for experienced de-lousers!

[Shaki]

Hi,
I need some sage advice from those who have been in the "Lice Trenches". Our school has one reported case, which means (of course) there's probably more. If we get it we get it and... no biggy. I had it a bunch when I was a kid so I'm not squeamish about it, but I do consider it a pain in the butt.

SO I'm in prevention mode now, and DD's been going to school all week with olive oil and tea tree oil in her hair and her hair pulled back/up. Anyone know if I'm on the right track here? Any other prevention ideas? These are an affectionate bunch of kids and there's lots of hugging that goes on in a day.

I've got all the supplies for a homeopathic delousing should that be needed. But I remember reading that you don't need to wash all sheets, pillow cases, towels etc...just hit them with a blow dryer. IS this true? When I had it as a kid my parents washed everything and put garbage bags over our furniture for a couple of days. It was a HUGE hassel. When battling lice is that truly needed?

Any other lice survival and prevention tips? What are your best de-lousing strategies? Please share your wise ideas!
Thanks!!!!!

[orangefoot]

I'd keep doing what you are doing but also add a preventative combing as soon as she gets home from school. That way you will catch any massive varmints who might have crawled onto her hair during the day. They like to hang out at the nape of the neck and behind the ears which are easy to miss when combing so be thorough.

Lice don't live in the furniture so you don't need to keep everything covered to prevent infestation! Concentrate on the heads of the people and don't worry about the furniture or bedding.

[nolonger]

We've only had them twice, but both times PERMETHRIN DIDN'T WORK. It gave us just enough relief for just long enough to keep me running back to the drug store to buy more until i ran out of money and had to do the olive oil packs anyway.

Just because it's nontoxic doesn't mean olive oil is safe! Be very, very careful with slippery, flammable kids. read a big, long addictive book out loud or plopthem in front of the teevee if you have to.

short haitcuts don't help. i shaved ds bald in the dead of winter, but the lice didn't mind; the 5 o'clock shadow was plenty for them.

[kama'aina mama]

I wouldn't think a blow dryer would be enough to deter the occassional louse who was snuggled up in the bedding waiting for a head to return. Bedding needs regular washing anyway, so wash it and make sure you dry it on hot for about an hour. The heat kills the lice and the eggs. Washing itself does nothing. Stuffed animals and or any other soft, fabric covered item that you don't want to subject to high heat for any reason, 72 hours in a sealed bag.

[Shaki]

Thanks mamas! Please keep those tips coming!

[LuckyMommaToo]

There's currently a long thread about it here:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1023760

Good luck,
-e

[flapjack]

What orangefoot said. Comb, comb, comb. We haven't actually had a full-blown infestation in 4 years now because the kids get combed out every other day when they're in the bath. If you break their legs, they can't breed and it can't go from one/two to a whole infestation.

Just to point out, also, that lice cannot live on empty stomachs. If they don't have blood (so a person) then they are going to die. It's an old wives tale, but you could also try adding a garlic capsule to your kids diet, which would make them smell less appealing. Some people just smell delicious to bugs and get covered in lice/midgie bites and some don't, but you can try and tip the balance in your favour.

[kama'aina mama]

I'm confused... are you guys actually saying you do a careful combing of your kids hair every couple of days with a lice comb? To prevent lice? I can't imagine doing that. Combing for lice is what I am trying to avoid!

[meemee]

Originally Posted by kama'aina mama

I'm confused... are you guys actually saying you do a careful combing of your kids hair every couple of days with a lice comb? To prevent lice? I can't imagine doing that. Combing for lice is what I am trying to avoid!

anytime i see my dd scratch her head i first give her a shampoo. if she still continues after that then i douse her hair with conditioner - lots of it and then use a comb and check the conditioner that came of her hair to see if i find some varmins.

so no i dont do it every two days. i do it only if i see her scratching her head.

as a preventative measure i wash her hair when needed - maybe once a week or once in two weeks. when it feels dirty or smells. actually this isnt preventative. its just how we shampoo hair. as and when we need it.

couple of years ago we really struggled with lice.

the first time i did everythign and the only thing that worked was the manual process. but took a lllllllllooooooooong time.

then over summer she got them again. this time i used this system. http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ull/114/3/e275

we both put cetaphil face cleanser in our hair, combed out all the extra and then blow dried the hair COMPLETELY DRY with as much high heat our scalp could tolerate. it was a cling film smothering technique. made our hair feel BEAUTIFUL - silky and soooo smooth and healthy. i didnt do anything else. no combing, no washing drying nothing. just kept our hair brushes clean. 3 weeks of once a week cetaphil in hair and we were good to go. we have been lice free for a year now.

i think this is the way of the future. no need for all that combing.

[kama'aina mama]

Originally Posted by meemee

anytime i see my dd scratch her head i first give her a shampoo. if she still continues after that then i douse her hair with conditioner - lots of it and then use a comb and check the conditioner that came of her hair to see if i find some varmins.

so no i dont do it every two days. i do it only if i see her scratching her head.

as a preventative measure i wash her hair when needed - maybe once a week or once in two weeks. when it feels dirty or smells. actually this isnt preventative. its just how we shampoo hair. as and when we need it.

couple of years ago we really struggled with lice.

the first time i did everythign and the only thing that worked was the manual process. but took a lllllllllooooooooong time.

then over summer she got them again. this time i used this system. http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ull/114/3/e275

we both put cetaphil face cleanser in our hair, combed out all the extra and then blow dried the hair COMPLETELY DRY with as much high heat our scalp could tolerate. it was a cling film smothering technique. made our hair feel BEAUTIFUL - silky and soooo smooth and healthy. i didnt do anything else. no combing, no washing drying nothing. just kept our hair brushes clean. 3 weeks of once a week cetaphil in hair and we were good to go. we have been lice free for a year now.

i think this is the way of the future. no need for all that combing.

So you are saying that Cetaphil for faces contains the active ingredients discussed in that article? Because that study is amazing!

[meemee]

YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!! and you can buy the generic rite aid cetaphil brand too. not the longs. same thing!!! it works!!!

[o'smom]

My kids have never gotten lice (yet!) but when I was teacher before having kids we had a terrible class infestation one year that took months to get over. It was one little girl that kept reintroducing to the class. Her mom finally hired a professional nit-picker after the poor girl's scalp was cracked and bleeding from so many chemical applications. Within 2 weeks her entire family & home were cleared because the family followed all of the recommendations which included bagging all stuffed animals & throw pillows that couldn't be washed/dried for 2 weeks. This was to allow time for any eggs to hatch and then die from lack of food. This isn't my info - it was straight from the professional. She also said keeping hair tied back and not piling all coats together in the classroom closet was key to preventing the kids from sharing, since lice don't jump, they crawl.

[orangefoot]

Originally Posted by kama'aina mama

I'm confused... are you guys actually saying you do a careful combing of your kids hair every couple of days with a lice comb? To prevent lice? I can't imagine doing that. Combing for lice is what I am trying to avoid!

Actually my main preventative atm is not sending dd to school

When my boys were smaller, yes I used to comb them quickly if we were aware that there were lice about.

Yet again I am gobsmacked at the willingness of a Natural Family Living community to deal with lice using chemicals and reluctance to comb. Any use of any 'tricks' or 'fixes' will require combing. This is not as hard as many of the things you have put yourselves through for your children: it is just combing.

[kama'aina mama]

Originally Posted by orangefoot

Actually my main preventative atm is not sending dd to school

When my boys were smaller, yes I used to comb them quickly if we were aware that there were lice about.

Yet again I am gobsmacked at the willingness of a Natural Family Living community to deal with lice using chemicals and reluctance to comb. Any use of any 'tricks' or 'fixes' will require combing. This is not as hard as many of the things you have put yourselves through for your children: it is just combing.

I think it's easy to be glib about "just combing" if you have all boys with short hair. The one time my DD brought home lice she had shoulder length hair and my partner and I both had hair to the middle of our backs. For three weeks my shoulders ached from "just combing".

[meemee]

aaaah yes the back as well as the tired eyes having trouble focusing. AND an unwilling child who had had enough of the combing and picking!!!! poor kid. dont blame her.

there is terrible hair for lice too.

and my dd has all of it except for the colour. superfine, straight dark hair. to the middle of her back which she did not want to cut. thankfully not blond. where the comb after a while just does not work. i had to get a powerful light AND a magnifier to get to the ends with my nails. i was the only one doing it. my ex would use the comb but not his nails. which did no good. a clean comb DOES NOT mean no nits in the hair. my dd has missed more school for lice than for any other reason.

it was a nightmare. i literally spent HOURS and DAYS in her hair. all due to the 'no nit' policy at school.

even the school nurse told me my dd had the worst hair for lice, nits. and adviced me those horrible rough green scouring pads might be a way to go BUT it does harm the hair. well so that was out for me.

so when i found the cetaphil study and found no combing technique boy was i GLAD!!!!!

[kama'aina mama]

Originally Posted by meemee

aaaah yes the back as well as the tired eyes having trouble focusing. AND an unwilling child who had had enough of the combing and picking!!!! poor kid. dont blame her.

there is terrible hair for lice too.

and my dd has all of it except for the colour. superfine, straight dark hair. to the middle of her back which she did not want to cut. thankfully not blond. where the comb after a while just does not work. i had to get a powerful light AND a magnifier to get to the ends with my nails. i was the only one doing it. my ex would use the comb but not his nails. which did no good. a clean comb DOES NOT mean no nits in the hair. my dd has missed more school for lice than for any other reason.

it was a nightmare. i literally spent HOURS and DAYS in her hair. all due to the 'no nit' policy at school.

even the school nurse told me my dd had the worst hair for lice, nits. and adviced me those horrible rough green scouring pads might be a way to go BUT it does harm the hair. well so that was out for me.

so when i found the cetaphil study and found no combing technique boy was i GLAD!!!!!

You might want to out some energy into changing the nit policy at the school. If a child has been treated once and combed well at, oh let's say 10pm on Monday night. The best treatment in the world did not get a nit laid at 9:30. It will not hatch during school and go roaming to another child. It will, however, be big enough to comb out Tuesday night. Making kids miss school for this is crazy.

Also, you can stop stressing about the ends of hair, and so will your school nurse if they can update the policy to make sense. Lice live on or very near the scalp and they lay their eggs on the hair shaft quite close to the head. Anything more than an inch from the scalp is an empty egg shell that has already hatched and that is apparent if you examine it closely. Once you do the initial treatment the aggressive combing is very important at the scalp and on the first inch of hair.

[meemee]

oh!!!!! BELEIVE ME!!!! i tried!!!! i didnt put any pressure on the nurse or the principal because i knew they were following district policy. at the district level i went armed with studies from the journals, research from different countries like england.... as well as the link up there. nada!!!! i got treated politely - no thank you. i got busy and couldnt carry on the battle higher up.

the sad thing was some of the girls got their hair cut short and the boys a buzz. in a way we were better off since my dd and i got to spend more time together (i was able to finagle time off) and have fun.

ultimately they did allow her in with a few nits just coz i had insisted that those are the empty egg cases. and given them the printed articles to educate themselves with.

its almost like management treats lice like the plague. they will let a child with i think a 100 (or maybe 99 temp this i know for sure) temp after they have been sick for days. i guess they know the child is no longer contagious.

i wish they would update their nit policy too to move with the times.

[flapjack]

Kama'aina mama, you need to be aware that if your hair touches your shoulders than lice may NOT just live in the roots. Lice can live anywhere that they can touch your skin to bite- when my boys had their infestation, I had a weird rash on my shoulders that itched all the time and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. Until we found the lice, that is. They were living in the bottom of my ponytail and chewing on down on my shoulders, which was truly, truly disgusting. And this, selfishly, is why I would rather comb over a small boy whose hair is kept short twice a day than have to spend a week to find an adult with the time and patience to comb out 3 ft of thick, fine, dark hair.

Don't, however, feel the need to tell the school nurse this

[Jane]

I highly recommend cat flea combs for lice - they are metal with rounded smooth ends and much, much nicer on the head than plastice RIT combs. Maybe I'm weird, but I can comb my whole head with one in less than 10 minutes.
First I brush the hair, then comb it with a wide toothed comb, then my rat tail comb, then I flea comb it. That way there aren't any tangles to get out with the flea comb.

Lice are so horrible because of the financial cost IMO. It's hard to afford to get everything washed when you have to pay for the laundromat.

I've always done the people first (with a pesticide, I didn't know there were effective alternatives), combed, then pulled off every single sheet and gotten wash started, bagged up the stuffed animals and upolstered items for the garage to wait a week, then vacuumed all the floors, sofas, and curtains. Then combed everyone for the next few nights just to make sure. It's always been gone in one try. It's hell if you have to do it twice, so it's worth the extra effort to do it right.

[kama'aina mama]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Kama'aina mama, you need to be aware that if your hair touches your shoulders than lice may NOT just live in the roots. Lice can live anywhere that they can touch your skin to bite- when my boys had their infestation, I had a weird rash on my shoulders that itched all the time and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. Until we found the lice, that is. They were living in the bottom of my ponytail and chewing on down on my shoulders, which was truly, truly disgusting. And this, selfishly, is why I would rather comb over a small boy whose hair is kept short twice a day than have to spend a week to find an adult with the time and patience to comb out 3 ft of thick, fine, dark hair.

Don't, however, feel the need to tell the school nurse this

Wow. I guess saying something never happens is a mistake... but I think that's very rare. If I run into my old nit-picker house mate I will have to ask her about that.