Head Lice in Kids: What Worked for You? Tips? What About the Entire Home?

When my daughter had the head lice from hell, none of the treatments in the drugstore worked, AND they dried her hair out something terrible. Finally, I took Adams flea shampoo, put it on her hair while it was dry, worked it in, and let it sit for about 20 minutes, then had her get in the shower, lather it up and rinse it out. Worked beautifully. I combed tons of dead lice out of her hair, and the conditioners in it helped reverse the dryness from the other stuff.

I stripped her bed and washed her sheets and pillow cases, and sprayed her mattress and pillows with Adams flea spray.

Supposedly, the active ingredient in Rid and such is the same as in the Adams, but the Adams worked when Rid didn't, AND was a lot cheaper.

Apparently, chlorine kills them, so if they have a chance to go swimming, that might be helpful.

We went through it a lot after last years soft ball. Went a year without, so really happy now. The thing that worked (and I was happy to use) was a homeopathic remedy for lice sold at CVS. I still have the prevention spray, so the name is Quite Nits. I loved it. However, just for protection, she will have to buy a good lice comb and go through her hair every other day for at least 10 days to see if she finds anything. To do that, have her wash the hair and put a conditioner in, and leave it lightly in so she can comb through easily, Then try to go through every grouping of hair (depending on how thich her hair is), and then wipe the comb on a white cloth to see if anything comes off. Eggs hatch within 10 days, and neborns start laying eggs in five days). So if she goes 10 days without finding one, she is clean. If she finds one, then go 10 days from that. If it looks tiny, it likely have not reproduced yet, but for safety, she may want to go the 10 days.

Remind her that it has nothing to do with cleanliness (actually, lice like clean hair because they can not cling well to oily hair). It is just part of being a parent. Godd luck to her.

We had it in my sons class. They sent everything of his home to be washed in hot water and then we had to put everything in big ziplock bags until they were sure it was gone. They did checks every day for almost a month. One of his friends got it and they just had to get the treatment shampoo and I think could go back to school after 24hours. We bought a shampoo that is supposed to be preventative and deter lice and used that every day and now do it periodically just in case. We didn't really do anything on ourselves or at home, but I also knew they were checking him every day. Otherwise I would have done my own checks.

WOW! Such a wide range of answers. We have four children and went through the "lice" incident, I think it is a right of passage for all families. We tried the rid but it didn't work very well. Speaking... or crying to my mom she told me about the Mayonnaise treatment. Soak the head in mayonnaise and put a shower cap over the head and sleep like that. Spray down in the morning with warm water and nit comb. Worked awesome! Then we used Dawn dish washing liquid to wash the mayonnaise out followed with conditioner. We put all stuffed animals in garbage bags and set them in the garage for 6 weeks. Of course washed all sheets, blankets and sprayed down the mattress. Don't forget to spray your car seats if they are clothe. It'll be okie dokie...it doesn't feel like it at the time but they will survive! Good Luck!

Wash hair Fairy Tail (sp?) all natural anti-lice products l -- and hire one of those lice picking companies to comb through (or do it yourself) -- will take at least an hour .

The companies who do this professional will tell you to sleep in the conditioner (smothers them) and use it more twice a day and comb through.

Then do a big combthrough in ten days when eggs might rehatch. Chemical stuff only kills the live ones, not the eggs! Only way to get rid of those is to comb it through

Put stuff in plastic bags that you can't wash (they can't live for more than four days without a host.

Blow drying hair helps a bit, too - seems the critters don't care much for any kind of heat!

Go to headlice.org. So many of the old wives tales are just a waste of time and don't do anything but take up time.

You've received great answers and I won't be repetitive. My kid's child care and school got it EVERY year. It was awful and became expensive. You can get a strong prescription, but after a while, I used the mayonaise method and saw that somebody else mentioned it to you. anyway, it worked GREAT and was very inexpensive

Lice MD works great and is not as harsh as the RID. I "nit picked" my daughter's hair twice daily and she was free & clear within about 3-4 days. Keep conditioner on their hair or olive oil as it helps the nits come out easier and supposedly suffocates them. Put bedding/stuffed animals in the hot wash. Sorry your friend is going through it. It does stink!

I would suggest that your friend read the following. This is a peer-reviewed clinical report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2010/...

I realized after I read it that there is a LOT of misinformation about head lice out there. Bottom line, 99% of what people will tell you about head lice is completely wrong, AND people don't need to over-do the treatment as much as they think they do. For instance, steam cleaning carpets? No need. Did you know - there is only a 4% chance of catching head lice even if you share the same pillow as someone with head lice! Yep, scientific fact. So, check out the link, and see what you think. I felt a lot better once I was armed with factual information. I felt a lot better about how to treat my daughter's case of head lice safely and effectively. We did as the report suggested (treat with Rid on day 1, and again on day 9) and that's it. The head lice went away, and hasn't come back since. We did not take any extreme measures at all. Washed her sheets, and that was it.

I hope that helps!

A friend of mine used mayonaise on her daughter, she sais it smothers the lice. and theresof course no chemicals. J.

My good friends husband owns an "all natural" head lice company...

http://www.clearlice.com