Head Lice Treatments - Saginaw,MI

UGH!!! I HATE that! haha I keep a bottle of Paul Mitchel tea tree oil shampoo on hand-they dont like that! Also denorex shampoo...hair spray! If she gets it-treat her-you can also slather vasoline all over(or mayanaise) wrap in saran as long as you can! (all night if pos.) I heard that really works great! smothers them!
CLEAN< CLEAN< CLEAN!! I s the key! empty vacuum bags everytime! spray down bedding, wash pillows and sheets-put stuffed animals in garbage bag outside for 2-3 days. Combs and brushes in ziplock in the freezer...Clean!!!

I know you've gotten lots of responses already but I just wanted to say that lice don't like the smell of coconut. I just use coconut conditioner, Suave makes one. I bought the tea tree oil but I think it stinks. Coconut works and smells good too. Also detangler helped because it kept my daughter's hair kind of slippery, harder for the bugs to hang onto.

there are no treatments you can put on to prevent your child from getting head lice. however teacher her not to share clothes,brushes, stuffed animals, also not to lean against any of her friends head. if she has long hair keep it up in a ponytail or braid so its not swaying around. if shes in school you may want to see if the teacher is doing any thing to keep the coats and hats seperate in the coat closet plastic bags work well.

We've gone through this twice in the last month at my daughter's school - SO frustrating! A friend of mine read that tea tree oil helps. She and I put it on our kids heads every morning for a week after each lice outbreak - thankfully, our kids were spared. My daughter has REALLY long hair so I just put it on her scalp all around her hairline (front and back). Her hair was slightly greasier than usual but not too bad - and if it helped prevent lice, then it was worth it! Also, as other posters have mentioned, make sure that your child's coat, hat, etc are all stored in a plastic bag at school. And if your child still takes naps at school, I suggest bringing in new, clean blankets each day for a week or so (and wash the used ones in HOT water). It's incredibly inconvenient but much better than dealing with lice!

Hello S.,

I use neem shampoo & conditioner. it has neem, tea tree and rosemary oils. which are all used in the treatment. I use it as prevention.

A couple of years ago I got a similar notice from school so I googled everything I could and found this link. I hope it helps!

http://www.homemakingcottage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=94#94

Herbal Lice Treatment

12 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
25 drops Rosemary essential oil
13 drops Geranium essential oil
25 drops Lavender essential oil
5 drops Tea tree oil essential oil
5 drops Cypress essential oil
5 drops Citrus essential oil
3 oz. vegetable oil

Shake ingredients in a shaker i.e.: cruet. Let sit on hair for 2-3 hours. Wrap hair in saran wrap or put a plastic shower cap over the hair. This should do 2 treatments. This is a very effective method of getting rid of these bugs (At least it worked well for my family). Put this treatment on dry hair for best results and then cover with a shower cap.

The most important thing to do to get rid of the lice is to make sure that you get ALL of the nits out. They are the eggs and will hatch. This is the one thing that is not killed by any treatments, even the store treatments. You must pull them out by hand. When my children had lice, I spent hours and hours pulling the nits and the bugs out by hand. We used the beer and the essential oil treatments. If you have any suggestions to add, please email.

-Shiloah Baker

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Beer is another thing that works well in getting rid of lice. After whatever treatment you use, rinse with beer. Let stay on the hair for 30 minutes to an hour and wrap head in a towel. Then rinse it out.

good luck! ~Carmen~

Hello S., There are a few prevenitive ways to keep from getting "cutties". First try braiding your daughters hair, then spray with hair spray. These bugs hate hair spray, and contrary to popular belief, dirty hair. They go for the clean heads, so try keeping a small amount of conditioner in her hair to add some oil. Also take a curling iron or staightener to her hair once a day, this kills any nits that may be missed in a treatment program, so as a preventive measure it cannot hurt. Wash clothing, hats, etc. in as hot of water as possable for the fabric, and dry cloths completely for the added heat. Good luck.

HI!

The only thing I know of for prevention is tea tree oil. You can buy it at health food stores and add it to your shampoo or you can get shampoo with it all ready in it at places like Sally's and I have seen it at Grondin's hair care centers. Lice like clean hair so using hair product also helps keep them away.

As far as treatment if she does get it...Putting mayo(or Olive oil, veggie oil, etc.) in the hair and then wraping it tight with plastic wrap for several hours works but is messy. The oil smothers the living bugs. You still have to pick all "nits" out though or they hatch and you are right back were you started.

good luck! I hope you never have to deal with it!

I have always heard that lavendar shampoo and hairspray work on keeping away the head lice. I always wash my sons hair in the lavendar shampoo and right before he goes to school I always spray his hair really good with the hairspray.

Before I stayed home with my kids I was a first grade teacher. Lice was a fact of life that I didn't want to get even though it was around every year. I don't have scientific proof but I swear by french braids and hairspray. Wash her hair daily with a baby shampoo, braid it before school and hairspray the heck ou of it! Rumors I've always been told were that gels and sprays make it hard for the lice to stick. Good luck!!

A preventative is hairspray. If you spray a small bit hairspray in her hair every day, the lice won't be able to attach to the hair. If she does end up getting it, a natural cure is tea tree oil mixed with olive oil. Let it sit on her hair and then wash it out. Olive oil works best, because it has the smallest molecules to attach to the lice/nits. Good luck!

Our school has had many outbreaks. I have had the same yucky feeling. Some of our prevention methods include-rules on sharing combs, hats, dress-up clothes, etc. Also, tie back your daughter's hair daily. Kids don't have the same sense of boundaries that we do and I often see them huddling together where hair can touch. Spray the hair with hair spray. Lice don't like hairspray. Also, contrary to belief, lice don't like dirty hair. If you skip a night between showers, then it might be better.
Lastily, if your daughter does get lice. Please use the chemicals to get rid of them! The main reason our school can't get rid of the lice problem permanently is because too many parents try the "natural" methods and the lice/nits aren't eliminated completely.
Got to go - I'm starting to itch just writing about this LOL

To prevent head lice I used a volumnizer in my daughter's hair after bath before I blow dry..lice hate when hair is not "clean". She had lice three times in a row two years ago and the third treatment of RID gave her an allergic reaction, she broke out in hives from head to toe from all the pesticides in it. It was horrible, she even had trouble breathing. We got an all natural lice remover from Harvest Health foods that does not contain pesticides. It took longer to use, but it killed all the nits, eggs, and live lice and the RID did not. She hasn't had lice since. Good luck, be wary of pesticides!!

Don't forget to check her hair yourself, everyday. Their are combs that help with the nits. You can get one and have it ready if you see them. If she does get them, you will have to treat everything, including any chair or couch she sits on, so, check her everyday before and after school. If the school has dress up clothes, make sure they are treating them, remove them during the break out. Even if they aren't putting the coats and stuff in bags, you can send a huge ziploc for your daughters stuff, even start taking her to school and undress her yourself and put them in bags. However, I don't know how realistic that is. Remmber, your child might not get, even if you do nothing, but I will definitely keep the hairspray and other tips in mind.

Hi S.
Several girls at in my daughter's grade have gotten it this year! And a few of them were using the Fairytale's line/other sprays (tea tree, etc.). I think their is some prevention you can try, but it is hard to be sure.
After watching what other parents have gone through to get it out of their house (losing their minds and a lot of $$$), I have become a bit neurotic. Every day when my 3rd/4th grader get home from school, I check their hair/scalp. I have a baby in the house and they don't get near her (she has a ton of hair) until I have checked them first. My girlfriend that went through it has described to me in great detail what to look for. The lice can actually move around fast and out of sight, so look for the nits (eggs) near the scalp and attached to the hair shaft. They are small, greyish teeny-little oval shaped things that may look like lint or large dry scalp flakes. Unlike dandruff (prominent in these winter months), it will not move when you try to remove it. If you find a nit, pluck the whole hair right out of the head and flush it down the toilet. I check the entire scalp every day, using my fingernail to part the hair every 1/4 inch, slow and steady. It sounds like it would take forever, but it takes no more than 5 minutes (if that). For further 'possible' prevention, I put my daughter's hair in a pony tail each day (my son's hair is obviously short), spray each of them/their coats from about 6 inches away with a couple pumps each lavender oil-infused water, have them put their coats in their backpacks when they get to school (so as not to touch other coats). I also only have them "wash" their hair once a week even though they may shower several times a week.
One word of caution about using the tea tree oil/lavender oil/other essential oil sprays...not only can they irritate and dry out the scalp, but they are essential oils that can potentially interfere with hormones etc. Do your homework first. Don't spray right into the scalp.
My girlfriend takes everything a couple steps further because they went through it. In addition to everything I just mentioned, once a week she saturates her three girls' hair in olive oil and wraps it in plastic wrap (from whole foods because their store brand has no PVC/pthalates---carcinogens). She leaves the treatment on for hours in hopes of suffocating any living 'bugs'. She washes their hair after the treatment. She also throws their coats in the dryer for 30 minutes on high every day right after school). Like I said, she went through it and is permanently scarred/freaked out. She washes their sheets/pillow cases often too.
I can't be sure that my 'prevention' measures will work, but I feel better knowing that by checking once a day (I make it casual so my kids don't become neurotic too :), if I do get cursed with my kids getting lice...hopefully we will catch it immediately---and before it get to my one year old! (or my husband and me)
As far as treatment goes. I swear I saw an ad for Rite Aid months ago (or one of the major chains) that has a certified treatment that has no pesticides. I know that there is a debate that herbal remedies don't fully work, but I think this rite aid product may be a happy medium. There is no way i will ever put a pesticide on my kids heads...i have read too much frightening 'documented' information on it.

Best of luck and welcome to the neurotic world of Liceaphobia! :)

Make sure her outerwear, at school, is putin a plastic bag. They go from coat to coat, so that is one preventative measure. Wash hats, coats (if possible ) daily. If a coat can't be washed, put it in the dryer, at a high setting for 20-30 minutes. Check daily for 21 days for lice, as some kids will get it, return to school, but really never got rid of it and it reappears 2 weeks later. When someone gets lice is in our school, it is policy that the outerwear goes in plastic bags. Also, keepher hair dirty and goopy. Put hairspray, or gel in her hair, esepcially close to the scalp, and if it is long enough, do braids, or scarfs over her hair until the outbreak passes.

My daughter had head lice when she was 5, so I learned alot. Lice HATE dirty hair (I know, makes no sense), so the best thing to do is not wash her hair frequently. Also, hair gel or hairspray in her hair. Lice do not like. Best of luck...and avoid the nits!! They are awful!!

As a daycare provider I can give you this advice, this was given to me by one of my moms. Spray your child's hair each day with hairspray or you can use hair gel. You don't have to use alot. Lice do not like hair with hair products in it. They like clean hair. So far this has worked.

Make sure the school is putting all coats, hats and backpacks in plastic bags every morning for the 2 week incubation time. That's why we had a 2nd outbreak in my daughter's school last year. They say its not shameful, etc., but my daughter had a friend that seemed to give them to her and I was mortified. It happened 4 times in 2 years! I still get a chill when someone mentions them. I've heard tea tree shampoo, also, and my daughter now ties her hair back every day. Her friend moved. She was so sad, but I was a bit relieved!!!

S., not that i know can you prevent it, i know how horrible it is, i watched my nepehw and he had it, and slept in our kids bed, it was horrible, and disgusting, but rid and those shampoos wont hurt her, wash evertything, and shampoo with the medicated stuff and treat whole family it wont be a bad idea it does work, i bought a small buzzing comb you can use to comb through their hair, or yours, it will buzz lightly and you will hear it stop if it hits a bug and kills it, its a comfort to comb hair with, when its all gone, we never got it but we still treated ourselves, and kept them at bay, for the most part, i had to watch him every day and for weeks i would wash him with the stuff, when he came in the house, since his mom did not know what to do, it kept them down and we did not have an issue, but just do it , and get it over with, hopefully you will never have it again, keep up the good work, and we allknow how it feels, so its just one of those things you gotta do, hang in there, and enjoy life, D. s

my daughter just had it in November. I put rid on her and they didn't die. So I doused her head in vegetable oil and made her sit with a shower cap on for 6 hours. They died. Now I keep lots of hair gel and hairspray on her hair to prevent them from coming back.

Hi S.,

When we got the letter home from my son's class, I went to the health food store and they recommended Neem oil. It was about $8 for a bottle and I just put a few drops in a handfull of shampoo. She told me that the lice hated the smell. We used it and my children did not get lice. I don't know if there is any truth to it or if my son even came into direct contact with the child, but better same than sorry.

there is a line of hair care products you can get at some salons and on line called Fairy Tales (may be spelled slightly differently) it has the rosemary and other things in it and it is safe to use as prevention....if you use a cure for prevention then when you do get it you can't get rid of them. there is a shampoo, conditioner, gel, and I think detangling spray....I used them for a couple years and didn't have an issue with lice. good luck

Be sure to treat the bedding and any other place that your child's head comes in contact with. THis includes the car seats, couch, other pillows etc. Lice are just insects, so they need air to breath, that's why the plastic bag treatment works. I know it's not fun, but it is a reality. Also use the treatments correctly and don't skimp on the rates, because then the lice get sick, but don't die and a resistant strain emerges. This is just part of controlling insects. There is some concern with the increase in lice reportings that some parents have not usee treatments correctly, so there may be some resistance to our current options. The natural options suppress the lice, but may not totally control them. Also continue to check her head. The smaller they are the easier they are to control.

I know you've already done a follow up... but i remember the school sending home a flyer one year (years ago) that said that they found as long as your childs shampoo contained this certain ingredient...and i can't remember what it was now...that they've found it almost worked as a preventative...i checked the back of the bottles, and the Loreal kids line did contain that ingredient. So that is what I use...
My kids are now 16 and 9...and have never contracted lice.