new hobby now: picking my daughter's heads whenever possible. Just like a monkey.

This post made me . I'm glad you still have your sense of humor .

 

[tlbwriter]

http://www.nuvoforheadlice.com/index.htm

Above is a link how to use Cetaphil for head lice treatment. It is done 3 times, a week apart. It works like a CHARM, is not expensive, and does not involve all the chemicals in the lice shampoos.

That looks really interesting!

I'm combing through and checking while wet, but also while dry. It is my new hobby now: picking my daughter's heads whenever possible. Just like a monkey.

LOL! Our lice incident was years ago and I still habitually scan DD's head for white specks. PTSD, maybe.

 

[mom2grace]

I think you are doing just fine. The nits cannot lay new eggs, don't freak until you see new live bugs! Keep picking every day! We picked DAILY for 2 weeks.

DD had lice last summer, there is a new Rx 'shampoo' that is approved for those 2 years + older, it's $$. It did not seem 'chemically' at all and I am pretty cautious about meds & foods with my kids.

We used it only on DD, no one else got lice and she is a bed hopper and she and her brother sleep in the same bed (by their choice).

You might also get the zip on mattress and pillow covers to keep them out of your mattresses.

I took the bed linens to the laundromat!

 

[ccgirl]

I'm not seeing any bugs at all. Not that I know of and I think I would be able to tell if it's a bug, right? I saw a live one on dd7's hair on day 1.

I see little brown nits, only once in a while, on the fine tooth comb. I don't see any when I do a spot check on the scalp.

What does this sound like to you (or anyone who knows a lot about lice!)

That's good you are not seeing live bugs. Yes, you would know it. You can actually see them crawling on the paper towel...EWWW!! Anyway, what do you do with the comb after each pass. Do you wipe it on a paper towel? My DD had a B-A-D case. And, it must have been an older case becuase we saw quite a few of full grown live lice! Try the terminator and see what happens. I tried the plastic combs and they are useless. I then got a metal one and that was better but the Terminator was great. I wish I was closer. I would have helped you!

Did you google "nits" so you know what you are looking for? SOme parents I help were actually calling dandruff or scab pieces (gross, I know) nits when they weren't.

 

[aprilgail2]

The problem is....charging that much they SHOULD have gotten rid of the lice, not just gotten you started. Really, I think you are being too nice to them. Are you still combing nightly? Have you found any other live lice? Not all nits will hatch and some that you see may have already hatched. Where on the hair are the ones you are still finding?

I agree- I think that is insane that the place really seems to be giving her the runaround!
The place I used has this on their site- Unlike competitors who charge clients by the hour and use low-paid laborers, Licebusters employs trained professionals, offers affordable flat rate services, and guarantees successful, one-time-only head lice treatment on all cases of head lice.

 

[dhardawa]

I bought the Robi Comb which I am not impressed with -- $26 wasted. I am having the Terminator comb shipped today! Here is a link to it:

http://www.amazon.com/Terminator-Pr...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303817241&sr=8-1-spell

I thought the Robi Comb was a waste too. All it did was shock the kids even when there were no lice.

 

[Poohforyou]

After some thought, I have determined that the place I hired does not necessarily get rid of your lice for you. They get you started on a program which will most likely get rid of the lice. They have no guarantees.

However, since they do come to your home at any hour, even on holidays such as Passover, that is a great service for someone who feels so overwhelmed. I can't discount that.

There are other places like Hair Fairies that do guarantees however they do not make house calls.

Just thinking out loud.

For $1000 this place sure at heck should get rid of them all and tie your disinfected home up in a big red ribbon.

I guess I just don't see lice as some crisis to get too worked up over. We've been through it a few times including one that was discovered at 8pm on a school night. Luckily we have 24hr stores all over.

The biggest trauma each time was having to bag up DD's stuffed animals for a few weeks. I let her pick out a few to run through the dryer but I wasn't doing all of them when I had bedding that needed washing and drying.

 

[Ali]

When we had a lice issue a few years ago I did everything to get rid of it and nothing worked for it except the following:

Ingredients:

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

Blow dryer

Applicator bottle, such as the plastic bottles hair dye comes in.

A regular hair comb (must be fairly sturdy, as the lotion is very thick)

A wide toothed comb (for thick or longer hair, to keep it untangled)

A metal lice comb

Towel

Hair clips for sectioning hair

That’s it!

Method

Start with dry hair and cover your shoulders with a towel. (Cetaphil is very thick so you won’t have much dripping) Use a good metal lice comb to comb out as many nits as possible before you start. Section your hair off in very small sections; it’s extremely important that you coat every strand of hair, and apply the Cetaphil directly to your scalp at each part you make in your hair so that you lessen the chance of missing even ONE louse on your head! Use Cetaphil liberally and massage, massage, massage it in. Even ONE louse left uncoated may survive to reproduce.

Once you are sure you have covered every strand of hair and every inch of scalp, use a regular (but sturdy comb) to begin combing out the excess lotion. You may need to use a wide toothed comb first, if your hair is thick or very long. Comb until you have removed as much of the excess Cetaphil as possible. Once that is done, use a hair dryer to dry your hair. (Use the most powerful hair dryer you have, as the drying process can take up to three times longer than drying after a shower--this is the only really time consuming part of the process, as the Cetaphil takes much, much longer to dry than water.)

What will happen is that the Cetaphil will dry on your head, hair (and also on the lice), cutting off their source of oxygen, and therefore smothering them. (In a sense, they will be ‘shrink wrapped’) Lice can literally survive for hours without breathing, so this must be left on the hair for a minimum of 8 hours. This can be done before bed, so that the ‘smothering’ process can take place during sleep. You must make SURE that your hair is completely dry in order for the lice to be totally encased in the dried Cetaphil, and therefore be unable to breath.

After 8 hours, wash and dry your hair normally. Use the metal lice comb once again, to comb out any surviving live nits. For best results, you must repeat this treatment three times in one-week intervals to make sure that newly hatching lice do not survive to begin the hatching and reproducing cycle again.

All bedding should be washed after each treatment, as well as any clothing, pajamas or towels used during lice infestation. Combs and brushes should be run through the wash cycle, or can be put in the freezer over night. Carpeting and furniture should be vacuumed, however lice cannot survive away from human heads for longer than 20 hours. We are their ‘food source’, so there is no need to be overly concerned about lice that have fallen to the floor or carpet. Lice also can not hop, jump or fly, and are only transmitted via head to head contact, or by using a comb or brush used by someone with head lice. However, they do crawl, so they may crawl from pillow to pillow or crawl onto clothing that is shared or hung close together, such as sweaters and coats hung up closely together in a classroom.

 

[shortbun]

Wow! $150 a hour for nit picking? 7.5 hours for three heads-is nuts!!! It took about an hour each head each time we did my very long hair and my son's shoulder length hair. We used olive oil really thick and wore it for a few hours every other day. We picked nits every day for three days, then went to every other day until we found none twice in a row and added an olive oil soak after that. I used highly magnified reading glasses that cost me $14 , nit combs that cost $12, paper towels for a couple dollars and a large bottle of olive oil for $17. Total cost, about $45. My husband did my hair, I did my son's hair and my very good friend came down one day when we were all worn out near the end and she's the one who came up empty the first time. We also pointed some very powerful lights at our heads and used hair clips to separate small pieces of hair at a time.
Everything was sterilized between head checks. Whoa...a thousand dollars??? I'd have shaved my head first. Really.

 

[mmmagique]

We got rid of lice in three days using this method. (and nits as well)

First we tried regular treatments and picking them out. That was a waste of time and money.

Then I bought some cetaphil, some listerine (the orange kind...regular) and shower caps. (both of my girls came home from school with lice)

I put cetaphil on their heads (rubbed in well and left in the shower cap over night) In the meantime, I washed everything (bedding, clothes etc) in very hot water and dried on the highest heat settings. Anything that couldn't be washed easily (stuffed animals, pillows, etc) were put in plastic bags in the basement for two weeks. (they actually die much quicker than that but I wasn't taking any chances)

The next day I washed the cetaphil out with tea tree oil shampoo (lice hate that stuff) and poured listerine all over their heads (I did mine first just to be safe) and put the shower caps back on. We kept the listerine on for a couple of hours, then rinsed with white vinegar.

They were sent home on a Friday and were back in school on Monday with not one nit left using this method. The nurse said she had never seen anything work so fast and so well. I did have them continue to be checked by the nurse for a couple of weeks just as a precaution, but they haven't been back. I was very glad because I am not good at "picking nits" and would have gone crazy if I had to do so.

I made up a mixture of olive oil (this only works with olive oil or coconut oil) lavendar oil, geranium oil, and some tea tree oil as a spray to deter those nasty little things.

I've known people who have spent weeks and $$$$ battling this problem, but this method works fast, and it's inexpensive. Not to mention you avoid torturing your children with those tiny little nit combs.

 

[walkdmc]

OP, whether you were taken advantage of or not, IDK. It sounds like the company did a lot of work for you (gross work, yuck) and feeling like you've been ripped off stinks but you did get some service from them. I would be pretty upset they did not offer any follow up service, knowing lice treatment is never a one and done thing. I will PM you for that company's name.

Basically, thank you for sharing your experience when most people would want to just try to "forget about it". I learned more on this thread about nit picking and getting rid of lice than I ever learned in my medical school training. I'm serious. Thanks ladies! I'm armed with a whole new set of suggestions to offer moms dealing with lice at home.

 

[NoeyLane]

What worked best for us was Licefreeeee spray. It worked like a charm - all natural (smelled like licorice) and spraying it all over the hair and then going over the hair with a small metal comb.

The other posters are right - you have to, have to, have to treat your environment - wash clothes in hot water, stuffed animals in hot dryer, make sure to clean your car, and vaccuum, vaccuum, vaccuum.

We got rid of them in 1 treatment in 1 day. But it takes a lot of time - we were up til 2am that first day.

Just keep at it, OP! And make sure to check within 7-10 days of finding the nits to break the cycle.

Good luck!

 

[mefordis]

Okay, it's day 10 and I think we are done with the lice! I haven't found any on either of my children, and I haven't combed any out of my own hair. My mom also checked me (she is in town this week!)

So, if anyone wants the name of this company, please PM me. I will give you the name. I just don't want it coming up on Google. I am paranoid!

I wouldn't NOT recommend them. I would just say that they are very expensive and do not guarantee removal. This is because they are not certain the client is going to go through with the home treatments they say, and I believe, are necessary. So if they gave a guarantee they would be required to sent the nit pickers out repeatedly.

The good thing about this company is the owner does give phone support and also will send someone to your house, and she did so on passover. It was very difficult for her to find someone for me but she did. Even late in the evening.

Now that I have this experience behind me, I am confident that I can get rid of them myself using Nit Rid and then olive oil or some other product like Fairy Tales, and picking them out.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the support and advice! You really got me through this experience, all of you!

 

[robinb]

Okay, it's day 10 and I think we are done with the lice! I haven't found any on either of my children, and I haven't combed any out of my own hair. My mom also checked me (she is in town this week!)

Yay ! I would continue to check every 2-3 days for another 10 days just in case one nit slipped through.

 

[ccgirl]

Okay, it's day 10 and I think we are done with the lice! I haven't found any on either of my children, and I haven't combed any out of my own hair. My mom also checked me (she is in town this week!)

So, if anyone wants the name of this company, please PM me. I will give you the name. I just don't want it coming up on Google. I am paranoid!

I wouldn't NOT recommend them. I would just say that they are very expensive and do not guarantee removal. This is because they are not certain the client is going to go through with the home treatments they say, and I believe, are necessary. So if they gave a guarantee they would be required to sent the nit pickers out repeatedly.

The good thing about this company is the owner does give phone support and also will send someone to your house, and she did so on passover. It was very difficult for her to find someone for me but she did. Even late in the evening.

Now that I have this experience behind me, I am confident that I can get rid of them myself using Nit Rid and then olive oil or some other product like Fairy Tales, and picking them out.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the support and advice! You really got me through this experience, all of you!

Great news! I did the rid one more tiem at day 10 to make sure. We now do a check every 3 days. I am just paranoid and would rather catch it early than late should it happen again.

 

[mefordis]

Yay ! I would continue to check every 2-3 days for another 10 days just in case one nit slipped through.

yep! That's what I"m going to do! Thanks!

 

[mefordis]

Great news! I did the rid one more tiem at day 10 to make sure. We now do a check every 3 days. I am just paranoid and would rather catch it early than late should it happen again.

Thank you so much for your support! I'm going to keep checking, you can be sure! But I think I will take a break from the oil treatments, just do the comb throughs with conditioner.

 

[funcinderella]

This happened to my two kids about a montha go...ugh. I freaked out myself, but my Mom and I did all of the work, and we were super vigilant. Haven't seen anything since we did the treatmetns that first day, thank God. BUT...yesterday the kids went on a scout outing horseback riding, and my Mom told me they all shared three helmets (20+) kids. I am flipping out, as I know there have been many other cases in school in the interim. I am praying they did not pick them up again...