Lice....Help

You can wait another 7 days for lice (medicinal) treatment but you can slather up her head with olive oil (it smothers them) and comb out her hair thoroughly with a fine tooth comb. You can do that as many days as you want but you won't have to do it, probably more than once.

This will pass. Sadly, it's not the people who are consciencious who treat a child's hair - it's those that aren't that you have to be wary of.

Also treat car and car seats, as well. This is sick to think about but.... when my friend's daughter had lice - the only place they determined she contracted them from, was a movie theater seat. Sick.

Good luck.

We all had lice here in October - absolutely no fun (although the fleas that came 3 weeks later, we no picnic either). The thing that really worked for us was combing, combing and combing! Every morning, I got everyone up and combed their hair for nits or live bugs. I also repeated each night. We all had our own lice combs that I sterilized in hot soapy water each time.

Another key is the house - I washed our sheets & towels daily for about a month! A major pain (and a lot of hot water) biut worth it for peace of mind. I would also vacuum your mattresses & furniture at least 3 times a week (if you don't want to do it every day). Take any throw pillows, hats or stuffed animals and bag them up for about 6 weeks. Again, a pain but treating the house is as important as treating the heads.

Finally, my doctor suggested a white vinegar rinse. Apparently lice don't like vinegar. Even now, months later, I still rinse our heads with vinegar at least 2 times a week. You smell like an Easter egg, but it works!

Good luck! I've been there and it's a nightmare the first few weeks, but you'll get through it! After teaching for 16 years (and my husband for 20+) all it took was having an active, involved pre-schooler for us to get it. And I never want it again! I'll be thinking of yoU!

I dealt with this last year and I don't wish it on anyone! Every night for a week we checked her head and I picked out each egg with my fingernails. I speant 3 hours each night - what a nightmare!

Day 1 - Lice treatment shampoo
Day 2 - Just picked out the lice
Day 3 - CASTOR OIL - all day with a shower cap on (I didn't use the mayo because it can turn to salmonella if ingested). CASTOR OIL worked!
Day 4 - Hot iron on her head
Day 5 - Checked for nits
Day 6 - Checked for nits
Day 7 - Lice treatment shampoo again
Day 8 -14 - Checked her head each day.

In the meantime, EVERY night we vaccuumed the entire house, I put her bedding in the dryer for 20 minutes, I washed her towels and wash cloths, her brush I put in lice shampoo and water for the day. Her coat also went into the dryer.

Her stuffed animals were kept in a black garbage bag for 2 weeks.

Thank the lord we were so vigilent and she only had the one occurance.

Good luck!!!!

My daughter went through this when she was 5 so I can understand your frustration. The best thing I have found to help is to use mayonaise and wrap her head in plastic wrap. Go get a cheap jar of mayo and spread it through her hair. It will feel weird, but make sure you get it down to her scalp. My daughter has longer hair so I pull it back in a claw clip after the hair is covered in mayo. After the hair is secure, wrap plastic wrap tightly around her head over the hair following the hair line. Leave it on for a few hours. She may complain, but it's better then the chemical treatments. The mayo will suffocate the live lice and help loosen the eggs and nits from the hair shaft. When the time is up just wash it out with regular shampoo. You will probably have to do it a couple of times until it doesn't feel greasy anymore. Then it's time to get out a bright light, your lice comb and go section by section to look for lice, nits, and eggs. It always helped if I could look through her hair while she played video games or watched tv. You'll need to check her head everyday for a while, but it's worth the effort. You may want to have someone check your head too if you and your child have a lot of close contact. One time when my daughter had lice I ended up with them too.

There is a solon in Chicago that specializes in lice egg removal. I don't know the name. I saw it on tv.
My sister in law told me a tip to prevent lice. Spray your childs hair with hair spray before they go to school,daycare etc. lice likes clean hair without product in it.Good luck :)

Here is another safe solution you can do immediately. The pictures wouldn't paste into here...if you would like to contact me directly through Mamasource, I can send you a file...good luck!

The Nuvo® Method for Head Lice Using Cetaphil® Cleanser

Each treatment application has three main steps.

Apply the wet lotion throughout the scalp.
Comb out as much excess lotion as possible.
Use a blow dryer to dry your child's hair. This dries the lotion on the scalp, and coats any lice in a shrink-wrap-like layer. The dry lotion must remain on the hair and scalp for at least 8 hours. Usually parents leave it in place until the child’s usual bath or shower the next day.

The course of treatment consists of 3 applications done at one week intervals.

What you will need for one application.

A large bath towel
Cetaphil® Gentle Skin Cleanser (8 oz for short hair, 12 oz for shoulder-length or longer hair) Click here for picture.
A new 8 oz condiment dispenser such as this one
A regular pocket comb such as this one
If your child has long hair, you should also get a wide-toothed detangler comb
If you want to remove nits, a Licemeister® comb (For why you might want to remove nits, click here.)

How to apply the lotion-- detailed instructions.

Cover your child’s shoulders with a big dry bath towel to catch the lotion which will drip from the scalp.

To boost your cure rate you must cover all the lice with lotion. We advise you to apply so much lotion that it literally overflows the totally soaked scalp and drips off onto the towel.

Pour 8 oz of Cetaphil into the condiment dispenser.

Step 1. Begin with dry hair. Start at the left of the scalp. Make sure the nozzle is always touching the skin. Apply the lotion zigzag back and forth from front to back and then back to front. Apply to the entire scalp as you move forward until you reach the front of the scalp. Use 1/4 of the bottle.

While the lotion is shown in the diagrams below as yellow, actual Cetaphil Cleanser is a translucent pearly liquid which is not visible once dried on scalp.

Step 2. Now start at the back of the scalp. Again make sure the nozzle is always touching the skin. Change the direction of your zigzagging application now to “criss cross” the first pattern. Move zigzag front to back then back to front as you move from the right side to the left side of the scalp . Use again 1/4 of a bottle always touching the scalp with the bottle nozzle.

Step 3. Use your fingers to thoroughly massage the lotion throughout the scalp and hair.

Step 4. Redo steps 1, 2, and 3. Use up another 1/2 bottle of lotion. You now have used a whole bottle of the lotion.

Step 5. Does your child have long hair that reaches to the upper back? Then apply another 1/2 bottle of lotion to that large amount of hair from roots to tips and massage in thoroughly with your fingers.

Step 6. Wait 2 minutes for lotion to act.

Step 7. Comb out the lotion. You should seek to comb out as much excess Cetaphil lotion as possible. You are done when you can't get out any more lotion. The more you get out, the quicker will be the blow drying step which comes next. You may choose to first use a “detangler comb” if the hair is long or thick. Otherwise you can just start with the plain comb.

Step 8. If you need to remove nits to comply with your school’s “no nit policy,” then use the Licemeister® comb to carefully go through the entire scalp. It will remove many nits. If your child's school does not have such a policy, then skip this step. It adds 70% more work and is unnecessary to cure children of head lice.

Step 9. Blow dry the hair thoroughly, so that the scalp skin, hair roots, and full length of the hair are totally dry. You may use a detangler comb and/or your fingers to make the drying process easier. Anticipate that this will takes 3 times longer than drying hair that is just wet with water.

Step 10. You may style the hair now with a sterilized comb and/or brush. Please do not apply any styling gel, mousse, hair spray, or other cosmetic products to the hair while the dried Cetaphil lotion is on the hair.

Step 11. Leave the dried lotion on the child’s head for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Step 12. To remove the lotion at the end of the treatment phase, you just shampoo with your usual shampoo, cream rinses, etc.

Recommended household clean-up

The three clean up steps should be done once a week at the time of the weekly treatment.

Sterilize all the family's combs and brushes. You can choose one of two methods. You may soak the combs and brushes in isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol for 10 minutes or you may put them in the dishwasher on the full hot cleaning cycle.
Treat all bedding at the time of each lotion application. Take all sheets, pillow cases, blankets, comforters, and bedspreads from the beds in your house and run them in the dryer for 10 minutes on high temperature. Then put the bedding back on beds. You do not have to wash it.
Patients should change to new fresh clothes after each treatment. Put dirty clothes in the laundry hamper for later laundering.

A Final Caution

To achieve cure, it is important to follow the directions carefully. We have seen the treatment fail when parents do not follow instructions. Avoid these four common mistakes:

a) Parents skimp on amount of Cetaphil Cleanser used.

You must use precisely the amount recommended in the detailed instructions or you will fail to coat all the lice with lotion. An uncoated louse will survive the treatment and may go on to reproduce. This is especially important for children with shoulder length or longer hair. You must remember to add an extra half bottle because of the long hair.

b) Parents apply the lotion incorrectly to the scalp.

Sometimes parents just squirt it on top of the hair and try to massage it in. This is NOT the way we explain in the instructions. You must achieve a uniform coverage of the entire scalp to be effective. It is critical to be touching the scalp with the nozzle the entire time you apply the lotion. The “criss cross” pattern of application assures even, complete coverage.

c) Parents do not completely dry the lotion on the scalp.

You must dry the scalp so that it is totally dry. The lotion works by drying onto the louse and plugging up its breathing holes. If you leave the scalp and hair partly wet then the lotion can be accidentally rubbed off when your child changes his shirt, lies down on his pillow, rubs his hair, or lies on the carpet or couch. By thoroughly drying the lotion in the scalp, the lotion adheres to the lice and kills them.

d) The timing between the applications is wrong.

You must use the treatment in three applications done at one-week intervals. The dried lotion kills lice and disrupts their life cycle. If you wait too long for the next application, then baby lice can grow into adults and lay eggs and continue the cycle.

My daughter who is now six had head lice @ 2! I found this treatment on line. www.lice-rx.com This stuff is amazing! She has long curly hair and the great thing about this is that you don't have to comb out the nits. It smells like orange pledge. When I orginally purchased it, I could not find anything negetive about it. My girlfriend's son, came down with lice and I told her about it. She told me that she found some bad things about it when she googled it. I told her that all I could say is it worked great and in one treatment! She took my advice and tried it anyway, after using a store bought lice treatment that didn't work. By then, her daughter had gotten head lic as well. She bought it worked for her as well. Good luck! Change your sheets often and don't let her in to your bed, or fabric furniture until you get rid of the eggs. One other tip. Lice do not like hair that has gel or hair spray on it, makes it difficult to crawl. I spray my daughters hair with gel and hairspray when she is going to school and she has not had a problem since.

There is a salon in Lincoln Park that actually hand removes all of the lice and eggs. It is all natural and they work until they are gone. I have not been there but it seems like a natural way to remove the lice..

www.hairfairies.com

Hair Fairies is a kid-friendly hair salon with the expertise, backed by scientific research, to remove head lice and nits with 100% effectiveness.
The salon is designed to provide a safe and soothing environment for our clients. Children can play with video games and toys throughout the appointment. Our Hair Fairies Technicians are trained to remove lice and nits while offering comfort and security to you and your children.

Good Luck!

Hi S.,
I know firsthand how frustrating this can be. My daughter brought home head lice from camp about 2 years ago. We both have long hair down to our waste. She passed the lice on to me. I used everything everyone told me to. I wasted $180.00 on treatments until I found this website http://www.naturesremedies.co.nz/headlice.shtml
After practicing the remedies on this site, we finally got rid of the lice and have been lice free for 2 years!!
Hope this helps you as well...

S.,

First of all, I feel for you. This happened to our daughter when she started kindergarten. She had thick,long waist length hair. It was almost impossible to get rid of these icky things. We tried every store remedy known to man! What finally worked, was AFTER doing the store treatments, we took cooking oil and worked it through her hair from scalp to tips and got the finest tooth comb we could find and took it small sections at a time. Of course, then we had to wash her hair about 10 times to get all the OIL out, but it was so worth it. We also opted to cut her hair to chin length before this process so it was easier on all of us.

As for the home items. EVERYTHING must be washed it hot, hot water and add bleach when you can! Then, put it all in garbage bags sealed tight and don't open it for 2 weeks. Then wash again. We did this with all her animals, linens, etc. It seemed to do the trick!

Good luck. Its a tough thing.

J.

I know how you feel. All four of my children had it at the same time. I felt hopeless. The stuff at the store didn't help. I was finding live bugs after using it! I found some stuff online. It's all natural and you can use it everyday. The problem is you have to pay and arm and a leg to get it shipped overnight. What I learned about the only way to truly get rid of lice is to be diligent about combing out their hair. You have to do it EVERY single day for at least a week until you see absolutely nothing on the comb. It sounds exhausting, but it's the only way to know it's gone. Since you can't use the medication from the store again, you can either get the stuff I mentioned (go to www.licekiller.com) or just wet their hair before combing. Sometimes a spray conditioner helps. Then sit them down in a very well lit area. You also need an extra bright light with you. Everytime you run the comb through the hair, hold it up to the light and you will see very small little dots. These are the nits or bugs. Wipe them on a towel or dip the comb in boiling water. Then dispose of the towel in a ziploc bag. After you comb through the entire head a couple days without seeing anything in the comb, you most likely got it all. But you need to keep checking for a few weeks.
I sent my kids back to school because the nurse did a visual check and found nothing. That afternoon, I combed through their hair just to double check and I found live bugs. They are not easily seen to the naked eye especially on the head. Combing through is really the only way. No matter what product you use.
Good luck. I know it seems overwhelming. But if you stay diligent, you really will get it all.

I just got over the head lice thing at our house. Did you get the kit with the gel? And do not use the comb that comes with the kit. Buy the additional comb that is around $4-6 . The first time we shampooed I did not use the conditioning gel & comb. I thought I had it all & guess what. The next day she had little bugs! So, my ped said I could shampoo her hair again & I did. This time I used the conditioning gel & the comb and gone! I thought I had all the eggs but when I used the gel & the special comb I was shocked at how many came out that I had missed!

I checked her hair everyday for 2 weeks after & treated everyone in the house as a precautionary measure. (you do not have to do that)

R.
Director with BabyCrazy
www.iambabycrazy.com/R.

I heard that you can. Put Mayo and then ceran wrap. and that smothers them as well?

All it takes is trying on someones hat or some other child touching there hair and then touch your child hair or just kids hugging or wrestling. they are passed so easily.
To the subject at hand. You need to check her head with a magnifying glass if needed. make sure to pick out as many nits as you think you can find. Comb with a fine comb and then check again.
Natural treatment is to use mayonnaise. Check out this website: http://lacetoleather.com/ridlice.html
You do not need to wait to do this treatment but please following direction to the letter.
Once they get out of the daycare things will return to normal at all the households.
Good Luck

Yes, you will need to check everyone in your house everyday, until you are all clear for a while. It should specifically tell you time frames in products that get rid of lice.

Get a jar of mayonaise. Cover everyones head thoroughly and put on a shoer cap for an hour. It's non-toxic and it works. Then you have to use that tiny little comb for the eggs...good luck on that with your little one.

special shampoo with all natural ingredients, Arbonne shampoo has all the necessary ingredients to help rid and prevent lice. my son's school had an outbreak, 5 kids in his class. I had him washing his hair and his entire body with this shampoo and he escaped! whew....and yes, I am a consultant and would be glad to give you a special discount to help you rid this problem. L.

If you're desperate, check out the Hair Fairies.

http://www.hairfairies.com/

M.

Don't forget to treat your car and child seat as well. This is the mistake I made and we couldn't get rid of the little buggers until we did the car. Good luck!