Solution for Head Lice Needed

Saturate the head with olive oil and wrap in a plastic bag. We used a trash bag, secured with a rubber band.
Leave on at least 8 hours.
Wash out the oil and comb with a nit comb.
Continue nit combing every day for 7 days.
If you find more bugs or nits, repeat the olive oil and do another 7 days.

Of course you have to wash all bedding, hats ect. with hot water and vacuum the house , furniture and cars.

Some kids just seem to have the right "scent" and attract the little buggers. My kid had them twice within three years. The chemicals just don't work and I've been told they can be dangerous.

I know that this might sound somewhat unconventional, but it works. Go to the ethnic/black hair care section of your pharmacy and buy a jar of 'Blue Magic' hair grease. Don't choose anything that says "light". Get the blue or green kind. Also buy a bottle of shampoo for oily hair from that same area of the store. Part your son's hair in 1/2 inch parts and literally slather on and cover the entire part with the hair grease. Continue through his entire head, place a plastic cap or bag over his head for the night, or if you don't feel safe with that, have him sleep with a towel wrapped around his pillow. In the morning use the nit comb to remove any nits or lice and wash his hair with the new shampoo. This works because the hair grease smothers the lice and nits and they die within hours. Good Luck

Honestly I haven't had the time to read every single post... so I'm sorry if I repeat things. My sister battled lice in her 7 yr old stepdaughters hair every time she came back from her moms for literally two months. My daughter got it from her once and I immediately tried this Fairytales hair care product rosemary repel for lice & other bugs. Its a natural product... that you can get at many of the hair salons these days. It worked amazingly well. They have a whole line that do everything from treat to prevent. I now use the leave in conditioning spray on my kids hair every time that we know we're going to be around a group of kids...and at my sisters. Ok, back to my sisters stepdaughter. They didn't really believe that the product would work, so she didn't run out and buy it. She finally after two months called the Health Dept who told her to use white vinegar on her hair... let it sit for a few minutes wrapped in a towel...then rinse. The vinegar loosens the nit glue. It worked. She got lice again though...and finally after seeing my daughter was not getting reinfested tried the Fairytales products... shampoo, conditioner, etc. Once she used it and has used it on a regular basis they have had no problems with reinfestation. Good luck! I know its a bear to deal with and get rid of.

Well, with a boy it is pretty easy, if you are willing to shave his head! Unfortunately, I have three girls, so that wasn't an option.

I have found that the two things that work well, are fairytails hair care. They've got a great website that you can order their products from. Also, between outbreaks, I like shampoo with tea tree oil. Just get a plain shampoo, like White Rain, and put several drops of the oil in and mix.

Good luck,

S.

My advice is to try Tea Tree Oil. You can buy it at Wal-Mart or Nature's Pharm. It's organic, and totally safe, and it works at getting rid of lice. Just mix about a teaspoon with the normal amount of conditioner you would use for your son and put it on his head with a plastic shower cap and leave on for 10 minutes or so. Repeat the process once every other day for 5 days to make sure that any that you may have missed will be killed. Then add about 2 tablespoons to your conditioner or shampoo and use it normally to keep them away. This is the process I used on my daughter (after using the prescription Ovide from her Ped.) and she hasn't had lice for over a year now. Hope that helps!

I can sympathize. My kids have had lice several times, and the last one seemed like it would never clear up. Your doctor is right...those prescriptions are very dangerous and lice are actually becoming resistant to them. I have used a product from the local health food store that contained essential oils...lavender and tea tree oil among them. It worked very well, but I can't remember the name. The lice were literally jumping off onto the towel...disgusting. I can check into the name if you need me to.

Also, go to www.headlice.org. Their site is wonderful, and their comb is as well. I was able to find it at Walgreens a number of years back, but don't know if it's sold there anymore. The most important thing to do is comb out the hair carefully and check obsessively for nits. Once you think you've got them all, check on a regular basis.

The website also explains why, contrary to what is regularly suggested, you do not need to torture yourself washing everything in the house, etc.... I did that the first time, and it was exhausting. It's not so overwhelming to just follow their recommendations. Just comb and do regular checks. It will be gone pretty quickly. Good luck!!

Mayo with a bag does help. You can also try hair and scalp conditioner. It is a jar for about $4 and you find it with colored peoples hair products. Goop it on and put on a bag and leave it for a couple hours. Do these things every 7 to 10 days for three or four times to make sure the lice are all dead and won't come back. With a boy the easiest way to get rid of lice to buzz his head.
To prevent lice you can use Herbal Essence shampoo, original white rain shampoo. There is an ingredient in it that repels lice.

Good luck

I use Tea Tree Oil, mixed with dawn dish soap...than after that than I use white vinegar for a rinse...but since vinegar is like an antiseptic it can cause the skin to itch and become irritated and red...sometimes it burns too. But 10drops of tea tree oil to 4oz. of shampoo or dawn dish soap. Let sit for 15 to 20 min. Rinse, than rinse head with white vinegar and shampoo. If I'm wrong, you can google it in how to make homemade solution for headlice. My 11year old ended up with headlice so bad, that I wanted to shave her head, because she had long and thick hair...and I didn't want to have to comb through it and pick every nit out..so I cut her hair to chin length, and combed throughly, than pick what I can. Than did the tea tree and dawn soap...combed through adding the vinegar...after 10 min. I rinsed out her hair, combed through again, and picked out what I seen...than I shampooed her hair with regular shampoo, combed through again, rinsed....conditioned her hair, combed again..rinsed. Gone through her hair again with to try to remove all what I can again and to see if there were any live lice left. Didn't see anything, so I checked again the next day, I did this for 2 weeks straight, just checking her head. Good Luck!

I dont know how to get rid of your sons lice, however start using shampoo with tea tree oil in it immediately to keep your daughter from getting it. Lice hate the smell of tea tree oil and so they won't get on her. American Crew shampoos all have tea tree oil and Paul Mitchell makes one as well. My stepsons siblings alll had lice but I always use tea tree shampoo on him, just in case, and he never got it!

Hi L.,
I've walked in your shoes. I too was at the end of my rope. I called a company called Discreet Lice Removal. A nurse came to my house, checked the entire family (free) and treated my 2 kids that actually had lice. They used organic products (very important to me) and told me exactly how to clean my house. I really just vacuumed and made sure I dried the clothes well. We have been lice free ever since. Give them a call ###-###-####. They gave me plenty of lice facts over the phone. I live in Macedonia but they cover most, if not all, of northeast Ohio. Good Luck! Keep us posted.
PS. www.discreetliceremoval.com

Believe it or not I had the same problem with my daughter when she was only 8 months old. I was really hesitant to medicate her or wash her hair with chemicals because she was so young.

I did the mayo thing. You can also do the same thing with Johnson's baby oil. I am told that it needs to be Johnson's. As you were told, you sit with a plastic cap for an hour. I did it longer just to make sure. Then rinse it with vinegar. This takes the stick out of the larva so it will separate from the hair. Then wash as you would otherwise.

It worked but again, she was young and had a lot of hair for an infant but not as thick as a young child.

Good luck.

L.
Mom to 2 year old girl

Have you heard anything about putting all their stuffed animals in plastic bags? I don't know about treatment, but I had lice as a kid and I will never forget I had to put all my dolls, stuffed animals (anywhere that lice might live) in a plastic bag until all the lice were gone. Sorry I can't give you more info but you might want to check that out! Good luck!!!1

I read through most of the responses, hoping not to repeat. The kids I work with at the Elem. school seem to be more prone to lice. I got it twice now, once from a student and my son brought it home from his school.
Your doing the hair...

What about the car?

The toys need to be bagged, with ALL air smooshed out of the bag for a month. Their life cycle is a month. If one is laid the day you bag and only do it for a week or two the nit will still hatch and your back to square one. You can't smother a nit.

What about ANY furniture in the house? Lice can live without a host for up to one week. If one falls off your son, onto the dining room chair and crawls to a crack for 3 days then crawls out and onto a family member, you have to start all over again.

To get rid of lice it seriously takes 2 days of full house cleaning, then keeping it up for 6 weeks, with weekly bedding changes, and repeating whatever treatment 2 weeks after the first (I prefer no matter what).
The nurses at my school have physically gone in and done this for 3 families.

L.....If you live in the Cincinnati area there is a beauty shop that sells products just for that. It is "Hair Care II" on Galbraith Road near Plainfield Road. The stylist is Dena. She has products that kills lice, shampoos to keep from getting it, etc. Check her out soon, as she is leaving the end of the month.

try vinegar leave it on for @ 30min it works wonders tht is what i had to use

watch the ones you have used rid is the one i used.but you have to clean the whole house and each others heads.its in the house follow directions on rid headlice box.also alert the school if he goes someone there could be giving it to home

We used RID. It worked for me, I had a small case. My sister had a much larger case and it did not work with her. The mayo worked. My mom put it on her hair, (and mine just for the sake of doing it) put shower caps on and sent us to bed. When we got up in the morning she took the time to wash all the mayo out, picked through our hair multiple times that day and the next day (and probably a few more days). It worked to get them out of our hair. We got new brushes, all our pillows were put in plastic for a few days, along with new plastic baught and put over our matresses. Vacuum daily not just the floor but all furniture, and wash everything in hot water that is possible.
Its been a few years, but I think it took about two weeks to totally get rid of them. 3 doses of the RID, one round of Mayo and TONS of laundry, vacuuming, picking through hair.

Nix is about the best product for this but you have to pick out the nits they are eggs laid by the lice.You could always give your son a crew cut and get rid of most of them. Be sure you wash all beddings in very hot water and dry them well. You could also go to your local health department and they can suggest a few things.
My sympathy is with you , when I worked at Head start we had a out break of lice and more than half of the children got it that's over 50 out of the 100 we had every day. But the children who had hair spray on never caught them.

I have had to deal with lice a few times. My daughter got it up in college and absolutely nothing would work!! I called the doctor and they suggested using Cetaphil facial cleanser. You put it on, making sure you have it on thick and at the roots. Leave it for 5 minutes. Blow dry your hair completely after the five minutes. Then leave the lotion in your hair overnight. After that, remove all the nits and lice you see. You can then wash your hair. Repeat this once a week, if needed, for up to a month.
This was the only thing that worked for my daughter!
By the way, I can understand how nerve-wrecking this can be. The biggest thing is to make sure that you are getting the nits all out that you see, otherwise they end up hatching and it just starts the whole cycle over again.
Good luck!!!

buzz his head down as far as possible. I would only give that advice for boys. Put all stuffed animals and other cloth toys in plastic bags for 3 weeks. I would include your daughters things too. Also wash everything in hot water or high heat, a couple times. If you have caught the outbreak before the first eggs hatch, then it's good. If not I would have your husband check your hair, and you check your daughter's hair. If after two weeks, nothing can be found in your and your daughters hair, then you are safe.

Your doctor is right to be concerned. Lice rememdies like Rid and Nix are pesticides. Use them sparingly, if at all, because they are poison and they can be lethal if used too much.

There are wonderful all natural, SAFE products that work well. One kind I can think of is called Fairy Tales. You can get it online. I have also heard that Kiddie Kuts and similar places sell it as well. These can be used daily and are safe. I have heard that Queen Helene's Cholesterol Ttreatment works well too.

There are also lots of home remedies, like Mayonnaise and whatnot. These suffocate the lice, but won't do much for the eggs which have not hatched. You have to remove the nits so they will not hatch. Nits usually look like dark dandruff and are not easy to get off.

It is much easier to get rid of it in boys, because they don't mind buzz cuts all that much. Just wash all the linens, put all the stuffed animals in a trash bag for a couple of days.

I have found that if u buy the strongest rubbing alcohol 70% or higher u can find it at walmart or a medicine shoppe make sure u get all there hair wet with the alcohol let it sit there for a lil while then use the lice comb to get them out it should work. We have to do the samething with my neice & nephew when they come for the weekend cuz they always seem to have head lice. As far as the bedding & furn i would go to the lawn & garden section at walamart & buy a big jug of Ortho Home Defense Max u can use that on the couch, beds, curtins, etc plus with summer comming its kills other bugs also u can use in inside & outside

first wash linens in hot water, take all the stuffed animals and bag them in airtight bags and set them outside for several days.
For the hair, yes mayonaise will work, so does olive oil, but you will have to use Dawn to wash it out and it might take several washings. Vasoline works also, but again you need to wash really well.
Since it is a boy,you might want to consider shaving him down and dealing with it after you shave his head, it is only hair and it will grow back. It does indeed make it alot easier to manage,
goodluck

I have two solutions to offer...

The mayonaise thing has always worked for me (the couple of times I've needed to treat anyway). I totally saturated their heads (I have girls so it took quite a bit) and put a shower cap on and left it on for like 4 hours. It takes quite a bit of rinsing to get it out and I ended up using some dish soap. You will have to comb through every single strand to get all of the nits out.

The other option, since you are so concerned about your daughter getting it, is to just shave his head. Since he's a boy, its not really a big deal, and the hair will grow back in no time. Pluse, the weather is getting nicer so you won't have to worry about him getting too cold.

Whatever you do, make sure you are stripping all of his bedding and bagging his stuffed animals. You also need to vacuum all of the soft surfaces in your home. Lice don't live too long once they've left the human body (or pet for that matter), but you don't want to take the chance of missing any.

Sounds gross but mayonaise and listerine. The mayo suffercates the lice and ther listerine burns them out.

Good luck,

Hi L. you might have to shave his head if its that bad and for your daughter put hair product in it, lice hate dirty hair. I spray hair spray in my daughters hair every day.

i might have went overboard when my son had it at age 3yrs., but it was worth it for peace of mind. i bought stuff to spray on the carpets,mattresses, & furniture then vaccumed everything like crazy afterwards. i did that 2 times, 2 days apart.i used the RID-X on him, once when i first saw that he had it & then again 2 days later. with him being a boy, he didn't mind the really short military hairstyle afterwards(he got to look like daddy), but seeing as how you have a girl, i don't think that'll go over too well. if you have pets, i would treat them too and everyone in your household including yourself. they sell lice treatment for pets. when my son got it, i know i easily spent about 65.00, but i wanted to be safe. it's one thing to get them but it's really gross to keep them. good luck & god bless.

Put bedding toys anything fabric in the drier and dry on hot for 30 minutes. Kills them. I would wash the hair and if able use one of those lice combs (could never get it through my hair- too thick) and put hair products on the hair like styling gels or even hair spray. They love clean hair. The eggs won't hold on the hair that has products. You have to wash 2 or 3 times in a few days for the otc products to work. Good luck. We got bed bugs right now. Don't know from where and I was told treat them like head lice. I only saw one live bug in 24ish hours since treatments began.

Hi, I know how you feel , I think i tried everything the drugstore offers for lice, none of it worked,. I know it sounds nuts but the only thing that worked was mayonaise. Try it, it works.

http://www.rosemaryrepel.com/ their products are wonderful. They are sold at cookie cutters hair cuttery.

We had head lice in the fall---5 girls with LONG, thick hair---3 had it,and it kept returning. All of the treatments mentioned worked to a degree including drugstore chemicals (yes, i was desperate, i went there). I really like the natural methods that also help you comb through--ie. olive oil or almond oil. Then, what really got rid of it for good--adding tea tree oil. They hate the smell. We used tea tree oil shampoo on everyone else to prevent them from jumping to other heads. Everyone gets their heads washed in tea tree oil shampoo at least once a month to prevent repeat infestations at school. If you want a source of a good tea tree oil shampoo, contact me.

Hi L.,
I know this probably won't make you feel too much better, but at least you know your child has clean hair. The lice prefer clean hair, because they cannnot stick to or hold on to greasy hair. Yes the RX for lice is very toxic, but so is the over the counter. That is why you are not supposed to repeat the treatments. The mayo does work. I worked in pediatrics for 7 years and it is safe to use and will suffocate the lice. Cover every inch of the childs head and hair with the mayo, put on a shower cap and leave it over night. In the morning wash the mayo out with dish washing detergent. Much safer for you and your child.
Hope it works.
A.

hi I went through this with my two daughters i know how you fell. Wash everthing in the hottest water, also get rid of stuffed animals in a garagebag for a least 7 days. use listorine the yellow kind only. good luck

I have two daughters, they each have had lice at least twice. I know your pain. The first time we had it, my daughter had been scratching her head for a couple of weeks before it dawned on me it could be lice. It seems a friend at school was passing it on to her. Anyway, we used the drugstore pesticide, followed directions about repeating in a week, and spent hours every night combing through her hair. I did it by a sink, so I could frequently rinse the comb, and wash away any nits or lice I found. I painstakingly combed through each strand of hair looking for nits. They look like a drop of water on the hair shaft. I think they washed their hair every night with just shampoo, then I got to pick through. I did this every night until I didn't find any more nits, then would just do a spot check for a couple of nights. It's amazing how hard it is to find every nit. We did also cut their hair to about shoulder lenght to make the search easier.
Good luck to you. I have heard rinsing with vinegar before you do the searching helps loosen the nits, but I don't know.

theres a place called bernadettes lice removal center in willoughby,ohio.bernadettesliceremovalcenter.com
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The beauty of your son being the one to get it, is that you can shave his head (not completely, but a really short hair cut). Makes getting ALL the nits out a lot easier. I was a teacher for many years, and many of the boys just shaved their heads.

I'm a foster parent who has had plenty of experience with lice (lol). The thing that will most likely decide whether you get rid of them or not is not just the treatment of your children, but the house. When we got our second placement, she had lice front to back, side to side and it was very challenging to get rid of them. First, make sure you get rid of the nits. Second, treat their bed linens in HOT water every day for at least a week and put any toys with "hair" or fur in plastic bags for 7-10 days. Third, vacuum the rugs either every day or every other day (and the furniture if you really want to be an extremist). We found that the treatments like Rid did part of the work, but when we were having a really hard time with it, we started putting olive oil in their hair every night or every other night for several hours (with the shower cap on to protect the furniture). We found out later that you should use dishwashing soap to get the oil out because shampoo won't get it all out. At that point my daughter had hair half-way down her back and this was all quite an experience. For my husband and son, we buzzed their hair really short with our electric clippers. The bugs don't like light, buzzing them made them less attractive to the bugs. Lice prefer long, dark hair and are found to be heaviest at the back of the head. There is a LOT of information about how they spread on the internet, as well as how they reproduce (which is good to know so you understand more about what you are up against). I would encourage you to get as educated as possible so you can win the battle with them. Good luck and don't give up. The encouraging thing is that they prefer clean heads, so that your son has them speaks to his cleanliness!

You got some excellent advice. The only thing I have to add is that when you are combing out the nits, dip the nit comb in vinegar and make sure you wipe it off after each comb through. You're going to have to do it several times and make sure you invest in a fine toothed metal nit comb.