LICE!!!! Help!! - Keller,TX

Please go to headlice.org and follow their advice. It's good solid instructions. You DON'T have to do all the stuff you're doing.

Those sprays don't do anything, they are just for making money for the company.

I know many people who kept getting reinfested because they weren't all killed. The Cetaphil method works every time if you follow the directions. Also, no harmful chemicals. Win/win. Google Cetaphil Lice Method.

This question is posted quite often. Here is my response to someone else:

First, get the right kind of nit comb. The one in the box is not good enough. There is one called the nit terminator comb, you should get this. I think Ulta has it.

Second: get a kitchen chair and sit your DD in front of the t.v. Have a white bowl partially filled with water. Section off your daughters hair in at least 4 sections. The first section you take small amounts of strands and comb the hair from the very top down, dunk the comb in water. Then you take the SAME strands of hair and comb the hair from the other side starting from the top and going down again & dunk in water, then using the same strands of hair, comb the sides (each time dunking in the water). The best way to describe how to comb properly is like a 4 way stop sign, you want to comb the same stands of hair in 4 directions, dunking the comb in the water each time.

By dunking the comb in the white bowl filled with water, you will see any lice and nits.

Beware of the chemical treatments. These chemicals are actual pesticides being absorbed into your body!!! Nothing to mess around with, especially on a child.

Comb everyday at least once, twice is best. The rule of thumb is to comb everyday. The day you don't find an lice or nits, then you skip a day. The next time you comb thru and you don't find any then you skip 2 days, BUT if you find any then you go back to everyday until you don't find any again. I am paranoid so I combed everyday, twice a day.

Personally I would wash everyday until I was positive there wasn't any lice or nits, again, that's just my paranoia. But you really don't need too unless you see any when you comb thru.

You don't have to throw things away, just put in a garbage bag for 2 weeks and put in garage.

Comb, comb, comb to get the nits out. Invest in a nice metal comb with teeth very close together. Use a tea tree oil spray on hair and clothes when they head to school. A shorter haircut for boys and braids for girls helps, as well.
Don't forget to wash car seat covers.

added--make sure the school knows, so all children will be checked.

Lice are very easy to get rid of. There is no need to throw anything away as lice cannot live without a human host for more than 24 hours. If there is something you cannot wash then just put it in a bag for a few days and any lice that may have been on it will die. My boys had it. We did a treatment with the shampoo, washed the bedding, combed with a nit comb every day for a week, did a second treatment with the shampoo and washed the bedding again. It was gone. I suspected that they got it from the go-cart helmets, so they wear the protective hair coverings under the helmets now when they go go-carting.

ETA: Sorry, I was incorrect about the 24 hours. I looked it up and it is up to 48 hours that lice can survive without a human host. My boys had it about 5 years ago, so it isn't fresh...Anyway, putting stuff in a bag for a week should be sufficient.

Make sure you wash all winter hats/coats/scarves as well. I also got new pillows for the kids, I just didn't trust the dryer on hot for the pillows. I second the terminator nit comb, we had a couple recurrences till we got that. I combed daily for a week, then every other day for two weeks, not I do it about once a month as a maintenance.

If that fails do a search for lice removal services on google, there are 2-3 in the DFW area that charge around $250 to check/remove every head in the house and guarantee it. I was about to call them before I got the terminator comb.

it is NOT true that lice can only survive 24 hours without a host. adults can live 2-4 days, and nits up to 10.
it sounds as if you've done everything right (you don't need to throw the brushes away, just running them through the laundry cycle with your blankets and towels would work). now you just have to stay on top of it. check heads twice a day with your nit comb in hand.
but don't let it make you crazy!
and think more about your nit comb than overusing the toxic pesticides.
khairete
S.

My daughter came home with lice a wk before Thanksgiving. somehow me, and my two other daughters got it. I called a company that comes to your house and remove them professionally.

All you really need to do is this: get a metal lice/egg comb. I had received the professional one from the company. But i think any metal comb that removes both lice and eggs will work. She smothered our hair in olive oil, and ran the comb thru. she spent an hr on each of our heads. the more you remove, the better. do this every day. i bagged all hairbrushes, clothing, bedding and teddy bears that were in bed, and couch pillows and left them in garage for 48 hrs. also, if you do remove lice, eggs or nits, use a paper towel to clean the comb, afterwards place the paper towel in sandwich bags, to keep them from escaping.

keep olive oil in hair for a day or two, and every day run the comb thru. i had to do this for 2 wks every day. i kept the beds with minimal bedding, and washed every other day.

i still have to check our hair every week with the comb. and i treat my kids hair with peppermint/tea tree oil at the nape of their necks.

i did use the rid, but found out after, from the company, it doesnt do that much, except burn scalp and irritate skin.

the first day is stressful as can be, and the whole process seems like a lot of time, but after the first step, making sure there are no new bugs or eggs, goes a lot quicker. somehow it just became routine to do this every day.

there is also a place in lewisville called the lice place. my friend went here for herself and her daughter. they guarantee leaving there without lice. If you feel like getting it professionally taken care of and not having it done in your house.
sorry for choppy reply, but watching clock since my daughters pick up time is soon.

good luck, hope this helps!

For almost 2 years, my youngest daughter kept getting lice. Sometimes the rest of us would get it too, but we finally realized she was being exposed at school. We would be lice free & within a week back to school after any school break, she'd have it again. Our schools have a year round calendar with 3 week breaks, Fall, Winter & Spring, with a 6 week Summer Break.

I have always kept my hot water heater on the hottest setting, so all bedding is always washed in the hottest water. I have a thing about dust mites, they gross me out. Back then, the kids would sleep with us, or in each others beds, it was musical beds pretty much every night, so I had to wash all the bedding, mattress pads, pillows, comforters, EVERY time! It was a nightmare! I would bag the stuffed animals & other things that shouldn't be washed, although I eventually started washing them out of desperation, too. I never used the lice spray, because I'm super sensitive to smells, but every bed was stripped, vacuumed & aired out, while I washed the sheets, etc with the hottest water possible & dried them on the hottest dryer setting. I would soak the brushes, combs, hair ties, clips, etc in hot bleach water. 3 girls = a lot of hair accessories!

Sometimes I would just load the van with all of our bedding (it would be PACKED) & go to the laundry mat. I often would be crying, real, actual tears--not just bitching out loud, because I had JUST did it a couple of weeks ago & I really thought we were over it!

We did the natural treatments--mayo overnight w/a shower cap, wash out & then nit-comb with a solution of 1/2 white vinegar & Listerine. I put that in a spray bottle & combed through her hair while she watched TV. I would dip the nit comb in a white bowl of the vinegar solution & we would count the nits or the adults. Then I'd rinse the comb in another bowl & section her hair in little braids. One time I let her dye her hair, because that also kills them. It worked, but she went back to school & they came back & I felt strange letting my 9 year old dye her hair. We did try the nasty chemical shampoo, but it stung her skin & eyes & since she kept getting them, we didn't go back to it.

One time I took us all in for hair cuts & my Hair Lady found lice on her AGAIN! I was in tears, telling her everything we had been doing & she suggested we put straight tea tree oil on the nape of her neck & around her ears to prevent them from "liking" her hair so much. She said that they "like" some people more than others, the texture or smell or something attracts them, kinda like how some people (me!) are SO attractive to mosquitoes. So every morning before she got out of the van, I would dab straight tea tree oil in her hair with a cotton ball & then put it in a pony tail. Kept it in a baggie in the van & used it every morning for her whole 6th grade year without her getting lice again, even though we would occasionally get the "lice has been reported in your child's classroom" flyer. I would give her a kiss & away she went. There's a fun childhood memory for her! Good Luck! & remember that unfortunately, you are NOT alone!

You can also do mayonnaise in the hair to smother them. My dh & I used tea tree oil because my nieces kept having reoccurances for weeks despite everything my sister and I did . The mayo and tea tree oil were the last things we tried.. finally worked (that comb sounds good too thouh- didn't use it... this was like 5 years ago).

haha, I know the feeling that you "haven't gotten everything". We went through this two winters ago -- THREE GENERATIONS of people got lice - an Xmas miracle, LOL -- and for months afterward every time my kid or I even had dandruff I'd make my husband check us.

Anyway. I knew from the start that head lice are immune to our puny mortal poison, so i didn't even bother with medication. Smothering the lice and nits is where it's at. Try LiceFreee and olive oil. Follow the directions on the box of LF and get ready to comb, comb, comb. If you can't get LF leave olive oil and a shower cap on overnight and comb out with a lice comb in the AM. Do this 24 hours later and then ten days after infestation.

Additionally, take anything that comes in contact with hair and either dispose of it or wash it in hot water and/or put it in the dryer. Hats, coats, stuffed animals, all that good stuff. Change pillowcases every day for ten days. Remember lice cannot survive without a host for more than three days max but in case of eggs you'll want to retreat ten days after infestation. Good luck!

I don't want to jinks myself but we have never had lice in my house and both my girls have really long hair down their backs. Lice likes clean hair so every morning before going to school I always sprayed their hair with hairspray. It has worked so far. Good luck!!

You have done a great job so far. There isn't much you can do to prevent it - I've heard a ton of different things and there are all nautral Lice Defense products out there but in my opinion they don't really work and they small awful. For my girls the hair goes into ponytails or braids all the time for two weeks and then 7 days after the initial treatment I do everything all over again. I treat everyone in the house, wash everything I can get my hands on that may or may not have come into contact with my kids. I buy hairbrushes I can boil for 10 minutes after each use and continue to do that for a total of 3 weeks after the initial treatment. My kids have had it 3 times now and it is a royal pain and I always feel like I've forgotten something.

I've heard if you use product on the hair the lice don't like it. I only wash their hair every 2-3 days when I can because lice like clean hair. They say to use hair dryers when getting the hair wet - I've heard it all. Unfortunately it really only takes 1 child with lice to start to give a whole classroom head lice and you will probably never know who the culprit is.

In our area they are immune to the over the counter meds, so you have to get the brand new one from the doctor. So, I had to go the natural route after the Cetaphil method didn't work, and the RidX didn't work. I went to ULTA and got the Fairy Tales Good-Bye Lice and used it on my daughter. It was about $23 and then I got the Repel Lice Detangler spray. This is supposed to keep the lice away because they don't like it. She hasn't been back to school since I bought it, but all the reviews were really good. I would get this if I were you. Also the metal terminator comb is by the same company and the difference between the plastic ones and this one is amazing!

Royal Lice Treatment Center...check them out on facebook or call ###-###-####. My friend owns and is very helpful and reasonable. They often do free checks.

Get Licefree. It does not have the chemicals & comes with metal brush. I put all stuffed animals & extra bedding in garbage bags in the garage for a month so it does not come back. Put the licefree in the hair in the morning & night & comb out slowly getting all the nits. If you repeat for 3-4 days should be gone. report it to any school or daycare if they plan on returning since it could keep going around. Have your child wear a ponytail & I put lavendar conditioner in her hair so it is oily & they do not like the smell. Tea tree oil works as well. You just need to use hot water to clean the sheets & keep changing out daily until you do not see any more signs. It is a pain but happens a lot in winter when coats are hung together or piled on the floor.