Ack! Lice! Help!

Since you live in NYC, I strongly recommend you go to the Brooklyn Lice Lady, Abigail Rosenfield: http://www.liceconsultant.com/. Expensive but WORTH IT. Call her ASAP, because she is Orthodox and it will be difficult to work around Yom Kippur. But she can probably see you on Sunday. I was amazed at what she got out of our daughters' hair AFTER we did the medicated shampoo and did our own combing. And she will clean out your hair, too. She's a godsend. Good luck!

I think you are doing great. I would wash all the bedding, though (sorry - that is what I did when my son had lice last year - twice!). I also washed down filled pillows and while they don't get ruined, they do loose some of their fluf and they smell weird while drying. I did a prelim dry in the dryer, then hung out for the day, then did another dryer round for fluffing purposes.
If you don't have live bugs, just treat yourself with the shampoo (I prefer NIX) and stay far away from your son's head (read bun and ponytails if long hair). If you need soemone to check you, call a friend and owe them big time - LOL!
keep checking your son and as you know, re-treat at 7 and 14 days yourself too!
Best of luck.

Oh my goodness! I know how you feel! I JUST went through this in August, but relax, I can tell you what you need to do.

I was first baffled because I used the pesticide shampoo on my child's hair, and the very next day saw moving bugs!! I called the doctor and they told me that I had to remove them manually! I put a shower cap on MY head (only one child had it) so that I would not risk getting it. I took him outside on our deck and I looked at every single strand of hair on his head in the sunlight to see any nits and I removed them with my fingernails. OK - this took 3 hours - his hair is dirty blond - the same color as the nits. I could only see them shiny in the sunlight!

I went online and found a MAGIC trick!! (At least it felt that way!!)

Instead of doing this manually, make a mixture of 80% Pantene conditioner (or any all-white conditioner) and 20% baking soda.

Glob that into his hair - saturate it - the conditioner suffocates any live bugs so they won't move and the baking soda makes the nits abrasive so when you run a nit comb through the hair it will pick them up.

After you glob the stuff on, use a nit comb to pull very small sections through and wipe the comb off each time on a paper towel. You can see the nits/bug as specks on the paper towel, and you can put the paper towels in a Ziploc bag in the trash. I had my son hold the paper towel for me, and it had to be replaced frequently as it fills up. I think I put about 1 1/2 cups of the stuff on his shorter hair.

I did this treatment to him for about 4 days until I didn't see any more specks in the conditioner.

I cleaned any combs I used on him by boiling some water and then putting the combs in the hot water for 10 minutes.

You can buy a special comb from Germany (Nsakka I think the name is) and I did buy that for $25 but it came after the lice was gone. Also I think the website I bought it from used my Amex card fraudulently afterwards - but Amex caught the criminals - and I do have a very nice lice comb - that I hope I NEVER have to use!

I also changed his bedding every night. I washed the old bedding in hot water. I did NOT change his pillow - just the case.

I did vacuum the whole house as much as possible - AND the cars!! This is the hidden place. My housecleaner mentioned that her girls kept re-infesting themselves in the car. I got lucky - in August I used a thermometer to determine that the cars were heating up above 130 degrees (the same as hot water) and I was certain that the nits were dying from that heat. So I just vacuumed the car once or twice. Just be aware of that issue.

I put all of the stuffed animals and couch pillows in garbage bags in the basement for two weeks because the facts are that lice cannot live without eating for 48 hours. So as longs as they don’t have access to blood for 48 hours they will die. I didn't let him have one until the ordeal was over. I wouldn't if I were you.

The other fact is that the nits hatch in 7-10 days - and once they are hatched they have to eat within 48 hours also. So if you segregate anything that holds the bugs for 2 weeks away from blood for 2 weeks they should be fine. OR putting them in the dryer will do the trick too. But changing my sons bedding every night was enough of a drag since he sleeps on a top bunk.

I was also fortunate that I could work from home during this time and keep him out of day care. They have a no nit policy - but I think if I had the Pantene/baking soda trick right away my trial would have been shorter.

The other to be aware of - not only is that medicated shampoo EXTREMELY dangerous for anyone under 120 pounds - also - the lice have become immune to it! I wish I had not put that stuff on my child’s head.

Your own hair? Good luck - but I bet the Pantene/baking soda might be something you could do to yourself, or maybe you could ask someone to wear a shower cap and do it for you outside. I know for single people it is a serious issue, and even had one friend who at her wits end gave up and went to a salon and got her hair cut very short. She felt bad for not telling the salon, but after living through lice - it is hard for me to blame her. She had no one to help her.

So it took me about 1 week to completely rid him of nits, no one else in my family got it. But just writing this to you is making my head itch!!

It is extremely psychological - but if you do the Pantene baking soda once a day, change the bedding every night and keep him away from couches and things during the day he should be fine. (When my child was home with me during this time he allowed me to keep a shower cap on him during the day. I know that is not practical if you have to take yours to day care, but I do think this helped keep my house from being infested.)

Good luck to you!! I know how hard this is, but you will get through it!!

Sounds like you're doing everything right. I would just echo to put the pillows in the dryer on hot heat for an hour and then be sure to do follow-up treatments. I know the bottle recommends one follow-up in 7 - 10 days, but I usually do 2 follow-ups, each about 5 days apart. Also, when you do the follow-ups, be sure to wash all the bedding again. Rather than to take the couch upholstery to the dry cleaners again, I would just spray with the spray you get at the store. Also, be sure to either get new combs/brushes after each treatment or you can boil your combs and brushes. My granddaughter just got over this about a month ago. She's had it three times now. This time it was harder to get rid of for some reason. I was starting to worry that the little beggars had built up an immunity to the shampoo! But diligence pays off and we are now lice-free (for now!)

you are doing everything right. I struggled with the freak out also- but I got it in college so you can only imagine how that all played out!

You are doing it all right and the shampoos are really powerful so you should be good. I would say if you can try and do without a stuffed animal tonight, but if not, just put one through the washer and dryer. As for the sheets etc, if it makes you feel better, don't wash them all over again, just put them through the dryer. The heat is really good at killing those little buggers.

See if you could get your son to shave it head or buzz it really close! I know some friends who did this with their boys! If he won't, I would do what the others recommended and put the vasoline on his head, but try and keep him home. That will just make things bad for him at school- kids are relentless.

Just use the shampoo a couple of times this week and you should be fine! olive oil and mayo do work too!!
Good luck!

Half of the stuff you did was unnecessary. BUT you absolutely should sleep for 3 weeks with olive oil and a shower cap. Lay a towel over the pillow and sleep on it. I got both my kids to do it, and they did it gladly to ensure that the lice never came back. They have not come back and it's been three years, and I didn't even bag any pillows/stuffed animals because lice can't live past 48 hours without human blood. Also, you can remove olive oil in the morning by first washing hair with dish detergent and then follow with shampoo. Dish detergent is the only thing that will cut the grease, that's what it's made for. I'm not sure if it will work on vaseline, but you could try. Also lice love clean hair, so you can make your child's head artificially "dirty" with gel or hairspray (and your hair, too). Good luck!!

Please go to headlice.org. You are doing way to much that is just old wives tales.