Head Lice (ACK!)

I just spent about six hours combing through my younger daughter’s hair. I will never be able to say the word “nitpicking” casually again.

My eight-year-old had been complaining about her head itching for a week or so now, but I’d looked at it last weekend and hadn’t seen anything but a little redness and a few scabs where she’d scratched (I thought). Since she’d been using a new shampoo, I figured she was sensitive to it and had her switch back to the old brand.

Tonight, after dinner, she told me that her head still itched really badly, and I took another look. Now, I’ve never really looked for lice before, but I did see little bumps attached to her hair, and I knew that couldn’t be a good sign. I called the health line our HMO provides, and, while the nurse there was describing the symptoms to me, I saw something move in my child’s hair!

I rushed right out (on the advice of the nurse, who sounded as if she’s never had any personal dealings with lice, but she had the manual there) and bought a lice-killing product. We followed the instructions carefully, and then we spent hours combing and picking. My older daughter doesn’t have any signs, nor do my husband and I.

I’ve looked up the subject online (and discovered a site that advised me not to use the over-the-counter lice shampoos - oh, well). I’m planning to call the doctor tomorrow, and I think I have all the information I need to deal with the outbreak effectively. I’ve already called the parents of the child who spent the night here Friday, and I’m going to let the school nurse know.

But I’m freaked out. Has anyone else had this happen? Were your children ostracized for the rest of the school year? When should you warn other parents about it and when is it okay to just not mention it? What works and what doesn’t in containing this? The website I looked at said that lice aren’t that easily transmitted, but do I have to worry about the entire family coming down with this? I think I need support from parents who don’t have to worry about their kids catching it from mine.

We’re clean people, honest we are!

My head itches.

Mr Primaflora gets an itchy head at the very idea of lice. They are truly not a BFD. they like clean hair, honest!

We’ve not yet had them chez Primaflora but this could be because my little monsters have such an aversion to clean hair it would be a brave louse that braved their locks. We do shave their hair when the school has an outbreak.

Lice are a fact of life. They do seem to prefer certain people over others.

The olive oil and wrap the head in cling wrap is apparently very effective if one wishes to be less toxic in killing the little bastards.

Oy. Last year I had to deal with this 8 times with my son. It started at his school and it took forever to clear it up.

Obviously you are clean people. Lice don’t like dirty hair. If the hair shaft is oily, the eggs don’t stick.

Alert the school first thing. They’ll notify the classmates.

Spray everything you can’t wash in hot water with Lysol. It says to use the lice treatment stuff but it’s expensive and the Lysol does the job.

Treat everybody in the house. Better safe than sorry.

The reason we had so much trouble clearing it up was because the damn things are becoming resistant to the OTC treatments. It says not to do it, but I finally gave Josh a treatment every night for 4 nights and that cleared it right up.

The peditrician prescribed shampoo when my daughter got them this summer, but he said if I slathered the kid’s hair with mayo and wrapped their heads with Saran Wrap or put a plastic cap on them for an hour, and then blow dried their hair after we washed the mayo out (VERY messy!)that would kill them. You have to do it every 3 days, though, to get the newly hatched ones.

When it’s finally all cleared up, buy Tea Tree Oil and put a couple of drops of it in your regular shampoo bottles. I don’t know why, but according to the peditrician’s nurse, it supposed keeps them away. There has been an outbreak at the school already this year but Josh hasn’t had any sign of the nasties.

And no, your child won’t be the great outcast for the year :slight_smile:

Headlice has been endemic at my daughter’s school for the last 3 years, and one of the big problems is that the most common headlice treatments are either too toxic to be used with much frequency or the little bastards become immune to them very quickly.

For those in Australia, KP24 now makes a preventative spray which is worth every cent you pay for it.

It’s already been said, but is worth saying again - this has nothing whatsoever to do with cleanliness (hair gel discourages them too, if you have daughters with long hair). I just wish the treatments were a little less expensive - if they were more affordable, when the notes get sent home every parent might treat their child. As it stands now, many people with more than one child simply can’t afford to treat a whole family a couple of times per week for a few weeks to ensure that the problem is really under control.

My recommended site for headlice info is http://www.headlice.org/. The comb they sell is extremely effective. I tried using a comb from the drugstore on my daughter’s hair and found that it actually cut her hair.

You do need to inform your school. They will send home a notice and check everyone in the class. Otherwise, they’ll just get back to you when the entire class becomes infested.

We’ve had outbreaks in the school that spread from class to class, but lately none at all. It seems to go in cycles. The first few times my daughter came home with them, I used the chemical shampoos (which never seemed to work the first time) but after a while I decided that I didn’t want to subject her to them anymore. I used the olive oil technique and found that it was just as effective. I added tee tree and lavender essential oils to the olive oil. You have to keep in on the hair for several hours to smother the hatched bugs, then pull off all the eggs you can find. Then you do it again the next day (because you know you missed some,) ad nauseum, until you are no longer finding eggs.

I found with my daughter’s very long, very fine, straight hair that going through it bit by bit and pulling the eggs off with my fingernails was more effective than the comb, which I think is better for short hair. Holding the strands of hair up to the light (we sat next to a window) allowed me to see the eggs more easily.

When you wash all the bedding and vacuum the house, don’t forget the car. Remind your kids to never share combs, hats or hair accessories at school. If your child has long hair, keeping it braided or otherwise pulled back may help. Also, I have heard that hair spray works to prevent them from climbing in.

You have my sympathies. Head lice are a serious pain in the hoo-ha.

TEA TREE OIL

I cant stress this enough! I am lice-phobic, and every year, at both school, there is a lice epidemic, so far (knock on wood) no infestations. Its SO much work to get it cleared up! If one kid gets it you have to treat the whole family, and the bedding, and the stuffed toys. ACK!
Tea tree oil behind their ears, in their hats, and in the shampoo - cant stress it enough!

And (I dont have a site) recent research shows lice are attracted to certain people ore than others, yes they like clean hair, but their is something in certain kids that naturally repells lice.

God, we had this years ago, and have been hyper-vigilant ever since because it was so horrible.

  1. Put all your kids’ plush toys in plastic garbage bags and seal them up for a month, unless you are able to wash them in super-hot water.

  2. Do the treatments on everyone in the house (including pets) every two or three days for a week or so.

  3. Vacuum everywhere, then dispose of the vacuum cleaner bags immediately in sealed bags.

  4. Vacuum the inside of your car thoroughly.

  5. Tea tree oil is helpful, so is lavender oil. During the winter, my wife always puts my daughter’s hair up and even puts olive oil on it before every school day. It is true they can’t adhere to oily hair.

At least here in NYC, head lice are endemic and every year they are in the classrooms. If your kid’s classroom has a carpet, ask the principal if they are vacumming it every night. Find out whether the school is checking heads regularly, because they really should be.

I think the stigma of head lice is a lot less than it used to be–at least in the NYC public schools, it comes around every year, and god, everyone ends up with it sooner or later.

I just hope we never end up with it again, it was such a pain in the ass to get rid of the little bastards.

Thank you all for your advice. I don’t feel quite bad now, seeing that other families have gone through this. I’m sitting among plastic bags of pillows and stuffed toys, and there’s a second load of bedding in the dryer on hot. The school nurse has promised not to announce to the class just WHO has head lice, although I’m sure they’ll figure that one out, but it makes me feel better knowing that it doesn’t seem to carry the stigma it once did.

I’ll run out for the tea-tree oil and a better comb today. My daughter does have very long, fine hair, and I gave up on that little comb that comes with the treatment last night. I ended up just pulling the nits out with my fingernails, as robinh suggested. I did try (around midnight) suggesting that crewcuts on girls are the next big thing, but she didn’t buy that, even as groggy as she was. I think the oil and the hairspray/gels/braiding are going to be an easier sell. I didn’t even think of vacuuming the car, so thank you to everyone who mentioned that! It looks like I have a busy day ahead.

This was going around the neighborhood for a long time. I was actually feeling quite smug, since it went around two years in a row without my kids getting it. Year three, it struck with a vengeance. I have four children, three of whom have had it at least once. The fourth is a baby, and doesn’t have enough hair to even consider it. The worst was my daughter, who has long and curly hair. It kept coming back again and again. I couldn’t get rid of it completely for the longest time. I didn’t want to cut her hair unless it was a life or death situation, although I got very close to it by the end. I consider myself quite experienced at it. Here’s my take on the situation (and remember, I did finally get rid of the pesky things after changing my methods repeatedly).

  1. My doctor recommended Nix lice conditioner. The thing to remember with it is that you cannot use any other conditioner of any type for the next week to ten days. It will kill live lice, assuming that the strain you have is not yet immune to it. Despite the labels on the shampoo’s, nothing will kill the eggs. You must remove those by hand, one by one. I haven’t had a ton of luck with homemade treatments, such as olive oil and vinegar and tea tree oil, but I understand that a little tea tree oil in the shampoo (once you’re rid of them) repels them. Couldn’t hurt, I say. Do not combine home treatments with Nix shampoo, as the oil destroys the chemical treatment. This was my problem for too long.

  2. Use a lice comb, and spend at least 45 minutes a day (at least for longer hair) combing through and picking out the eggs one by one. The plastic combs break easily. I had great luck with a double toothed metal lice comb. For little ones especially, get a pile of lollipops and a good movie to keep them still while you comb. It’s worth it. Remember, the comb alone will not get rid of the eggs! It will get the live lice, not the eggs!!! The eggs are too small. You must pick those out by hand, using your fingernails.

  3. Buy the spray and spray down your couch, mattresses, seats in the car, etc to get rid of any bugs hiding there. Anything that you don’t feel comfortable spraying, put in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes. This includes doing the pillows and bedding everyday until you’ve been rid of them for more than a week. Anything that cannot go in the dryer on high heat or be sprayed must be put in a plastic bag for two weeks or more. Don’t forget to do the bedding everyday. Treat all hair accessories. Boiling water poured over them works. Anything that cannot be treated, toss out, or again, the sealed bag.

  4. Check and/or treat everyone in the house.

  5. According to my sources, pets are not affected by the strain of lice that live on humans. Do not worry about them.

  6. Continue all treatments for at least ten days after you think they are gone. This is another place I originally went wrong. The eggs hatch 7-10 days after being laid, and if you missed ONE tiny little egg, you have to start treatment all over again. Keep combing. Comb and pick until your fingers fall off. You do not want this to re-occur.

  7. If you have boys that don’t mind short hair, go for it. We used clippers at home with the boys, and it made treatment a snap, since there was almost no hair left when we were done.

Best of luck to you, and if you need to bitch and moan to anyone, my e-mail is open to you. I am very sympathetic. It’s a ton of work, and if you don’t get it right the first time, it just goes on and on…

I caught head lice for the first time ever when I was 20 from children of a friend. I panicked, rushed down to the drug store, got the stuff they recommended (it cost a fortune!!), and a fine tooth comb. Used the treatment on all the people in the house, washed all the bedding, vacuumed floors, beds, sofas, etc. Took about a week, but finally got rid of them.

Couple of months later, same kids come to visit, couple of days later I find I have head lice again. Can’t afford treatment, decide to go it alone with the fine tooth comb. Watch a lot of TV that week, brushing my hair. Manage to get rid of lice using only comb. Feel smug.

Four weeks later, kids come to visit. Check with parents first for assurance that they’re free of lice. They leave. Headlice are back. Go back to fine tooth comb again.

Having never had headlice in all my life, I caught them six times in a year from that family. It was disgusting. They were nice people, but ugh! they weren’t dealing with the outbreak of lice in their household properly. It’s hardly surprising they couldn’t get rid of it - their four children slept on foam mattresses, and half the time all the covers would be hanging off the beds. They were a nice, but not a clean family, their house was a disaster and the kids rooms were worst of all.

I found that, having hair that reached halfway down my back, it was too expensive to keep buying the preparations from the drug store to kill the lice (and frankly, I found them fairly ineffective on my long thick hair), but patience and a fine tooth comb did a good job of sorting out my problem. Just had to make sure that I changed bed linens frequently, and vacumed more than usual.

Moved away from where I was living, haven’t seen that family in 5 years. Have also never had lice since :slight_smile:

My daughter had them last year. I had a hell of a time getting rid of them, but I think it’s because I was really clueless. I had never had them myself, and we didn’t have any outbreaks when I was in school.

A method that worked for me was recommended by our pediatrician’s nurse. It’s a serious take-no-prisoners approach, but two treatments, and those little buggers were gone.

Take equal parts rubbing alcohol and vinegar. Rub gently through the hair (you’ve got to be careful, because if it gets in your eyes or some other delicate body part, it will sting). You don’t have to let this sit for any length of time, although I myself recommend letting it sit or just a minute or two. Rinse hair, then wash with normal shampoo.

The alcohol loosens the glue that keeps the eggs attatched to the hair, and the vinegar turns the eggs white, making them MUCH easier to see.

It smells really bad too, of course. But it’s not lasting–washing the hair removes the smell. But it DOES work, and fast. I was amazed.

I’ve never heard of tea tree oil. Is this a preventative? Where can I get some? Lice are quite common here where I live (folks here are so used to them that it’s absolutely NOT a stigma anymore!). But after dealing with them for nearly six weeks last winter, I do NOT want them back here again.

Don’t forget to was fall/winter hats, scarfs, and coats!
If you have toddlers in car seats take them apart and wash them also.

I’ve heard of the tea tree oil, and also a rose water rinse as a preventitive. A friend from New Zealand told me about the rose water rinse.
You can find tea tree oil anywhere anymore, but try your local health food store.
They also sell and all natural lice shampoo called 1-2-3 all clear. It smells like black licorice if you can handle the smell.

I just had to deal with this with my second oldest. One out of five! Thank goodness for small miricles.

From what I remember they adore light blonde hair. The lighter blonde the better. Not for us though cause it makes them harder to see.
My second oldests hair just happens to be brownish blonde just the same color as the nits. Her hair used to be down to her waist, and another small thank you goes to the fact that she just cut it to her shoulders when school started otherwise I would have been at it longer than I was.
Good luck!

Well, we spent another lovely family evening in front of a video, picking nits. This time I was armed with the serious lice comb, a sturdy plastic comb, and many, many hair clips. If I were less of a realist, I’d say I think I got them all, but as it is, I can say that I got most of them.

The washer and dryer have been running all day and night, I vacuumed everything, including the car, I’ve checked the other members of the family and had them check me at least five times, and I’ve forced tea tree oil on everyone who isn’t infested. Luckily, we live in New Mexico, where we’re just thinking about turning off the air conditioners, so I don’t have to worry about the winter things. Everything the child owns will probably end up one size smaller, since I’ve been washing it all in hot water, but that’s a small price to pay. I’ll just break out the cool-weather clothes and burn these once she’s clear.

I’m prepared to keep up the head-checks and constant washing for as long as it takes, and I’m bracing myself for the inevitable reinfestation (although I’m REALLY hoping against hope we’ll be spared). Thank you all for your advice and moral support!

Now if I could only stop ITCHING all the time.

InternetLegend, you have been treating yourself, right?

I know, sometimes just the thought of lice makes a person itch psychosomatically. But still, you should treat yourself, just to be on the safe side. D

We went through 6 years, off and on, of trying to get rid of head lice in my family. It’s a long story…but my stepkids kept returning from summer vacation with them. We tried Nix, Rid, Lysol, bleach…we put the animals and linens in trash bags, we washed everything in hot watter and roasted them to death in the dryer, we vacuumed, we combed, we treated…they kept coming back.

The one thing that worked beautifully? That mayo and plastic wrap trick. We left the mayo and plastic wrap on for a few hours, didn’t treat the pillows OR vacuum OR quarentine the stuffed animals or anything else…and they haven’t been back since. We washed the bed linens and the towels we’d used, but that was it.

About the mayo & plastic wrap: What is it that makes that work, anyway? I know a few people who have tried it (I didn’t), and they’ve said the same thing that Hamadryad said–it works big time. Do they suffocate? Or is there something in the mayo that kills them?
[sub]and would Miracle Whip work, if you don’t have any mayo? ;)[/sub]

To be honest, it’s really difficult to prevent re-infection if the problem isn’t under control at your children’s school or amongst their playmates.

I’ve found it very dispiriting for my own kids to be treated two or three times a week only to come home from school a few days later and have to go threw the whole thing again.

BTW,y daughter also has blonde hair, making the eggs difficult to see - I discovered that coloured hair spray or fudge tends to dye the eggs, and they remain coloured even after you’ve washed out the spray.

I’ve thought about this, and I might just end up doing it, but after reading up about the pesticides used in the shampoos and about the problem of resistant lice, I’ve decided to hold off and just keep checking (and checking, and checking, and checking).

I’ve been checking myself and my (so far) uninfected daughter twice a day, using the (stringently disinfected and boiled) lice comb and looking carefully, and I have yet to see any signs at all. We’re also using tea tree oil and putting a little gel in our hair. I’ve changed everyone’s linens and vacuumed all the bedrooms thorougly, too. I only itch when I think about it. :slight_smile:

I kept my younger one out of school one more day, just in case, even though I didn’t see any nits when I did a spot check this morning. The poor little thing has been up way past her bedtime two nights in a row, anyway, submitting patiently to her mom’s compulsiveness. I changed her sheets Sunday night, yesterday, and this morning, and I’m using old sheets that no one’s used for months rather than washing and reusing hers, just to be on the safe side.

The school nurse told me yesterday that she’d be doing head checks in the classroom. I’m also going to ask about what’s being done with the carpet in there, and if I have to go in and vacuum it myself, I will.

I’ve informed all of her friends’ parents (lovely conversations, those), and so far none of them have turned up with lice. I haven’t heard back from the parents of the girl who spent the night here Thursday, though.

I found them on my daughter for the first time LAST THURSDAY. Boy, talk about yer timing on thread appearances. I got the Clear 1-2-3 stuff, and used the shampoo, then the mousse for the eggs. WHATTAPAININTHEASSS.COM.

I laid down daughter on the kitchen counter, so her head was in the sink. Sink has a hose attachment, I felt that was safest. I also taped eye pads over her eyes, so that the highly caustic shampoo couldn’t get in them. ( I’m a little paranoid, eyeball-wise ).

I lived at the laundromat in town all day, did 9 large contractor sized garbage bags FILLED with bedding, etc. We’ve gone through all of our hair each day, she seemed to have it alone- and I only found two live ones, and a handful of nits.

To me, the worst part was the fact that I had to remove all of the hair from my entire body. I’ve never been bald before, and my underpants are chafing something awful !!! Still, anything to get rid of them. :smiley: :smiley:

Cartooniverse

A word of warning - don’t rely on the nit combs to check your kids hair. I find the old part and comb trick on wet hair inevitable reveals lice which the combs have missed (especially the very tiny, newly hatched lice).

We’ve tried every different nit comb in existence, ibluding the battery operated ones which supposedly zap the lice and eggs - as well as every shampoo and rinse on the market. All of them come up wanting one way or another, and there’s really no sustitute for frequent and close visual inspection.

I personally find it easier to locate the lice themselves in wet hair (it seems to slow them down) and the eggs in dry hair.