A warning about the lice would have been nice . . .

[N. Sane]

before you allowed your daughter to hug me 5 or 6 times!

The joys of being a cps worker abound. :mad:

[jayjay]

before you allowed your daughter to hug me 5 or 6 times!

The joys of being a cps worker abound. :mad:

:eek:

I was temping for our county Children & Youth Agency about a year ago when they had this family come into the office to be treated with Rid. I spent that forty minutes or so on a smoke break out back.

And I still had phantom bugs crawling all over my skin for an hour after they'd gone.

[chela]

A mint or tea tree oil shampoo will help repel the lice and a vinegar rinse I've heard asphyxiates them also.

A bright light and fine comb to wet hair will reveal the nits and crawlies ( they are fast).

My kid's school had an insidious break out this year , all year long every week notes wwent home and the office was full of kids waiting their turn to be checked. The notes always made sure to make you feel good about yourself and that it was nothing to be ashamed about. Which is true, but damn, some practical advice beyond avoiding sharing hats and combs and harmful toxic treatments would have been helpful.

[Loopydude]

I gots to know:

Is this "the lice" as in "Johnny can't come to school today; he's got the lice", or "My head was a creeping maelstrom of vermin; the lice crawled like Hell-spawned armies of the apocalypse across my scalp"?

[jayjay]

I gots to know:

Is this "the lice" as in "Johnny can't come to school today; he's got the lice", or "My head was a creeping maelstrom of vermin; the lice crawled like Hell-spawned armies of the apocalypse across my scalp"?

The 400,000 Lousemen of the Apocalypse?

[Loopydude]

Made me laugh! :D

Seriously, though, I'm sorry N. Sane. I worked a summer rec. program with a bunch of kids from the projects (even in Maine, there are "projects"), and got good and exposed to a kid with the lice for several days before his useless excuse for a father decided to let us all know he found nits on the kids head before he sent him back to his mother's a week ago. I don't know if I got the lice myself, but had to get treated, along with a gazillion other people. It's creepy, but probably not harmful.

[Dark Side of the Floyd]

I gots to know:

Is this "the lice" as in "Johnny can't come to school today; he's got the lice", or "My head was a creeping maelstrom of vermin; the lice crawled like Hell-spawned armies of the apocalypse across my scalp"?



Oh God, my scalp is itching now.

[Monstre]

Sounds like a lousy day.

[cher3]

Our school isn't in the Projects and we still get a notice at least once a year.

My daughter picked up a mild case when she went to another school for a few days. I used a nontoxic foam you can get at any drug store that immobilises them so they can be combed out. I didn't see any more after a couple of days. Then we just washed my daughter's clothes and bedding for a few days until we weren't seeing any more. The nits are hard to kill, though and you basically need to comb them out by hand. The adults can only survive a few hours off a person and the eggs only a few days.

You're probably fine, but you should have someone else check you in a couple of days. The one thing that surprised me was how small they are. The adults are smaller than the tiniest ant and the eggs are really hard to spot.

I've heard that treating your hair with a strong dandruff shampoo periodically can be a good preventive if you are likely to be exposed often.

[Anaamika]

Ooooo, yuck. (TMI ahead) I've had lice, it ain't pleasant. The damn little buggers. My cousin in India had hair down to her butt and had lice, but would she cut it? Oh noooo. She had to keep it long.

Scuse me while I go wash my head.

[Dark Side of the Floyd]

Scuse me while I go wash my head.

I've heard it said that lice prefer cleaner hair... Is this true?

[Loopydude]

Wow. Talk about looking good making things go to your head.

[Zsofia]

I once sat in choir practice in college for an hour watching an energetic little louse cavort on my classmate's head. I just couldn't look away.

[N. Sane]

Eeeuuuu! As soon as she said the word "lice," my scalp started itching. My sister's taking great glee in it--we were hanging out this evening, and every now and then she'd start scratching her head, and then my whole body would start to itch.

The mom told me that they got some really expensive stuff that killed the lice, but she couldn't get the nits all combed out. Apparently the kid has really thick hair and gets all whiny and complainey, and the mom, incredibly (or, since this is CPS we're talking about, perhaps not so incredibly) lets it go.

Thanks for the tips about the tea tree oil shampoos & strong dandruff shampoos. I'll have to give them a try. I actually do have a good dandruff shampoo, because I get dry scalp every now and then and my hairdresser recommended that I use the stuff once or twice a month.

DarkSideoftheFloyd, if you're right that lice prefer cleaner hair, I may be in luck. I only wash my hair twice a week, and was due for a shampoo tonight anyway. My hair gets too dry and frizzy if I wash it too often. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[AveDementia]

Here's previous thread on the topic with some good information:

Apparently, Denorex shampoo kills head lice (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271593)

I'm trying not to get the mental itchies while I post this. Aaahhhhh! Too late! I have to scratch now.

[dangermom]

My scalp is prickling like crazy. Eeeeeek.

(Oddly, I've worked in a school, and dealt with kids that had lice, and never felt like this.)

[funions]

A few years ago my kids' school seemd to be plagued with kids who had lice, and whose parents didn't do much in terms of prevention. This meant frequent nit picking sessions. I found the bestcombination that worked for us was to coat their hair with a non-stick cooking spray, and thouroughly comb through with one of these (http://www.headlice.org/licemeister/index.htm).

It worked fairly well, as long as the laundry was done and the process was repeated after about a week.

[Tentacle Monster]

I've never been so glad I shave my head.

[Madd Maxx]

I've never been so glad I shave my head.
You and me both brother.

[WhyNot]

Not only do they seem to prefer clean hair, but they prefer blond hair. That angelic blond haired freshly cleaned cherub (my kid) sitting next to the black kid on the bus? Mine's the one more likely to get lice. Apparently they really have trouble laying nits on African hair because of the flattened shape of the follicle.

(All information according to my kid's school nurse who sees 76% black kids and 19% white. Don't stone me for racist broadbrushing unless you want to call the lice racist too!)

[Mame]

My daughter has been to child care and to 2 different schools. All have had occasional outbreaks of headlice (the previous, expensive private school had the most! One kid had lice in his EYELASHES!!). She has yet to have headlice, but it will come, it will come. I bought the chemicals, but they sit in the bathroom cupboard waiting.

This site (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/headlice/nitbusters/index.html) is very helpful - recommends school-wide nitbusting days. Busts a bunch of myths , too.

It does point out that the efficacy of tea-tree oil as an anti-nit treatment is unproven. Tea-tree oil has been shown to be an antimicrobial, not an insecticide (did some work on it myself, many a long year ago ;) ). Also tea-tree oil can provoke an irritation reaction in sensitive (think young scalp) skin.

One thing that has been shown to work is thick, gluggy conditioner and a comb (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/headlice/treatment/index.html).

And you get nice, shiny hair too!

[chattywine]

Ack!

I'm still in paranoid mode from an infestation at the beginning of the school year here. The Dope saved me it did! In this thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271593) presidebt tells how to not only kill the lice but have nit free hair in one go. Vaseline, baby oil then clarifying shampoo. I used vaseline with olive oil and dishsoap same results. A weekly shampooing with dandruff stuff and no more freaky little beasts. Crap now I'm itching. Good luck!

[Anaamika]

I've heard it said that lice prefer cleaner hair... Is this true?
I don't know...but I do know you don't just get them. You have to get them from someone else who's already got them.

Thankfully.

[dangermom]

I don't know...but I do know you don't just get them. You have to get them from someone else who's already got them.

Thankfully.That's why they're so common in schools--little kids spend a lot more time with their heads close together than adults do.