Head Lice Prevention - Mount Pleasant,PA

I second the Fairy Tales shampoo and conditioner ...

http://www.fairytaleshaircare.com/all-products/rosemary-r...

FYI ... Target carries it too.

I would use tea tree oil spray in her hats, hoodies, and coat hoods. You could also do a ponytail or bun style and spritz with tea tree/rosemary oil too.

And I agree with not washing hair every day too!

there are products out there that say they repel lice and prevent it. One product is lice shield and you can get it at walmart. We did this when there was an outbreak at my girls school and we did not get lice. Was it because of the product? who knows. Its a combo of different oils that lice supposedly dont like. If the hair is greasy the lice cant attach. We used the shampoo, detangler and balm (think a huge chapstick) that came in a kit and slick their hair into ponytails and braided it. We told the girls to try to not get close to the other kids so they wouldn't get it. I wish you a lice free household!

We just dealt with lice for the first time last month. When our daughter got her hair cut a couple weeks later, she mentioned it to the kid haircut stylist and the woman swore by Fairy Tales brand lice repellant. So, we stocked up on the shampoo and conditioning spray. We had to buy it online, because our local Ulta was cleared out of stock (apparently we weren't the only ones who heard this was the stuff to get). It has rave reviews online, too.

In our elementary school, the rooms have cloak rooms, where all kids hang bags and coats on hooks side by side. Great way to spread lice. I went out and bought giant ziploc bags with handles for each child (pricy, buy worth it) in the class - the teacher assigned each bag to a child (with big labels) and a hook. Bags, coats, hats, everything goes in the bag when they arrive in the morning and the bag goes on the hook. Not only did lice not spread those years (and we've had lice three times in the years without the bags), but the bags kept the cloak rooms much more organized and neat. At the end of the day, empty bags were inverted over the seat back of the child's chair so it would be ready and waiting for arrival the next morning. Easier to take attendance, too, as kids were coming through the door.

Suave Rosemary Mint Shampoo works as well as tea tree oil. Keep their hair braided.

We have not had lice in our family yet...knock on wood ;)

I am another vote for tea tree oil. They sell specific Tea Tree Oil shampoos.

If her hair is longer then keep her hair up in pony tails or pig tails and braided.

Tell her not to share coats,scarves, hats, brushes or hair accessories.

We did see lice go around among a bunch of girls my daughter's age at a slumber party. My daughter didn't get it because she didn't end up staying the night but most of the girls who stayed the night shared the love. Their heads were all bunched together while slumbering on pillows on the floor.

I have a friend who has family that just finished a few months of hell with lice being passed around. She said that in her sister's research, it was stated that lice prefer really cleanly washed hair. They have an easier time gripping the hair shaft when it is squeaky clean and not moisturized by natural oils.

I am not sure if it is true but you might want to research that. It makes sense to me and makes me feel better about going a few days without washing my hair :)

Something my hairdresser told me was that lice do not like hairspray. So when our daughter was young and lice was on my mind, I would daily sprits her hair with some hairspray. Not sure if it worked...but it made me feel proactive :)

Ok..I gotta stop typing. My head is itching now with all these thoughts of lice. Ugh!!

Good luck!!

Thank you for the question. we have a few kiddos at our school with Lice as well. UGH.
I bought tea tree oil spray and reminded my son not to share anything and my daughter as well.

I itch everytime i see the word lice.

many blessings

Put a couple of drops of tea tree oil in your shampoo & conditioner & keep her hair pulled back with lots of product (hairspray, mousse, etc).

There are a few things I learned about the kids and lice.

Lice does not do well in hair that is coated in natural oils.
So try not to wash your child's hair every night. Even better if you can stand it, have them wash their hair every 3rd night.

Lice are attracted to thin, light colored hair. Nothing you can really do about this, but keep it in mind if this is the type of hair your child has they will need to be even more vigilant. . Does not mean thick hair cannot get lice, it is just harder.

Lice can be spread through sharing hats, brushes and combs. The collars of certain jackets, sweaters... Lice can live for a little while on pillow cases and certain fabrics, so no sharing pillow cases either.

I agree that adding or purchasing Tee Tree oil will help.

My boys had lice once a few years ago. They got it from the helmets at a go-cart track. Since that time they have worn the special protective hair nets with the helmets. Teach your kids not to share brushes and hats with their friends, to hang up their jackets and not leave them in a pile with other kids jackets, and to be mindful of not touching heads when playing. If your daughter has long hair it may be a good idea to keep it neat and braided (to keep it from brushing against the other kids). Don't worry too much though. I was always terrified of lice, but when my kids got it I found it wasn't all that scary. I washed their with lice shampoo, washed their bedding, combed through with a nit comb each day for a week, washed again with the shampoo and it was gone for good. Easy. OF course I have boys with short hair.

See if any of the salons carry Fairy Tales shampoo---or order on their website!

For five years I taught in a residential school where I was exposed to lice on at least a weekly basis. I never got it. The only thing I did to avoid it was to be sure that nothing that touched my students' heads touched my head. We had coat books hung far enough apart that kids' things didn't touch each other. We also had no pillows or stuffed animals in our classrooms. Avoiding head to head contact is the only 100% way to avoid getting lice. You could shampoo with a product like RID as a preventative measure, but you can build us a resistance to it and it might not be as effective when you really need it.

I asked our bug man about it and he says lice are attracted to the smell of sweat from the head. I agree with him. With that said, you have to come in contact with them.

The only time my daughter has had lice was while she was in preschool and when she goes to the YMCA. At the Y they lie down on the floor, swim together, throw their bags on the floor in a pile, along with every other no no.

We started making our daughter shower every night and this last summer she never received the gift. She is also getting older and I remind her often not to share brushes or wear each other's hats.

Also, my daughter has pretty dark brown thick hair. It happens to everyone.

Boys are easy.
Brush cuts means it's easy to comb through and less hair for anything to latch on to.
You can't do that for girls.
Just stress to them about no sharing hats, scarves, brushes/combs, hair ties or ribbons, etc.

Keep hair in ponytails, make sure her backpack isn't on the floor in the classroom where it might be touching a backpack with lice on it (sounds crazy but it happens). You can also dab some lavender oil around her hairline, especially at the nape of her neck each morning. Watch for itching. The second you see her itch check her hair right away. If you can catch it early on it won't be such a nightmare. Lice is horrible. Good luck!!

I taught school for many years and never got lice - avoiding contact is the main thing. I would be extremely reluctant to use a chemical product such as RID or others recommended - too many chemicals on the scalp on an ongoing basis just seems to be worse overall than the problem! I don't know about resistance, but in general, using chemicals of any sort helps the more resistant organisms flourish. Look at the huge problem we have from people using antibacterial soaps and lotions - now the super-bugs have proliferated.

I'm actually shocked that the school didn't send home a notice, email or phone recording if this is a problem. I'd be contacting them ASAP to find out the truth and to see what they recommend for treatment. If there is no lice protocol in place, that's a major problem.

Lice are gross, no question, and they can be difficult to get rid of. Unfortunately insects are part of our world - I just went through a problem with pantry moths which are also unpleasant and hard to eradicate, but I managed with only a $14 investment and a lot of putting stuff in the freezer! A friend with a child around your daughter's age had to do 2 lice treatments including the popular mayonnaise one after the basic treatment. It's not fun keeping a kid home from school and keeping parents home from work. But if 5 kids in the school have it, some parent somewhere wasn't too observant of a child scratching. And of course sharing hats and brushes and barrettes is a problem.

If you really want to use tea tree oil, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Not sure if it's good for anything except tea tree sales. It's one of those things suggested as a cure/treatment for a million things, and I'm not sure if those claims are supported by any evidence. And those on line reviews for this product or that (shampoos, etc.) are largely posted by employees or "reviewers" paid by the company, so I wouldn't really trust them.

Just remind her not to touch her head to anyone else's, not to borrow anyone's hat, scarf, or jacket, and not to brush her hair with anyone's brush but her own. Head lice won't jump, and don't willingly leave a healthy head. They tend to transfer when kids' heads actually touch, and less so via the other methods I mentioned. It's actually not as easy to catch lice as you would think, and not as difficult as some people make it to get rid of them. (Literally, shampoo once with Rid, wait 9 days, shampoo again with Rid, done. Seriously.)

French braids and lots of hairspray.product. Lice like nice clean shiny hair that they can latch on to easily. Hair that is a bit dirty or has lots of product prevents them from attaching to the shaft.

I have hear that tea tree oil works, but it smells awful and I would worry about allergic reactions.

We use Rosemary Repel Hairspray by Fairy Tales (sp?) -- I get it at Ulta, but you can also get it online. DD doesn't like the smell, but I like having the protection.

My daughter is 19 now but when it was going around at her school, I sprayed her hair daily with some sort of repellent.. I think it was made by RID.

I also coached her to not use brushes, hats, or play with other people's hair. A lot of girls in a teacher circle setting will sit and braid each other's hair. They don't like it when I (teacher) encourage them not to do it but I am just thinking about their moms at home, like me, who do not want to go through the experience of getting rid of lice!

I've heard that a tea tree oil spray is also good.

My daughter's first grade teacher swore by applying a dab of tea tree oil behind the ear and keeping long hair tied back or braided.

You are lucky that you were informed. My daughter's school has a policy that there is to be no notification, not even to locker mates. The school's claim is "protecting student privacy."

Keep their hair pulled back in a pony tail or braid for a while. Keep checking their hair for a couple weeks. Throw our combs and brushes just in case. Wash linens just in case. Don't share hats in school. No hugging and such for a while.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

Get some Tea Tree Oil from Walmart, it's in the ethnic hair section by the hair dye (usually). Buy a smaller 4-8 ounce spray bottle then put a few drops of Tea Tree Oil in the bottle then add water.

Before styling hair in the morning spritz it with the spray bottle of water after it's shaken up well. Then brush their hair as normal. The Tea Tree Oil stinks to lice plus it makes the hair dirty/slightly oily and the lice don't like dirty hair. They like shiny clean hair so they can lay their eggs and stick them to the nice clean shaft.

Keep her hair in a bun or braided.

There are lice repellants, but they smell really strong and bad. I used to put Coconut Hair Grease/Food? Not sure exactly but it was Coconut Hair something - it comes in a plastic jar that looks something like vaseline - in my granddaughter's hair - it makes the hair slick so the lice can't attach the eggs to the hair shaft. So, even if your child gets a live bug or two, their eggs won't attach to the hair shaft and you can avoid a breakout. And another perk is that after using it regularly for a period of time, your child's hair will be shiny and soft. Win/Win!

If you shampoo w tea tree oil doesn't that repell??? Lots of Google info I'm sure.