Lice Outbreak in Our Home Please Help!

Please go to headlice.org and read how to do this from a good site. There are many many many old wives tales that don't do anything to fight head lice.

After using the traditional RID and cleaning everything, I used heat. After every hair washing, I would blow dry the hair till very very dry. If hair is extralong, I'd use a flat iron. If you're worried about the pillows/pillowcases, put them through the dryer for an extra long cycle. If you can, put larger bedding in plastic bags and in the garage/shed for a minimum of six months (away from pets and humans). This worked for me.

I feel your pain, we went through this when my girls were younger. The first treatment with RID failed so I called the doctor. The nurse told me that the lice were becoming resistant to it. She told me to use mayonnaise and it worked! This is what you do:

Thickly coat the hair with mayonnaise (any brand will do)
Cover the hair with a plastic bag or shower cap and let sit for 3 hours.
During this time the mayo may start to melt and run a little, put old towels around their neck, like a hairdresser does. Also, cover any furniture, they sit on with old towels blankets.
After 3 hours, wash out with shampoo. Apply a thick coating of conditioner and comb through with a fine toothed comb. I used the two-sided baby combs I got from the hospital.
After you have comber through the all the hair, from scalp to tip, rinse and dry the hair. Lastly, use a flat iron to straighten the hair in small sections. You need to turn the heat up and do small section from root to tip.
The mayonnaise smothers and live lice, combing the hair with conditioner on removes the eggs. And flat ironing kills anything you missed. I've used this method on two different occasions and it worked awesome both times.

For the bedding, we washed it in hot water. We vacuumed the mattress, floors, couches and carpets. All toys that couldn't be washed went into the dryer on high for 20-30 minutes or in plastic garbage bags for 30 days.
This was an all day job, BUT it was some thing that only has to be done once, we never had a reoccurrence. I rechecked their hair and nothing was there. The school nurse was so amazed, she wrote down the instructions to to give out.

While having lice makes your skin crawl, it doesn't pose a health threat. So take a deep breath and start again. And when you're done, take a hot bath and have a glass of wine ;-)

Yes, EVERYONE in the family... has to ALSO be treated, all at the same time.
You have to daily, check your heads.
The life cycle of the Lice has to be known.
And you need to keep re-checking your hair/heads, daily, until ALL the life cycle of the Lice has been eradicated.
Otherwise, it will keep coming back.
And you have to treat or throw away, anything that is slept on or used by your daughter and your whole family.
Even a car seat, has to be checked or treated. For example.

Look it up on Google.
Get the necessary products.

At my kids' school, a kid cannot go back to school until the are lice free. And the Health Room Aide, checks the child. For example.
OR, go to your Pediatrician or Doctor, and get medical advice for it and the treatments needed.

My daughter and I both had it. I did the lice treatment on her and my hair. I also dyed my hair not long after and I heard that kills the buggers. Anyway. we also stripped all the beds (including pillows) and I washed them in hot water and hot heat dry (after they were most of the way dry).I bagged up any stuffed toys and such and put them in the garage in quarantine for a bit. I threw out all the hair brushes and bought everyone their own color coded comb. Once I did all that I then vacummed the bed tops, floors in the bedrooms, couches, carpets and car seat covers (at least the head part). They don't really like to leave the host but just incase clean everything. Then I put new bedding on all the beds. I also nit combed (buy it in any pharmacy) all of us a few times a day to get anything else we missed after the initial comb out. I think doing the nit comb makes a big difference. We did the retreatment of the lice shampoo as directed and then we were done. I brought back the stuffed animals after a few weeks and so far we have not had them again. You just have to wash and vacumm everything as well as cleaning (or throwing out) your combs/brushes and treating your heads. I started with our heads and worked from the top down in the house. It really wasn't that bad.

Oh, and make sure you teach your kids about now touching heads with anyone, using other peoples brushes/hats/hair stuff, etc. Otherwise you'll just get it back again.

Thanks for making my head all itchy by the way!

Invest in this stuff for all year through and for your current problem. We love it! (I am not a salesperson, just a satisfied customer!)

http://www.fairytaleshaircare.com/

Oh, man. We had them last fall and I was so freaked out!!! First, treat everyone's head and use the comb to get them out, including the eggs. They are tiny. We just so happen to have a microscope and I checked every little speck with it and most of them were eggs or the castings(egg shells). NASTY!!! If the egg is brown, the bug is still in it and if it is whitish color, it has hatched. http://www.liceremovallosangeles.com/Pictures-of-lice-and... I boiled their combs and brushes every night too.

Then we put Tea Tree oil in everyone's shampoo. You can find it at a health/vitamin store. It doesn't take much. (about 10 drops for every 8 oz of shampoo.) Treat all heads again with the RID after the amount of time specified on the box. You must do this!!

Then you need to vacuum everything including furniture, mattresses, etc. I even moved the furniture/beds and vacuumed underneath. Wash all window treatments. Wash quilts, blankets, bedskirts, etc. Put all stuffed toys, pillows, decorative pillows, and anything else with stuffing in large black plastic bags and set out in the sun. I sprayed the rid spray in the bags for good measure. I actually put ours in the attic for a few MONTHS and then washed everything in hot water. I sprayed the furniture with the Rid spray and covered them with sheets. Every piece of clothing needs to be washed asap. NO throwing clothes in the hamper. I vacuumed daily for several weeks because if they hatched out, I wanted to suck them up asap. I also checked everyone's head daily. I may have gone overboard but we didn't have another outbreak and got rid of them the first time. We still put tea tree oil in everyone's shampoo as a deterrent, though. I don't want to ever experience that again! Good luck!

We were lucky enough to not go through this. However at the start of elementary school, I had the entire Rid product line set up in my laundry room which is where I planned for daughter to go if I got " the call " from school. That area was closed off.

Still I knew of the enormous cleaning job that would be ahead of me with stuffed animals, etc.

I did purchase a spray ( like bar spray) to use daily as a deterrent and during the outbreaks, we used this daily.

My niece had lice several years ago. She was visiting at the time and it kept reoccurring. We took her to the Dr. in desperation and he suggested putting mayo, yes mayo, in her hair. Coat her hair in gobs and gobs of mayo. Then put a bag over the hair and let it on for like 6 hours. It's supposed to suffocate the nits and bugs. It really did work for her. We never had another outbreak after that. Good luck.

No need for chemicals....For your heads, the cheapest condition you can find, plastic combs with thick and thin spacing, and a GOOD metal comb made to comb lice (not plastic), available at Ulta.
Put the conditioner in and start combing with the wide spaced comb, wipe with paper towel after each stroke. After you are tangle free, switch to the thin spaced comb and repeat. Then use the metal comb. Keep adding conditioner so you don't rip your hair out. Plan on 2+ hours for long hair. It's best to do outside if you can, otherwise do it in the tub. Comb until there is nothing left, lice or eggs. Wash your hair and use product like leave in conditioner or gel.
Wash all your bedding. Vacuum everything. Bag stuffed animals. Put sheets down on all furniture to create a barrier and wash every other day.
Take a lint brush with the masking tape to your bedding every morning to collect and inspect.
As for the adults, do the same process then get your hair colored...they can't survie it.
Every time you wash your childs hair, inspect and repeat as necessary.

We have been dealing with lice for quite a while. I finally shaved my head, but I still couldn't get rid of it from my toddlers head. You will probably get several answers like "the only think that works is...", but here goes- the only thing that has EVER worked for us I just found two weeks ago.

It's called Quit Nits. Everything I have ever tried from RID to bleach(yep--ouch) did very little. Even if it killed the bugs the nits are terrible-if you miss one it will come right back. The Quit Nits is the only thing I've ever used that killed every bug and so far every nit. I've combed some nits out of her hair the last two weeks (you always miss some-ALWAYS), but they were ALL dead.

I understand from personal experience that what works for one person may not work for someone else, but I highly recommend trying this. Also, it's not a pesticide treatment so you can reapply as many times as it takes. I'm hesitant to say our outbreak is completely gone yet, but it's been two weeks and I haven't found a single live louse or nit. Good Luck

My oldest daughter is starting school in the fall and a big concern of mine is - LICE! Thankfully we haven't had to deal with it before and I never want to but I know that elementary schools are breeding grounds for it so Im worried. Anyway, with that being said Im sorry that I cant help you with your current situation but I have been in told that tea tree oil is a natural way to get rid of those nasty suckers and apparently putting a few drops either into a spray bottle of water and adding to your wet hair after shampooing or adding a few drops to your shampoo/conditioner works to help repel them from ever wanting to make your head a home.
Good Luck and hopefully you clear up this problem and maybe post how you did it so we know what works and what doesn't

First off do the stuff on the rid box. do it and then in a week do it again and in a week again. now besides that do the following
get the spray rid stuff
spray
backs of the couch
backs of the car seats
all the pillows on the couch
get rid of her pillows on her bed. buy a new one and bleach the bedding your using. spray her mattress and headboard with that stuff.
some people keep the stuffed animals in a bag. i toss them . ALL of them that can't be bleached and run through hot water and dryer.
clean all of her clothing. you don't know how long she has had it. so get all the winter stuff out coats hats and scarves and clean them really good.

last resort (and I did this) get her hair cut super super short. you might have to do it as a salon won't or shouldn't touch her while she has lice. get everyones hair cut short and follow the directions exactly.

I only have boys, so I feel your pain with the long hair. We used Rid, and it did not do the trick (not saying Rid is bad, but it didn't work for us that time). I did the mayonnaise, and it worked! I found it very gross, but I'm so glad I did it.

If you are able to go away for the weekend, you can avoid a lot of the work. Lice cannot live without a human host for 24 or 48 hours (I forget what it is). So if you are ready for a vacation, I'd be tempted to pack, treat your hair, comb it out and walk out the door for a few days. When you come back the lice will all be dead, and you should be good to go. But I would probably vacuum and wash the bedding because I wouldn't like the idea of dead bugs.

Momof2 is right, the mayo treatment works great! Also, lice do not pose a health risk. They just gross us out.

My boys had it a few years back. I washed their hair according to the directions on the bottle (R&C was the product name), combed daily with a metal nit comb, changed sheets, put stuffed animals in a bag, did a quick vacuum of the sofa, and washed their hair a second time a week later. They were all gone and have never been back. It is likely that the rest of the family already had it when discovered your daughter had it, they were just not yet visible.

The last time my GD had it, I switched from RID to Lice MD. RID was not working. One treatment with Lice MD along with cleaning/washing/spraying everything and getting new brushes and combs and we have been lice free for 2 years! Yahoo!

I had a hard with my daughters as well..I tried all the shampoos and my Dr. even prescribed some shampoo which didn't work. What did work was putting listerine on their hair and putting a shower cap on for 2 to 3 hours. Than wash out and put Cocnut Conditioner ( I used Suave brand) and comb out their hair. Listerine kills the lice and dries out the eggs.