Oh NOOOOOOOOO......Lice!

Updated on March 11, 2009
M.P. asks from Tampa, FL
15 answers

Hi Ladies...I have the forbidden question to ask. My child was scratching her head yesterday and I think she has lice. The school nurse said she didn't but when I got her home, I saw a bug. I did the RID treatment but how to you possible know you got them all? I have never had to deal with this before. We are an extremely clean house and I know that has nothing to do with it but I need to make sure my other child and myself don't get this. I have washed about 18 loads of laundry. Now what?? Please give me any helpful advise. I am struggling here....thanks!

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So What Happened?

Hi Ladies...First of all, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to help me. Wow, there are a lot of you out there and I never felt alone. Secondly, I think "they" are gone. (If I can get over the fact that I am itching due to mind games and nothing else.) I never saw any eggs so I think I caught them early. Thanks again for all the help. I always know where to turn if I need help!!

More Answers

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D.B.

answers from Sarasota on

That rid stuff is sooo toxic. I got rid of head lice (on my 3 boys) the first time around. You will need (large bottle of cetaphil cleanser, paper towels, lice head comb, tea tree oil shampoo, shower cap, olive oil) First douse the hair with a ton of cetaphil cleanser. Comb all the lice and eggs out that you can while continually wiping the comb off on the paper towels. You can see exactly what is coming out of the hair. This can take up to 45 minutes. Wash their hair thoroughly with the tea tree oil shampoo. Douse the hair with olive oil, apply the shower cap, and then relax and go to sleep for the night. Comb any remaining suffocated eggs out of the hair and wash again. I used the flowbee after this and gave them all a short haircut. That was just an extra precaution. DON'T FORGET TO WASH ALL BEDDING AND PILLOWS HATS ETC AFTER THE TREATMENT.

1 mom found this helpful
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G.C.

answers from Tampa on

My daughter had lice back in Sept and I tel you what I used. Listerine in a spray bottle (the original listerine brownish in color). I sprayed that on her head and than put a shower cap on her and left it on for about 15 minutes...used a nit comb and combed through her hair and repeated this for about 6 times. It worked with no damage to her hair and it wasnt bothersome so she tollerated it well. I couldnt beive that it worked. But it did. Give it a try.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.P.

answers from Tampa on

I feel for ya! Been there too. I'm itching just thinking about it. My son got them at summer camp, and I also ended up w/them. What a mess! Everything the others wrote was all true. Never heard of the Listerine though. That's no doubt cheaper! Walgreens has a Rosemary/Mint conditioner that we used after. (Bioinfusion)They supposedly don't like rosemary. Just keep checking with the comb every day. Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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E.T.

answers from Raleigh on

I feel so bad for you! We fought this battle several times and WON!! You can to. Be diligent, when mu daughter had it I checked her atleast 3-4 times a day, washed EVERYTHING, did the whole thing. We complained to the school and even got the news involved because the school didn't want to tell the parents there was an outbreak. So my daughter kept getting it. She would be home for the weekend and be clean than go to school and come home with bugs. Finally we found one of her friends had it also and they finally went away. My daughter couldn't walk past me without me checking her for weeks after. I walked around feeling like bugs were crawling on me all the time.

By the way, these nasty bugs LOVE clean hair! They just latch on and make a home. We cut my daughter's hair short and I made her use hair spray everyday. The hairspray does seem to work pretty well. Pull it up and spray it all. Be diligent and let others know so you can find the source of where it came from. We've tried it all and it all works a bit but doesn't get rid of them by itself.

Also there are local laundry cleaners who will pick up your laundry, wash it all and give it back folded (hehe). We did this and it was worth the money since there is so much you have to clean and life still has to go on! Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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T.H.

answers from Tampa on

Hi M.,

My friend Dana just started a business called The Nit Fairy. She went to a weeklong training in South Florida and has learned the only safe and effective way to get rid of head lice. Her website is extremely informative. I've even learned a lot that I never knew and I was a teacher for 10 years and had to deal with this problem all the time with my students. Check out her website at www.thenitfairy.com She is also a member of Mama source so there might be a coupon or discount somewhere on this sight.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.C.

answers from Tampa on

unfortunately the head lice come with florida living.
even with doing laundry its a good idea to put some of the lice treatment into the laundry when you wash it.
now take black garbage bags and bag up all the stuffed animals after you run them thru the dryer on medium heat, let them set in the sun for about 3 days. make sure to spray her matterace and air it out, put her pillows into the dryer also.
and i always put a some of the treatment into the bottle of shampoo for preventative treatment.
i also did warm baby oil treatments once a month.lice dont like oil coated hair.
next the old fashioned aqua net hair spray is found to be one of the head lices worst emeny.
i have lived here since 1966 and raised 5 children and 10 grand children and now 6 great great grand children, and it is a never ending problem.
tell your child no sharing hats, combs, brushes ect.
GOOD LUCK J. GMAJ

1 mom found this helpful
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K.C.

answers from Tampa on

It is not a fun path nor an easy one. I'd suggest using the shampoo that RID also sells on you and your other household members. It is the preventative shampoo...can't think of the name.

You also want to bag any stuffed animals and get them into the garage or out of the house for the recommended time frame. Being vigilant with washing all bedding, clothes, hats, towels and hair items is necessary too.

I have a girlfriend that battled this and it was a full time effort to keep it under control. She has multiple children and lots of hair at her house! :)

Going forward, it was recommended to me years ago in the school district I worked in to put a little hair product on your children's hair to avoid further outbreaks. Lice don't like dirty hair or hair with product! Little hair spray spritz will even do the trick.

Good luck and hang in there mama ~ you are not alone!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.K.

answers from Lakeland on

M.,
If your daughter does indeed have lice, be careful. I don't know if you know, but you need to wash everything (bedding, pillows, stuffed animals, etc). Make sure to sanitize or replace the combs or brushes. You need to continually check the hair for any eggs. If you don't remove the eggs they can hatch. They are horrible if they get out of control. Know that the RID is for live lice. It should be used for live lice, not to avoid getting lice. It kills lice but does not keep one from getting lice. My daugher had it in December of 07. Then my little one got it as well. It took us about 4 weeks to be completely rid of them. I was checking hair and removing eggs on a regular basis. You HAVE to remove the eggs so they don't hatch. Besides using the lice treatment, I mixed tea tree oil, olive oil, and vinegar. I then saturated the hair with the mixture. Then covered it with a disposable shower cap and had my girls sleep with the cap on overnight. It was a stressful experience to say the least, but we finally beat them. Just stay on top of it and you will be rid of them. I also mixed tea tree oil and water and sprayed their hair, furniture, carpets, and beddings. Apparently, lice don't like tea tree oil. Good luck. Here is a link with some suggestions to do for lice treatment.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/331354/how_i_tre...

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R.

answers from Sarasota on

You can also try tea tree oil in her shampoo. You can buy it at Walmart in a 2oz bottle in the vitamin section. Put about 2 tablespoons in her shampoo and wash her hair with that everyday for at least two 2 weeks. The key to lice is also ending the cycle and this works. The tea tree oil does not smell good but once mixed with the shampoo and then the shampoo rinsed out, my daughter's hair actually smelled fine and was really soft. This was the only thing that worked for us. I also comb her hair with the fine tooth comb each time while wet. The rid did not work and its something you cannot keep using because of the chemicals. Good luck! Oh and for precaution I would wash your other children's hair with it too so they don't get lice

1 mom found this helpful
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A.L.

answers from Punta Gorda on

LiceGuard, Robi-Comb Electronic Head Lice Detector & Remover, you can buy it at Walmart for approx. $25 and it is the greatest thing in the world! My daughter got lice, and we did the NIX thing and bought the sprays for the furniture, washed all the laundry and had the cats treated. Then we had to do it all over again a week later and then the next week... That lice experienced costed me hundreds of dollars till I found the Robi-Comb. You just comb her hair with it every night for about 2 weeks and they are gone!
Good luck Momma.

1 mom found this helpful
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M.P.

answers from Tampa on

The very best thing you can do is to go to the Health Dept. They will give you a treatment that will work great and it's free! My daughters had the same problem, and it has nothing to do with cleanliness. We tried everything and nothing worked, I even cut my daughter's beautiful hair until I got the preparation from the Health Dept. It worked great!

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D.E.

answers from Tampa on

Hi M.,

I totally feel your pain, I just recently had to deal with the "lice" trauma, and let me tell you it was horrible, I dealt with it from March until August, and no i'm not extracting, i really dealt with it that long. the first thing u need to do is go to your child's doctor and get a prescription treatment, Rid doesnt work anymore, they have had reports where the bugs have gotten immune to it. this is the only way u will get rid of it. also, in my case, the school wasnt cooperating, my oldest would get cleared to go back to school and guess what, their back, WHY, because they wouldnt check others in the class so she kept getting it back, needless to say i went to the schoolboard on that one, but some other things u need to do is, any and all stuffed animals, barbie dolls anything with hair etc put it in plastic garbages bags, its suffocating them. ur childs bookpack included, use a plastic one, something that they will not live on. if you dont have them, put plastic mattress covers (even on adult beds) on all the beds, because they can live in the mattresses if u dont. plastic pillows with removable cases. as i started this with, get to your doctor asap. if you need anymore help please email me ____@____.com

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N.P.

answers from Tampa on

man! I went thru it too, in Nov. 2007!! its not fun at all! you may want to treat yourself and other child as if you contracted it? or just ask your Ped. for advice....you want to be safe and proactive about it. Make sure there are no KNITS in their hair ....and yes laundry...i took all things I could not wash in hot water and put out in a garbage bag sealed for about 2 mo. in my garage.

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D.F.

answers from Tampa on

First of all, it has nothing to do with a clean or dirty house! Most school nurses only look for nits, hence the "no nit policy", unfortunatly when you get to the point of seeing nits (eggs) you have had head lice for at least 3 weeks! There was not a need to treat with RID, however since you have, the best things to do it keep checking and combing her hair every day for the next two weeks, I sell a great comb for that very purpose, the comb that comes with the RID does not remove much. First of all, everyone in your house needs to be checked! 90% of the families that I treat (yes I have a business of treating head lice visit my mamasource ad or www.thenitfairy.com), the mother's also have lice. If you need to get more information I will be more than happy to talk with you, no charge for advice or help, I am just a phone call away ###-###-####!

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L.B.

answers from Tampa on

Hi M.!
I know exactly what you're going through! It seems as if the lice are more resistant these days. That said, this is what I did a couple years ago. You must remove the eggs to keep them from coming back. One bug makes LOTS of eggs. I used a fine-toothed metal comb made for this purpose (I think I bought it at the drugstore whose name begins with "W". The best way to see the eggs is to go over your child's hair outside in the sun. Use bobby pins and do it in sections to make it easier to keep track of the areas you've already combed. Then you're supposed to retreat with the shampoo a week or so later. Hope this helps!

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