Lice Attack! Help!

Most people get way too worked up about head lice. Yes, they are a nuisance but they don't transmit disease. You don't need to go overboard with the vacuuming and laundry, just treat her head and wash her clothes and bedding and all will be well soon. Good luck!

We have some good friends, who live in a very posh city, in the UK. Their monthly lease on their flat is more then we make in a year...and the private school, ouch. Ivy league degrees cost less.

The point in this random trivia? For 11 months last year, their neighborhood & school were doing the "lice battle royal". Which I would hear and hear and hear about.

So this is what I learned of killing lice:

- One treatment is NEVER enough, unless you get ridiculously lucky.
- Combing and Combing and Combing and Combing. Everyday for at least 2 weeks. (They finally started combing before meals...and laughed that it made a wonderful diet. Any "find" killed the appetite. Ugh. I'd like to see THAT advertised on TV.)
- Treat everyone in the house. If you didn't you'll wish you had next week.
- Treat consecutively.
- Do the entire house, at least once a week...for a month.

Cheers. And boy, now my head itches. Ugh.

It sounds like you are doing just fine. I used Lice Free and it worked good for my daughters and I. We did more than one application, but it's chemical free.

I am sure we all can empathize with your frustration. My youngest came home with bugs AGAIN (3rd time this year)the other day. I have been dealing with this issue off and on since my children were put in daycare (they are now way past daycare age). A friend of mine a long time ago told me that her grandmother used a product called Sevin -5 dust. After fighting with the buggers for over 2 weeks (using every product and home remedy that I could find) and hours and hours and hours of combing my girls hair, I finally relented and tried this product. It is a garden pesticide that is frequently used on chickens and goats for the treatment of lice and fleas (among other things). I have had great success with it working after a single application and the bonus is that it seems to take the nits out as well! I don't do anything to the kids hair until after I have treated them and when I check afterward I not only don't find anything crawling but the areas that i noted for nits are nit free. You can get a bag of this stuff in the garden dept of Kmart or walmart. I put half a cup of the stuff into a quart mason jar and mix it with warm water for easier application. Leave it sit for a few minutes and wash hair normally. Because it is gritty it may take a few times of washing to get all the stuff out. I have been using this remedy for 7 years now with success and no harmful side effects.

Oh goodness. I have five kids and we've gone through this over and over. UNTIL, we found the RobiComb. I found it at Wal Mart after I got scared all the shampoos may be hurting my 3 infants. I swear. I combed their hair a couple times a day for a few weeks and voila...no more outbreaks! This gave me some time to do all the wash and vacuuming so that it wasn't such a hectic frenzy that I thought I had to finish in one day. It saves some sanity just taking a little extra time for combing with this awesome thing. Also, it can be used on everyone in the family. So I would highly recommend you pick one up, use it, and use it often. Soon enough, everyone in the house will be lice free.

Tea tree oil. Something about the vapor that strangles and kills the little buggers. I hate the smell but always had super long hair so my mom always used it on us. You can buy shampoo made with it from natural stores. I'll bet the person running the store even has suggestions on how to take care of the issues!

I've recently been given suggestions for lice from a friend who went through it. Two things use can use on the scalp, where lice cannot survive....listerine and tea tree oil. Good luck to you!!

Simple solution and prevention. Dye her hair. Find a color close to hers and use it. They cannot adhere to colored hair.
Then just keep cleaning the house. You might want to color your hair and treat everyone in the house the same way. Then they can't migrate to someone else.
Good luck! I'm so glad I have boys. When there is a lice outbreak I dye my hair and shave theirs off!

Also, there are company's that will come into your house and get rid of the lice for you!!

HI...

Not sure which area you are in but we used a company called Lice Knowing you and they were great. I think the website is liceknowingyou.com :)

Blessings,

K.S.

Hi J., You have several good responses so far and you are doing everything right - tea tree oil, baby oil, etc are all good remedies & cleaning the house will help get rid of the live ones hanging around. I had the same problem with my girls last year or so & came to mamasource for help cuz Nix wasn't doing the trick. I finally succumbed to using mayo. It's easy to apply and you can make sure you're not missing places, doesn't drip when you're putting it on, & doesn't run down their faces/necks while you're letting it do its job. Completely saturate their head/hair in it, twist long hair on top of the head & if you don't have a shower cap, then you can use saran wrap with a few bobby pins. Leave it on for at least an hour, longer if you can. Then wash their hair a few times to get the "grease" out & then use the lice comb & finish with blow drying. You may need to shampoo again in the morning if it still looks greasy but using mayo or some sort of oil is safe on the skin, cheaper than Nix, & moisturizes the hair. Good luck!

My sister-in-law works for TEC LABS and they have done all kinds of research on lice. They make a non-toxic treatment that is called Licefreee! We bought it at Walmart last year after my stepson spent the weekend with us and his mom called and told us he had lice. Luckily, my kids didn't get them, so we haven't used it. The other thing my SIL told me was that lice have an aversion to coconut. So, as an everyday preventative, we shampoo our kids in a coconut scented shampoo - Suave makes a nice inexpensive one that is tear-free.

Good luck!

Wash her hair once a week with a shampoo with tea tree oil. Lice HATE tea tree oil. Once they are all gone, if you go forward with this, the likelihood of getting them again is MUCH smaller.

I just wanted to add that it might be milder on your daughters hair to use olive oil, baby oil or something similar instead of the medication. The lice these days are ninja's and are building up immunity to things like NIX. The oil will suffocate them.

You have gotten alot of great ideas. As far as the treatments tea tree oil has worked great for me. The one thing I didn't see alot about was making sure she doesn't share any personal items. Teenage girls love to share their brushes, hair clips, trade coats or shirts at school, etc. If she shares a locker with someone she should not leave coats and such in there until she is sure that they don't have lice also. Also I can't stress enough how important it is to go through her head every day until you are positive they are gone. Even after they are gone a weekly head check is a good idea. The quicker you find them the easier they are to get rid of. All three of my girls have really thick long hair. The nit combs were not effective for getting rid of the nits. I could see them but comb wouldn't take them out. I found it easier to go strand by strand through their hair.
Good luck,
B.

Check her bed--not only her bed sheets and blankets, but her bedstead. Also get rid of all hats and coats with hoods. Don't let her share.

Do the vacuum thing every three days. (sorry about that) Nit pick her hair every three days for a while.

Check family members too.

Oh, honey, I am so sorry! We went through this for 6 solid weeks this summer! With three kids I feel like an expert now!

Firstly, lice can't live off a body very long, and don't lay their eggs anywhere but on the hair, so there is no need to redo all the vacuuming/sterilizing, etc. Just her sheets, pillowcase and jammies. Secondly, Nix and Rid really don't work that well. The best thing is a product called "Lice MD". It is a long process of combing the gel through hair and getting everything out so rent her a good movie and make the beswt of it. Hang in there!

I spoke with a professional and was told that I spent too
much time on vacuming and needed to spend more time with
going thru each strand for both nits and eggs. Each day
this was needed. Unfortunatly, the girls in the class were
spreading it to each other and this lasted for two months.
I think someone reminded about coats and hoodies. Backpacks too. The research says to keep all things that you have bagged for at least 10 days to 14 days. I went over board and bagged every cloth item in her room and the main living area. She went to school one day with zero
in her hair and came home with 18 nits and eggs. They didn't check the other kids in the classroom until late morning and there was a girl that was sent home, so do ask to do a classroom head check each day. Good Luck!

Our whole family had lice last fall, so I can emphathize! You have done everything right. You may find live lice on her head for a day or two after shampooing. As long as they are moving slowly, they are almost dead. Do not reshampoo her head with the lice medicine. It is a pesticide. You do need to use it again in 7 days as the nits you didn't get will hatch in 7-10 days. Don't use regular shampoo until the instructions say to (72 hours?). Check everyone else in the house. I combed my sons hair 3 days in a row and then every other day for a week and again after the second shampoo. I also had lice and no one was available to comb the nits out of my hair. I didn't have a re-occurance. I didn't have very many nits, as no one was able to see them. My husband and neighbor both checked and couldn't see any.
So getting nits is important, but probably not worth obsessing over.
The CDC has an excellent web page about lice. I read their information 5 or 6 times to make sure that I was doing everything right. My sons head was covered with nits, it looked like he had sand in his hair! We were able to get rid of them with one treatment. I did rewash his sheets after a week as I found a live adult on his head just before the second shampoo.
Good luck,
B.

OK so not the most comfortable thing for your daughter, however I can speak with conviction on this! When I was a teen I was a counseler for 6th graders at outdoor schools, and I would come home EVERY WEEK with new bugs...until someone told my mom about mayo! yes Mayo the stuff for sandwhiches... completely coat her hair at night put a shower cap on, wrap up in a towel and go to bed. of course do all of the other disinfecting to the house, and the next morning put her head (still gooped up) under a blow dryer for 10-15mins (hot) then rinse out under the hottest water she can stand. The mayo will make it very easy for you to remove any bugs or nits, but it also kills them...both of them! it suffocates both! you might want to do it a couple of nights in a row just to be sure, but I promise you it works, and it will even make your daughters hair softer! Good luck!

I've had to deal with lice a few times (all separate). The best thing that worked for us was just combing thru the hair daily for 3 days, taking a day off and then doing 3 more days of combing.

Since the only place that lice truly live is on the scalp, the hair and wherever the child puts their head down (pillow, bed, couch) are the only affected areas. So you don't have to go crazy with the laundry and vacuuming.

The pin prick spot on her neck could just be a leftover bite mark. I don't think it's anything to worry over.

Just doing regular checks for live bugs is your best bet.

Good Luck!!
-B. M.-

Hi Sorry about the lice. Did you spray the seats in the car? That is a common place for people to miss. I am not sure of the name of the spray but it is specific for fabrics and can be used on the couch too.

Also be sure you check everyones head in the family.

J.

Hello J.,

ewwwwwwww on the head lice. Its been there done that for me 3 times already.

1st of all its the dryer not the washer that kills the lice and nits(eggs). 2nd of all the lice shampoos don't work. The home remedies that I did use were real mayonnaise in the hair for 3 hrs. or overnight make sure you wrap a plastic bag around the head.. if you do the 3 hrs. make sure you have a bowl filled w/ hot water and use a lice comb or a fine tooth comb,run the comb through the hair ( about an hr ) the mayo will remove the lice and eggs from the hair. Afterward have your daughter take a shower and use a shampoo made for dandruff. When the hair is completely dry use a different comb and comb through the hair again. Another home remedy I used was vinegar. Keep the vinegar in the hair for 30 min. then follow the above steps for the mayo treatment. in the meantime wash the pillow and the case in cold water & dry in the dryer. Use trash bags cut down the middle and tape around the mattress and shut the door for 3 days. The plastic bags will smother any lice or nits that may be on the mattress.

forgot to tell you if she uses a coat and hat or hoodie you can wash those in the washer and put through the dryer. For hair accessories.. combs brushes,clips you can soak those in some rubbing alcohol then wash really well

Good luck on getting rid of those lil aliens.

A.

That spot could be from itching or the comb. I know that some treatments are really harsh and it could be the Nix. We battled lice all year at our previous school and the best solution I had found is Listerine or any mouth wash with alcohol, soak your child's hair and place a shower cap on top and leave it over night. You do have to use lots of conditioner (one with Tea-tree oil) and leave it on for a few extra minutes so your child's hair won't get dry but there is no pesticides and the alchol is enough to dry up any eggs and critters plus the lack of oxygen with the shower cap. Any shampoo and conditioner with Tea-trea oil is a natural pesticide and helps prevent critters from wanting to camp-out. As far as the vacumme you may want to put a flea collar in the bag this way anything that gets sucked up won't crawl back out and for the laundery, I'm still looking for a short cut that works :) Good Luck

Lice have developed a resistance to commercially sold topics. Although they are non toxic it would be alot better experience if you used an essential oil instead. Please see this article.
http://herbal-properties.suite101.com/article.cfm/kill_li...

Good Luck!

Yes it is that maddening. You have to go through her hair with your fingers too not just the comb. The comb does not always get them out. Good Luck!