Lice - El Paso,TX

If you are nervous, you can put olive oil on her hair and a shower cap. They can't live like that. My kids slept with it like that...she is little though...so maybe just for the day....

Nit picking is the key. If it is a nit, it will not blow away, it will stick to the base of the hair shaft and you will need to use a finger nail or a fine tooth metal comb to get it off. That is how you tell the difference, nits are stuck HARD. The eggs are light brown in color and are laid on the sclap at the base of the hair, and it grows, and it hatches, the nit is what is left, and is white and about a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch from the scalp. There is a gel that you can buy that has no pesticides in it, you saturate the head at the scalp, and use a lice comb to get everything out of the hair. If she has any eggs, you will see a brownish sandy like deposit in the gel as you comb it through. If you see this, spend several hours combing her hair for eggs until you see nothing but gel. Put on a LONG movie and do her hair over and over again, and inch at a time. Combing is the one thing people overlook. The rest is not as crucial for lice, they have a very specific life cycle and even if you miss a hair on your rug with a live one on it, chances are very slim that it will spread unless you put your head down on the hair within a few hours and leave it touching long enough for the Louse to crawl on your head. Get them where they live, on the head, and do the rest of the stuff, but don't sweat it.

M.

I want to echo what others have said, if your daughter had gel in her hair then the lice probably did not get on her hair. We had lice sweep through when I was in college and those of us with oilier hair never got lice.

If your daughter was with your sisters' children it takes 7-10 days for anything to show in your daughters' hair. If she has ended up with a live bug. They don't hatch until that time. Tea Tree Shampoo is good as well as a vinegar rinse. If your looking for any nits, look around the ears', back of neck, front of head, anywhere where swet appears'. If you notice her scratching anywhere around these areas' check her. The nits when live are almost like a yellowish glue, you can actually see the dark spot in it. I am in Ontario,Canada and have found that most lice products work. Always remember that lice like clean heads' not dirty. Remember to check after your daughter being with your sisters' children and go to the 7days-10days.
Make sure to wash everything in hot,hot water. Any stuffed animals go outside. Lice can live without blood for I believe 90days, if you vacuum, make sure to take bag out of your vacuum, they will stay in there and live, so get rid of bag. If your vacuum is bagless make sure to wash your filter etc. in very hot water. Lice can actually go onto an animal, even though they can't live on their blood and there again the process starts again. If your sister has animals in the home its a good idea to shampoo them as well. Her children should be re-treated within a 7day period, it is so easy to miss just one egg and it starts all over. I did head check in one particular school for 9yrs so I do understand the issues' at hand. Even spray the mattress with a lice spray that is available at your drugstore. Use Detol if it is available to watch down anything. Right now, use the TeeTree shampoo but definetly check as I said within the 7-10day period. Watch for your daughter scratching around the ears', thats' normally where they will start or at the back (nape of neck). Dont' go into panic zone, thats the worst you can do for your daughter. Even though she is only 2. Make sure to check with your pharmicist on what to buy for her should she get the lice because of her age. Some shampoos' can be harmful to young children. Good Luck!!
I know its easy for me to say but if its' going to happen, its' going to happen. Its not something to feel dirty about and if she gets headlice be sure that everyone in your home uses' a lice shampoo as well. Don't hesitate to email me for any help. Take care!!

We went through this a few years back with the same exact situation. Treat her anyway. It's best to be sure. When you do, make sure you wash all of her bedding and clothing/hats and run the sweeper. Also, treat her combs/brushes or just toss them out and get new ones. It's a pain, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Good luck!

The best spot to check is in her hair behind her ears. The eggs will stick to the hair, so you have to pinch it and pull it all the way to the end. If you pinch it with your fingernails it will pop if it's an egg, if not it will just squish. One safe way to treat if you really want to is to coat her hair in mayonnaise, then put a plastic bag (or shower cap) over that for about 30 minutes. then rinse it out, and go over her head with a lice comb. We had lice in my family for 3 summers in a row (until we figured out we were catching it from a friend who lived near my mom's house.) and this worked for us every time. Seal anything she might have slept on, or her hair would have been close to in plastic for about a week and then wash in hot water (unless it will ruin whatever it is... then wash like normal.) Anything you use to brush her hair, store in a container of water. good luck! :)

It sounds like you've "dodged the bullet." I would keep checking for the next week or two, just to be cautious. And, yes, I would use Tea Tree oil or Paul Mitchell Tea Tree shampoo at least once a week. It's worked for me...

Robo comb from Walmart. Cost about $25 and uses a battery. It does not destroy their hair (I had 2 girls with long hair). It is not painful to the child-those treatments are actually painful and you don't want to subject your daughter to that without reason.
This comb has a little charge that zaps/kills nits and lice on the spot. Repeat daily/every other day for about 2 weeks.
Believe me if your daughter is only 2, it will pay off in the long run cause you will encounter this again. As one poster noted, it went around college!!

My three daughters and I all had lice a couple of summers ago. They were super-hard to get rid of. My middle dauhter was scatching her head all the time and complaining that the itching was driving her crazy. I took her to he pediatrician and he saw a live bug in her hair. We all had live bugs but none of us had any nits yet that we could find. We all had scratch marks and the beginning of sores behind our ears and on the backs of our neck, at the base of the scalp--this is something to look for on your daughter. Lice tend to be most active and feed at night, so you might want to look in on your daughter a couple of times a night to see if she is scratching in her sleep. I used an over-the-counter product (RID or something like that), but it didn't get rid of all the bugs. I worked for 2 weeks, combing out their hair every day (it took hours!). I finally did the mayonaise treatment that a pp spoke about. That seemed to do the trick. I left it on their hair for about 5 hours. We were lice-free after that. One trick I read about is to use coconut scented shampoo/conditioner; apparently it acts as a repellent. There have been a couple of lice outbreaks at my youngest's preschool recently and thankfully she stayed lice-free--don't know if it was the coconut shampoo or if we were just lucky. We now have a couple of salons in the area that specialize in lice removal--very expensive but worth it from what I hear. Don't know if you have any in your area. Just watch for the itching and keep checkng for nits. If your daughter has very dark hair, the nits will be easier to see. Best of luck--hopefully, she didn't catch them!!

Tea Tree Oil is a good deterrent to lice, they don't like it, it makes the hair slicker and the nits won't stick. They only stick to b\very clean, well taken care of hair. Go to headlice.org and find out the facts of how to deal with head lice, do not use pesticides on your family no matter what. I have over 10 years in child care and they don't work well to begin with and they are poison to your children.

I never had any parents continue having issues after they went and learned how to deal with lice the right way.

If the whitish spots blow away, it is not lice eggs. They will adhere to her hair. If you notice small white spots on the hair that is stuck on her hair, that is an egg. If she is itching her head alot, especially the back of her head, right above her neck, I would treat her.

My kids are grown now but they both had lice once and I found the BEST
and safest treatment to be mayonnaise. If you are afraid your daughter might have lice, this would be something you could try with no fear of any repercussions. You coat the hair with mayonnaise, put a shower cap on and let her wear it for several hours - I'm sure there are instructions on the internet. BTW we tried the over the counter treatments first with no luck and I hated knowing I was putting chemicals on their heads. Good luck!