Lice Question! - Menifee,CA

Lice can only live if they are on a human host. If you left the house for a couple of days (at least 48 hours, I believe), there is nothing alive in your house.

My son came home from preschool with lice one time. We washed his hair and my hair (my husband and other son had nothing, so we did nothing). I washed the sheets, bagged the stuffed animals, sprayed mattresses and couches, vacuumed (all of these things one time only) and that was it.

You do not need to wash sheets every day, you do not need to do most of what you are doing.

Relax! You are done. Could this ever happen again? Of course. But you can't stay on edge forever at the off chance that it happens again. Relax and try to forget about it.

Live your life again starting ... now!

My M. did way less than that in '80's. I'd say they're gone.

I've been through lice twice (too far apart in time to be related cases) and I did less than that and never saw a reinfestation. It sounds to me like you've done a good job. I kept unwashables in bags for 4 weeks, not two, and continue to comb regularly, even now, just to prevent a new case (or catch a new case early).

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My boys got it two years ago. I washed their hair with the shampoo, I changed their sheets and pillow case the same day, put stuffed animals in a garbage bag for a week, I combed through with the nit comb once a day for 10 days, washed their hair again with the shampoo, and changed the sheets and pillow case once more. They were gone. I think you did way more work than you needed to, and you didn't need to throw out pillows or anything. Usually when people can't get rid of them it is because a playmate has them, and hasn't been treated, so they keep passing them along. Lice are really easy to get rid of. In fact, if you left your house for a few days you didn't need to do any cleaning because the lice can't survive without a human host!

I felt safe after 14 days. I washed surfaces daily, steam cleaned my furiture, did the daily nit pick using mayonnaise, vacuumed all cracks and crevices,hot washed bedding daily, hot washed clothed and towels. Check all.family daily...no sleep overs for a month. Figured out the origin and let tgem know to check and clean carefully. Artfully stayed away from tgem for 45 days. Lots of luck as it is hard to do.

My daughter got lice in April... it was going around her school but she came up clean at the initial check. A few weeks later she complained her head was itchy and I found a bug on her head (having no idea what lice looked like, I checked the internet- then panicked!!) Went to the store and got the Rid and did it that night... found 4 bugs and 50 eggs and after 2 hours was exhaused and put her to bed, knowing the worst was not over). The next day, I went to work for a few hours and left hubby home w/ her, planning to finishe the job when I got home). I work in a school part time, so decided to have the nurse check my head... sure enought she saw an egg or 2. That was the final straw... went home and called a professional Nit Picker- they are not cheep, but well worth the piece of mind. They use no chemicals, just bring special lights and combs to your house and go through each strand of hair. she took 2 hours to go through my daughter and 2 hours to go through my hair ($438.00)!! I only had the very early stages of infestation by my duaghter had an average case over 100 eggs! ugh! Anyway, she also told us that the chemicals are not very effective, do more harm than good and only kills some of the bugs, not eggs. She told us the truths and myths of lice and the protocol to use. She said to spend 80% of our energy on combing and checking our hair each night and only 20% of our time with linens. She said after the initial washing, the linens don't need to be washed each night, just put in a hot dryer for 30 minutes. Do this until no nits or bugs are found for 3 days. Lice can only live off the human head for 24 to 36 hours and lice eggs can not hatch withougt a human head for incubation and therefor die soon after coming off the head... and eggs do not just fall off of the hair shaft... so they only come off if you comb or pick them our or the hair falls out, but will not hatch anyway. Other than that, she just said put pillows and stuffed animals in a trash bag for a few days and any lice that may have been on them would die within a few days. I am so glad I hired her and she was worth every penny. I will not panick if it happens again and I will NOT use those harsh chemicals ever again.... that stuff is stronger poisen than the pesticides you use to spray wasps and other bugs- and you put it directly on your kids head? And, if is not fully effective because lice are becoming immune to it and can hold their breath (why they live through shampooing and swimming). They best thing to do is use a nit comb and pick through each strand of DRY hair (the shampoo says use wet hair, but it is much harder to separate each strand and see the nits) for 2 weeks. She said 15 min. per night should be fine once you have stopped finding nits). Good luck... and don't panick. The lice can't live very lone off the human head... direct contact is the most likely way to get it.