Head Lice - Oh Man

Hey L.! My son had lice when he was about 7, but it was a lot easier since we were able to give him a buzz cut. None of the kids even mention it. Also, it is a known fact that lice only like "clean" hair. Good luck!

I am a teacher and it is as you said very common for children to get head lice. One way to keep from getting head lice is to use a shampoo with tea tree oil.

Here's a funny one. My brother went to boarding school for HS and they had a major lice breakout -- in the GIRLS dorm. My brother was the ONLY boy to get it. Hmmmm.

L.-

Believe it or not, but this is my sister's job. She does nit-picking for a company called hair fairies. Here is there website, I am not sure of where you live, but she manages the one in Chicago, and believe me, they are busy EVERY day.

http://www.hairfairies.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath...

The website has lots of products and explains the myths about lice, and what works and doesn't work. The company strted for this very reson, that people feel like they are stigmatized from lice, so hair fairies is in very prominent nighborhoods, to eliminate the stigma. For example they are in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Beverly Hills in Califonia, they are in New York, etc.. They even do celebrities children in their homes.

Good Luck!!!!

Oh L. I feel for you. We went through this when my daughter was 4. She is now 13 and we can laugh about it but at the time it was a nightmare. I also got it from her and it was horrible. We did Nix and the "nitpicking" too. We could not get rid of them. I then heard from a friend of my mom's to try vinegar. We completely soaked our heads in vinegar (not very pleasant but it sure beats lice) and it worked! The vinegar killed EVERYTHING!!! It was a life saver. Good luck to you and your daughter.

It is a bear - but maybe this will help you laugh a little or at least know you are not alone!
http://www.familytimesinc.com/FT_0708/drMom_0708.htm

Hi, L.!

Oh, I feel for you! We went through this last spring. My daughter is going on 8. We found out when she was getting a hair cut. They were very kind, but as they were explaining treatment, my mind was reeling. "OMG! How did this happen?!" My daughter was crying... ugh.

So... went to the store, got the treatment, yada, yada... Then there was the idea of "stigma." She didn't want to be the Lice Kid either. Lucky for us, this occurred over a weekend, so she didn't have to miss any school. She didn't want anyone to know. Eventually she ended up telling a classmate who simply declared, "Oh yeah! I had lice." And another, "Me too!" Turns out it was no biggie! :-o Not a word was said about it after that.

Remember, these little buggers didn't just spring from your daughter's head. They are passed soooo easily. Plenty of parents from CLEAN homes have been through this.

I found that the original treatment took forever (it seemed) but that the nit looking wasn't so bad. My daughter's hair isn't especially thick or curly so maybe that helped, but remember that you're focusing on the hair from the root to about 2 inches out. They don't lay their eggs on the hair ends. We would sit under a bright window with a scissor and just cut out the 5 - 10 hairs that had nits on them. Made the process of follow-up checks faster and easier.

You'll get through this, L.! I'm not laughing about it now, but I do know now that it's not such a biggie!

Best of luck!
C.

Sorry, I did chuckle a little. It is by no means a fun process. My family had it back when my kids were little, we were a family of 6! We all had to be treated. It was fairly easy for the boys and my husband, but for us girls it was a nightmare, as all 3 of us girls had long hair. I was able to do my two daughters, but when it came to mine, my husband also got stuck. My hair is almost waist length (and still is), but I totally refused to cut my hair. I ended up going to the Dr. and asking for something from them as I coudn't afford $20 per nix kit for each of us, so they gave me a prescription for a big bottle that we all used and that only cost me my $15 copay. I belive we even tried the mayo treatment, but now I can't remember if it worked! I feel for you, but it will be over soon. Just make sure you wash EVERYTHING and vacuum well.

I was 14 years old in the summer time when this happened to me. It was aweful. I had really long hair. It took my Mom hours to get them all out. It is very common and kids will be mean but as your child gets older, she'll forget about it. It happens to lots of kids and it's not there fault. Reassure her that she's not dirty, every kid can get it and she received it from someone else probably at her school. Encourage her not to share brushes or hair products as this is the most common way this starts and girs especially love doing each other's hair. Make sure you wash all your bedding, carpets, clothing, etc as they tend to latch onto everything. You pretty much have to go through your whole house for a few days before you get them all. You will get through it.

Hi L.
Sorry you are dealing with this. I went through a horrible 4 months of dealing with my daughters LONG THICK hair and lice. Everytime I thought we had it conquered it would reappear. I finally called our Doctor and she recommended Cetaphil which is a cleansing soap.
In dry hair lather Cetaphil from the roots to ends of the hair. Leave it set for 10 minutes and then blow dry and comb. It took forever to blow dry and it will appear greasy. Between the thick Cetaphil and the heat of the blow dryer, this did the trick for us. My daughter would leave this in overnight and then wash in the morning.
I was so scared I was going to get lice too but Thank the good Lord no one else in our house got it.
Good luck
L.

I spoke w/ a nurse once when my children were young. She said that we were obviously very clean people. I looked at her like she was crazy! She said "Nope, I'm not crazy. Lice can't attach nits to dirty/oily hair. Only squeaky clean hair!"

So you folks must be real clean! How bout skipping a shower now and then? LOL! J/K!

As a former cosmotologist, my best (and cheapest) way of removing lice AND nits is to take a jar of mayo, some plastic wrap and a towel, along w/ an hour or so. Slap that mayo on your hair, make it nice and thick but not so it drips cuz it does w. your warm head. Wrap it up w/ the plastic wrap like when you get a perm and then wrap it in the towel. This smothers every last one! And since its so greasy those nits just slide right off. You may have to wash your hair 2 or 3 times afterwards. It will also make your hair very soft and shiny!

After you get rid of them, use apple cider vinegar as a rinse after your conditioner. This works as a preventive. Lice (and any other bugs like mosquitos) don't like the vinegar. You won't smell it once you rinse w/ cool water. I have extremely thick hair but not a bug all summer!

I feel bad that anyone has to go through this. It is so stressful. My stepdaughter got lice twice in kindergarten and I got it too. At the time, she had hair down to the middle of her back and I was about ready to shave my head so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Thank God my husband was supportive enough to comb through my hair as well. I can remember standing over the kitchen sink and "combing" through her hair for what seemed like hours and kids are NOT very patient. I know what you're going through hun and how stressful it can be. The best advice I got from a hairdresser was how to prevent it from happening again. Buy shampoo with tea tree oil in it and have her shampoo with it at least once a week. Apparently lice do not like it. My stepdaughter has been using it since kindergarten and has not gotten it again (she's now in 4th grade). There was actually a scare last year where someone in her class had gotten it and they sent a note home and I immediately felt the stress coming on but she never got it and I honestly think that it was because of that shampoo. You can buy it at any hair salon and I actually just found some recently in the shampoo aisle listed as being an organic product with tee tree oil. I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck! But I can't say that I can look back on it now and laugh because it was an awful experience!

I have been on both ends of the lice thing. As a young child, a family in my neighborhood had it, and we teased them so bad. We were so young (maybe 7 or 8) and we didn't know any better. Now I often think back on that, and feel bad for all the teasing we did to them. I wish I could remember how to spell their very unusual last name, I would love to call her.
On the opposite end of that, I used to babysit my nieces in my early 20's, after about a week of watching them, I started itching at the neck so bad, I went to the Dr, and he confirmed that it was lice. I was awake til 2am, washing/drying everything in the house, and shampooing the head too. I told my sister that she wasn't to bring the girls back til they were taken care of. I was never so emotionally and physically drained as I was during that horrible time.

Try using lice comb. There's one that is battery powered operated (it's the comb you need). You'll also want to try using T-Sal by Neutragena (sp? - it's a dandruff shampoo) and a hair dryer. You'll also want to treat the whole family (incl. pets). You'll also need to treat the house (bedding, etc.) and vehicles, etc. You may need to treat the house, vehicles, etc. multiple times. Also wash all bedding in HOT water. IF theirs stuffed animals, you'll need to either throw them out OR put them in a garbage bag and put them outside (garage). You may need to leave the stuffed animals out in the gargage bag for few - several days (it all depends on how hot it's suppose to be outside). I'm NOT sure IF washing the stuffed animals in hot water would work or not.

Example:
1.) use battery operated comb.
2.) wash hair w/ t-sal.
3.) dry hair w/ hair dryer.

A friend of mine had the same problem. Good Luck!! Hope this helps.

C.

P.S. Another option is to shave off all of everyones hair, or at least the boys and your husband. You can get a cheap pair of hair clippers at like Wal-mart.

L., I can honetsly tell you, we actually had lice go threw our house, my in laws house and my nephews house all at the same TIME............UGH It was horrible. The way we finally had to get rid of them was to put myonaise on my youngest daughters head. It was horrible for like 3 months. What we had to do was pout the mayo on her head, and put a bag on her head and she went to bed like normal, then in the morning we rinsed ,checked, rinsed, checked, and then it seemed like forever before we got the mayo out.

This is THE answer to head lice, so listen up everyone...

THIS HEAD LICE REMEDY IS COMPLETELY SAFE (unlike NIX which is a carcinogenic compound that no-one is safe from):

Get a bottle of Tea Tree Oil for every person you are treating. Pour it into a bowl so it is handy. Have a Q-tip or two handy. Put a white towel around the shoulders. In DRY hair, part the hair starting in the middle on top and dab Tea Tree Oil straight onto the scalp along the next entire part. Part 1/4 inch away and dab along the next part. Do this until the ENTIRE head has been dabbed throughout the scalp with tea tree oil.

*Watch for lice running off the head and catch them (they'll be easy to catch because they are already dying) and throw them into the bowl for complete extermination.

Once the scalp is oiled, comb through from the scalp to the ends with a nit comb OR a regular comb if a nit comb won't go through OR massage the hair into the scalp if your hair is super curly and can't take a comb. Then cover the head with a plastic bag for an hour.

What happens is the living lice AND the nits die (something that NIX doesn't accomplish). You can then wash the hair with regular shampoo, which will only partially remove the tea tree smell, which is GOOD!

Now, enjoy lice-free lives as long as you put a few drops of Tea Tree Oil in every bottle of shampoo you buy as long as your child is in school (which is where it comes from).

Next time you get a Head Lice Alert - you will relax knowing that the tea tree oil in your shampoo will keep your kids from bringing these nasty pets home!

Dear L. - Oh my...I feel your pain!!! I'm not exactly laughing yet because I'm right in the middle of it also!:(

My younger daughter had lice about a year ago and my sister told me about a product that works really, really well. It is natural and it kills everything right away. It smells like black licorice because it has anise oil in it. You only have to do 2 treatments. They have to be a week apart. I just found out the HARD way that you HAVE to do the 2 treatments!!!

Anyway, the lice went away and we were good. We had all the discussions about not using anyone elses brushes or combs or trying on hats and all that good stuff.

Fast forward to a few months ago. My 13 year old daughter kept complaining that her head was "itchy". Sure enough...lice. So we bought the lice stuff and treated her and all was good. I didn't read the part about treating again in 7-10 days...silly me! This past Sunday morning once again she had them. AAAAGGGGHHHH!!! So we treated them and now we will be treating them in a week! They all die immediately but you have to do it again in a week.

It is called "Lice Free". It is all natural and it doesn't smell like chemicals.

I'll have to let you know when I'm laughing about it because I'm not there yet!! I'm still stuck under the mountain of laundry:).

Good luck to you! Take care and God Bless! N.

Yes! My son picked up lice from Daycare. Yucky! Did your "lice busting" include washing all bedding, pillows, vaccuming the furniture, carpets, etc? I have a pic of my son with the Lice Shampoo in his hair, very silly looking, and at the time it was very creepy, and a pain to get rid of. Luckily i have a boy so I just had his hair shaved off. I did this because he was crying when I would rake the comb through his hair to rid him of the Lice, and it says to treat twice, so I thought take the easy, and painless, way out. Hopefully everything will turn out ok. As far as the school thing goes, ask the teacher to educate the kids on this topic. My friend told me a quote that she learned when she was a kid, "lice does not discriminate." So true.

Hi L.

I feel terrible for you and your family!! I can completely symapathize with you. I have a little head lice story for you and maybe you will feel a little better.

I am a hairstylist, my number one worst phobia is me or one of my children getting head lice. I am so crazy about this, that we don't go to movies because I am worried that someone with head lice has sat in the chair. I completely get made fun of for this. I also have never in my 10 yrs of my profession have never had a client have lice. Here is where it gets good.

I have a 7 yr old stepdaughter that we have custody of her kindergaten year of school, she had to go to see her mother over christmas break. Apparently there was a note sent home in her backpack that we never saw or her mother didn't tell us about either(oh my god I am starting to itch!!). She came home New Years Eve day and we spent the day with my family. We get home that night and she says her head has been itching all day, I look and my worst flippin' fear had come true!!! You know the drill you wash everything bag up clothes and toys, wash the seats in the vehicles etc. I was up until 5 in the morning cleaning everything, she had been home the night before I found it so I had to think of everywhere she played sat laid whatever. I was hysterical to say the least. She missed school the next day. Because about five trips to the 24hr Walgreens later I have finally got her treated, oh by the way she is half Asian with waist length hair if you could imagine. I also treated my one yr old just to be safe. Finally we got rid of it long story as short as I can make it, she came back from her mothers five more times with it, unbelievable!!! She finally had to be court ordered to have her house sprayed and professionally cleaned!!!

After months of head lice, I finally quit picking thru my clients head like I was an ape, and settled down about the whole thing. One evening I was washing a teenage client of mine and her mom says to me, I think she is having trouble getting all of the soap out of her hair she has had a really itchy scalp the last couple of weeks. Unflipping believeable, HEADLICE!!! I started literally bawling right there! I just said you need to go get this this and this do all of the cleaning everything you know the whole speech. The whole time I am walking them out my door. As they are leaving the mother says to her girl, let's run to the mall to get your dress for your chorus concert!! Can you imagine!? I said you can't do that you need to head home immediately and get this taken care of!!

Now I suppose I should tell you that I am not only phobic about movie theatres, now trying on clothes when I am shopping!!

I don't want you to feel bad about this, I am positive she got it at school, they always have jackets and backpacks hang right next to or on top of each other. They share art shirts, by the way I do not let my daughter use them I send her her own and give the teacher my headlice speech! I know it feels awful, and I completely agree emotional. Don't worry you will all get thru this and laugh about it. I have been made so much fun of because I was the raging psycho head lice lady. I also would like to tell you that RID has a spray in an aerosal can that you can use to spray funiture, seats in you cars, all the stuff you cannot put in the garbge bags and set aside for 2 weeks, of in my case 6mos!!!

I hope you feel better and maybe get a little laugh out of this ridiulous but all too true story!!

C.

My daughter had it and we battled for three months and finally had this solution: It would not go away from Nix. We finally did a prescription - I did - I never wanted to use it on her. I would wash her hair in white vinegar (that makes the nits and live bugs less sticky) then put listerine in her hair and comb, comb, comb. It worked best when I would rubberband her hair in small sections and comb section by section. We spent at least two hours a night doing that. My daughter got it from someone on the bus and I called the school as soon as I found out. I specifically said to the nurse that I did not want anyone but her teacher to know that she was the one that had it. (Legally they can't tell the kids or other parents who has it) But they did an entire search on every kid in her class and sent a note home to all the parents in her class just so they were aware.

Also, a huge part of it is also to bag up ALL of her stuffed animals and wash, wash, wash her clothes. If she wears them, take them off and throw them in the wash, even if it is by themselves. and vaccuum a lot. They can live in carpet for up to 30 days. Bedding - wash daily. As soon as she gets out of bed. Don't let her sit on your couch - have her sit on a wooden chair. She'll probably love that she has her own chair! Don't let her be on anything fabric.

I know this is a lot of work - it made me sick doing this - but if you get serious and go overboard in the beginning - it will go away faster. And remember - they can live for 30 days off of a host - so keep it up for a month.

Hope this helps. Write if you need more help becuase I consider myself an expert after 3 months.

I didn't see anybody mention this, but when my brother and sister were in elementary school it seemed like they kept passing it back and forth, and we had gotten to the point where my mom had taken all our stuffed animals and 'quarranteend' (sp?) them in our shed in plastic bags and my brother had his head shaved and my sister had a short cut. BUT then, our pet bird passed away and they never had lice again. So as other moms have reiterated don't miss ANY potential sources as a harbor for those little buggers.

Hi. Sorry to here about your story!! When my first born (who is now 8)was 1yrs. old, his first haircut was because he had gotten head lice. I was so upset that I would have to remember his first haircut because of that.. Obviously I didn't save the hair for his baby book. What a memory!!! Having those around is awful. We had everything bagged for weeks just to make sure they died on the stuffed animals and things. All furniture needs to be de-liced and blankets washed. You should be able to get rid of them if your taking all the right steps.. Good Luck to You!!!

Wow you got a lot of responses so far so I didn't read through them. This is what I learned between having a neice who brought it home from camp.. while we were visiting and it spread to my children pretty fast.

One... take all pillows, stuffed animals and couch cushions and put them in garbage bags tied closed and leave them there for no less then 2 weeks. I took a carpet cleaner with an upolstry attachment and cleaned the mattresses with a bit of the shampoo. Don't forget to clean the seats and carpet in your car also. I used some of the shampoo even on the carpet. I also took all the clothes from the drawers and closets and washed them in hot water.

Two... Lice like clean hair to attach the eggs to the shafts. This means you aren't dirty if you have head lice. Hair gel and hair spray makes for "dirty" hair and keeps a barrier between the lice and the hair shaft. After washing the hair and getting rid of all the nits, put gel on her hair then spray hair spray in it. This will keep them from being able to re-infest her as easy.

Three... Keep checking their hair for nits for at least two weeks after you last seen them. It takes 10 days for the eggs to hatch, that is why they suggest to use the shampoo after 10 days. Don't forget your pets... check them also.

Four... teach your children to NEVER share hair brushes, combs, hats or anything that goes on the head with other people. All it takes is one little hair brush to spread it from one child to everyother child who used it. That is how it spread so fast between my niece and my kids... we used the same brush while fixing their hair in the mornings. After that I got a different brush for each member of the family and they were treated like tooth brushes, you don't share them.

I hope your school sends out warnings when there is cases of headlice at school. My kids school didn't and I went to the nurse and principal fighting them on that "don't want to cause mass hysterica" attitude. If they aren't willing to check for headlice on every head during this time, they better warn parents to keep an eye on their kids or it will just keep going around from head to head, especially with the sharing brushes and hats or backpacks and coats close to each other.

Now that my head is itching, just discussing this... it is time I go wash my hair and get out the gel..lol... jk.

I would suggest vacuuming the mattresses and putting your combs and brushes in a bleach water solution for 30 minutes. Another thing is to put the stuffed animals in a plastic bag tied up for a minumin of 7 days.

I am not found of Head Lice myself. When I was in grade school, I was the "lucky one" to have to share a locker with the child who was known to always get head lice.

You could try LiceMD for a more natural fix. The chemicals are hard on people's bodies. I got lice from my kids many years ago. I never suspected because they were homeschooled, where could they get lice???? But they did. Probably from church where coats hang together.

You will get through this, and so will your child. No one will remember or tease her for long. It is just something that happens.

As you may recall, each year in the fall, when children are back in school.
We feel strongly that parents should be informed that conventional lice treatments
which contain pesticides can be harmful to children, and that there are safer and
more effective natural treatments available.

Here are just a few
testimonials that I thought you might appreciate seeing:

"I recently watched a friend's daughter for five days while she
was out of town. The daughter spent four nights in the beds,
using the blankets and pillows of my daughters, and using our brush.
The evening of returning to her home, my friend called me to tell me
her daughter had head lice. She just spent five days with us! I'm glad
to say none of us got the lice and I credit it to the Melaleuca products!
I spray the kids beds and pillows weekly with Sol-U-Mel, I use MelaPower
for the laundry, and we regularly use the Melaleuca Naturals Shampoo.
I can say from experience that Melaleuca oil repels head lice!"
- Marcie W., MI

"It's true! Just a few weeks before I read your article (last year)
my niece had lice. My sister washed her hair with Melaleuca shampoo
and oil while I scrubbed her room. It worked GREAT! Thanks to "The
Melaleuca Wellness Guide" my sister became a consumer right then!"
- Mary S., TX

"I just wanted to share that I too battled head lice with my children
for a long time. My kids are constantly exposed to head lice because
they play with a child who seems to keep it. It seemed every few months,
I was being told my kids have it again. So I got out my "Melaleuca Wellness
Guide" to see which products I should use. Once I got rid of the bugs and
nits, I began to use the Melaleuca Oil Shampoo on my kids faithfully every
night. Since I have started that, they have not gotten the bugs again."
- Sheila R., AR

If you would like to learn more. Please call me. I would love to show you the "natural" approach.

J.
____@____.com

Hi L., I went through this for several years with my daughter. We went to an inner city school and almost every fall she would get it. A couple of suggestions. After you are done with the nitpicking cover her hair with baby oil and a plastic bag and leave it sit overnight.(Make sure you use an old pillow case that can be tossed. Then wash her hair for the next week with T-sal shampoo. The oil suffocates any live lice that you missed and the T-sal will dry out any eggs that are left on her hair. I know it sounds messy but it will prevent you from having to do it again in a week or two.
PS. I tried to tell my daughter (who was ten) that now she had to spend bonding time with me (due to the picking) and she just gave me the biggest glare. If you have any questions you can email me at ____@____.com

Jen

OH, I almost forgot. Also Febreeze (generic too) works wonders for killing lice on furniture, mattresses, any surface that if hard to vacuum. The alcohol in it kills everything.

I know how you feel, they make you feel kinda dirty and gross, but, be confident in yourself they like a clean environment and when it's all behind you, well, it's behind you. I had them years ago as an adult, and it was gross, now, well, it's just something that happened- I really just dont' talk about it.

We've never had it but i just wanted to say atleast it came during summer. Noone from school has to know and it won't be embarassing for your school age child. That's my biggest fear my daughter getting lice and everyone at school knowing and teasing her.

We haven't had to deal with this yet and I dread when we do cause Kids are mean! However, just keep explaining that you can't share hats/combs/etc... and it happens to many kids. My friends that have had it though swear by Mayonaise! They say that is better than all commercial products and kills them quick. Good Luck!! Keep your head up and don't let your kids see you stressing about it or that will get them stressing more.

I completely feel for you. It completely drains you. I remember reading the facts on the internet and everything I had to do to treat it and I cried, literally. I knew right then and there that there was no way I could do all that. I was a college student, single parent, with my Mom helping babysit. My mom's a packrat so the apartment was filled and I had no place to 'quarentine' items. My daughter wasn't even in school, so we still don't know where she got them other then maybe the public library kids area. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

First off, other than wash the bedding that we were sleeping on, I never cleaned any other surface, clothes or stuffed animals. (There was simply too much of them and no where to quarentine)
Secondly, along with my 3 year old daughter, my mother and I both got them from her. My mom and I both have thick hair that is past our behinds. We hate the idea of chemicals so I went on the internet to search for safe ideas. My sister had used mayo on her kids hair but she also took 6 months to get rid of it. So I didn't like that option either (plus the mayo gets a bit rancid on your head when it gets warm).

Solution: OLIVE OIL ( I haven't seen that posted yet an any comments) Coat your hair in olive oil, put a plastic bad over it and then a winter stocking hat and sleep with it overnight. The heat and the oil smother the lice. Bonus, olive oil is cheap and natural and as it heats up overnight it makes the hair shiny. Yes, it's oily but here's the rinsing formula. Wash you hair in vinager to cut the oil, Dawn dish detergent to rinse the oil, and then Head and Shoulders shampoo. You still need to get the eggs out of the hair. I took scissors and cut out the strand with the egg rather than try to comb it out because my three year old would cry otherwise. Soak everything, (eggs and scissors) in rubbing alcohol to disinfect.
Hang in there, I know while nit-picking I was crying, because I did my daughters hair, and then my mother's hair (remember long waste-length hair), and then had to continue to mine (no my mom didn't do mine in return, she worked nights and had to sleep). I did my own and cried the whole time because I knew there was no way I was going to get them all. Miracle or miracles though, we got rid of them in 2 days and have never had an outbreak since (knock on wood). LOL, I still have my 'lice kit' as I call it in my upstairs bathroom. I've moved it twice as we've moved to new houses, thinking as soon as I get rid of it, I'll need it. So, I hang onto it and so far never needed it.

Hang in there though, it's tough. Sometimes it does take a good ol' cry to get you through it. Sorry this turned out rather long. Good Luck.

lice only like clean heads...so you and your daughter have great hygiene :) Since it happened before school none of her classmates even need to know about it.

I battled the bugs for about 7 or 8 months with my daughters and I didn't think we'd ever win! Both girls have long thick hair, so that didn't help! I tried 4 or 5 over the counter products, and home remedies too. The final straw was talking to the doctor and getting a prescription for Ovide. It's very pricy! I paid $30 for a one ounce bottle. (that's after insurance picked up their part!) I had to apply it and do the combing/picking thing and then reapply it 7 days later. (Yep, had to pay another $30 too!) It was the only thing that worked. Make sure you clean the bedrooms and bedding as well. Also, if they are in a car seat or booster...spray that down too! Stuffed animals in a bag in a closet for a couple weeks too! I wish you the best of luck! It's not an easy process...but it can be tackled and won!!

Good Morning L.,
Although I live in S.D. now, I did live in Hawaii for nearly 12 yrs and head lice is soooo common in school age children there that the school nurse does a "head check" in every classroom in the elementary school once a month. Each teach knew when their scheduled day was each month and she would line the kids up and the nurse would put on her gloves. I don't know how it happened but my son was the only one out of the family that never got 'em!

Make sure you wash all your bedding in hot water - including the pillows - not just the pillow case. Vaccum until you feel like you'll turn into a vaccum! Make sure you vaccum things like the couch also :-)

Nix can get very expensive so you can always use vaseline on your hair - make sure you coat all your hair and scalp. This sufficates them. When our family had been stricken down with them, we would have a "nit picking" time in front of the tv while watching our favorite show/movie. I would sit on the couch, and my oldest daughter (in high school) would sit behind me on the back of the couch and my youngest (grade school) in front of me and we'd clean each other's hair out.

They are now grown with children of their own and still live in Hawaii. The elementary school STILL does monthly lice checks on the children and my daughter has had to deal with it as a mother with her own children now. It is not a big stigma in Hawaii as it is here on the mainland - it's just part of living in the tropics.

Good luck - it's not the end of the world - just an inconvenience :-)
Blessings,
D.

Head Lice is so common now. When my kids were in school (youngest is now 28), we would get a letter like clock work about a month or two after school started; stating there was head lice in the class or school. We got them once and I know what you are going through. We had a prescription from the doctor, that we used only once. I recommend using NIX a couple of times, this will get any that may hatch after the first time. We didn't spend that much time doing the nitpicking. Make sure you wash all the bedding and anything else your head might have come in contact with. We even washed the curtains, sprayed the couch, mattresses and pillows. I don't remember with what, but it took care of the situation.

My sister-in-law had a daycare in her home and here kids got them 4 times in just a few monthes. She finally refused to take care of the child that kept bringing them in.

Hope this helps. You don't need to worry about your kids being branded. I don't think there are too many out there that don't know somebody who has had a bout with lice.

I had it twice growing up...it sucks. If it makes you feel any better lice prefer clean hair to dirty hair. We used some kind of tar shampoo to get rid of the live bugs, then we used a nix conditioner that was supposed to keep the eggs from hatching. Then you use the special comb to get the knits out. After the conditioner they should come off fairly easy with the small tooth comb. You should repeat the entire process at least one more time in a couple weeks. That's how long it would take for the new batch of eggs to hatch, but not long enough for them to lay their own eggs. You should freeze or boil everything that has touched your hair, and you can get some spray for the couches and chairs and some stuff for the carpet. They are kind of a pain to get rid of so make sure your daughter knows how she got them. Tell her not to try on other kids glasses, or share brushes. Even jackets are a good way to spread lice.

Good Luck!! This too shall pass.

A.

I've never had it myself, but as a teacher, I've heard plenty. My best advice is to make sure that you check your vehicles as well, otherwise you could have another infestation. Many parents clean their whole houses, incl. stuffed animals and all that, and then forget the car, and the kids get lice again.

Also, remember that lice are attracted to clean heads - you're doing a good job as a mom. I know it's tough, but hang in there.

L.
Oh how I feel for you. We went through this when two of my boys, now 12 and 8 were just 4 and 6 months old. What a nightmare. Anyway, after hours a day and hundreds of dollars on rid and nix treatments guess what finally worked? Keep in mind, i'm sure you feel this way now too, i was willing to try anything. It sounds so gross I know but it worked. You smother your head in mayo, put a shower cap on, and leave it over night. I guess this suffocates the lice and the eggs somehow. Keep in mind you still have to go through the whole laundry and stuffed animal and massive vacuuming thing. But I'm telling you the mayo works. As far as laughing about it now, yes I do. I remember finally getting my preschooler to sleep and gently putting the mayo in his hair so carefully as not to wake him up. Hubby and I were laughing histerically every time he turned his head(he'd have nothing to do with it while awake.) Good Luck to you hope you get through it quick!
J.

Oh L., my heart goes out to you!
About 7-8 years ago when my sister was around 8, she got head lice. I was an adult and did not live with my mom at the time. My other sister and brother did live with her, though. The 8 year old had lice chronically for a year. I'm not sure what made her so tasty to the lice, but my mom was able to get rid of them in the other two siblings, but they kept coming back for the 8 year old.
After about 6-7 months of this, the dreaded thing happened - my four year old daughter got the lice. Not only that, but since she slept with me on weekends, I got them too! :(

I was determined that I would not be spending months fighting these disgusting critters the way my mother had, so I was ready for battle. I spent three hours each night combing out my daughter's and my hair (yes, I did my own!) Her hair was halfway down her back and mine was a couple inches below shoulders, so this was not an easy task. I used that licorice-smelling treatment that someone else mentioned, I can't remember the name of it. I used it according to directions, very carefully, and combed out our hair every night for 10 days. I redid the treatment about 8 days later. I also washed our bedding and clothes every single night. Most people will probably not want to be this fanatical about it, but I was so scared that this would turn into the months-long nightmare that my mom was dealing with.

I also packed up all stuffed animals and soft toys and kept them out of sight for about three months! I know this was all overkill, but like I said, I had determination.

I did work full-time while doing this, so it can be done.
I know there are other people on here who recommend tea tree oil. This did not work for my sister. Perhaps my mom just wasn't consistent enough with her other cleaning practices. I do believe that keeping hair gel or hairspray in the hair helps in the prevention of lice.

Basically, nothing is a cure-all unless you are extremely diligent about combing out lice and nits and ensuring that clothing, bedding, carpeting, car seats, sweaters, coats, hats, backpacks, combs, hair accessories have all been treated/sprayed. It is overwhelming, but if you do a thorough job right off the bat, you'll be glad to get rid of them and not worry about reinfestation.

I have worked for child protection services and head start since this has happened, so I still see a lot of lice, but thankfully none of them have been on my daughter or me! :) Good luck.

It happens to the best of us. We had it two summers ago and have no idea where it even got picked up. At the time we had 5 kids and a baby. Everyone had it but the baby. We got online and found some great stuff and you don't have to go nitpicking either. It smells good as well. I am drawing a blank on the name at this second, but at least you caught it.

Hopefully, this will be your only experience with it!

Good luck!!

A.

Tea Tree Oils aka Melaleuka Oil is basically a Turpentine class of chemical with Eucolyptus called ceoline with it sometimes.
They are very powerful and could harm the user!
If done with education and care can be effective but if not could cause serious illnesses even if short term.

Of course LICE need something to get rid of them, just realize it can be dangerous for the user of the treatment. Nioxin I heard causes cancer? Tea Trea oil could cause a coma and leukocytosis. It absorbs into the skin to do good but also could be harmful potentially to.
Look up Turpentine which it is related to in some ways! If used must be tested and used with extreme care.

http://www.exoticbird.com/gillian/teatree.html

http://aztec.asu.edu/makingscents/articles/Tea_Tree_Artic...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dangers+of+turpe...

http://www.healthmad.com/Alternative/Tea-Tree-Oil-Medicin...
Interestingly, Some use Vaseline or Mayonaisse. Vaseline is a byproduct result of oil wells that pull oil from the ground. Vaseline was discovered a left over thick clear sunstance. No wonder Lice don't like it.

Vaseline is white petroleum jelly.
It used to be considered good to rub vaseline on a nose when dry, cracked etc. but it has been found to be pulled up by cilia into the body and is not too good then. It is based from Petroleum which is Oil or Petrol.