Help with Head Lice
- Our list has compiled some helpful hints, information and recipes concerning head lice.
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- Here is the web site that Penny sent, lots
of good info
and pictures so you
know your dealing with the right critters: http://www.headlice.org/index.html
we've never had these in my house but a good friend has, and after doing a
lot of searching she finally came up with something she say's works
beautifully, she saturates the hair with baby oil, then wipes off the excess
and puts on a shower cap and leaves it on over night, the following morning
she shampoo's to remove the oils, then she soaks her hair with a mixture of
one part cider vinegar, four parts water and allows that to remain on her
hair for like 20 to 30 minutes and rinses her hair clean. She says by doing
this she removes all traces of any critters or eggs that may be attached to
the hair, and her hair is silky soft and has a really nice shine and most of
all critter free.
She's a day care worker for disadvantaged kids and she come in contact with
them all the time, so she says she does this like once a month if she needs
to or not, I guess it's sorta like those saturday bath's.
Just wanted to make sure you proceed with caution with the shampoos
that are designed to kill head lice. I've heard that they can cause
neurological problems (brain/nerve problems), especially when used
excessively. My girls both play softball and we had many
infestations when they were younger (now both 12, no, not twins!).
It was only after I dowsed those little lice with products like RID
that I heard of the potential dangers of damage to brain cells.
Please, please, please, proceed with caution. Spend the time to
"nitpick." I found the special comb pulled their hair something
awful and was very painful, found using the fingernails and squeezing
them down the shaft until the egg was between the fingers was the
most gentle way to go. We put in a movie to help get our girls to
sit long enough so we could get the job done. It can take hours, and
do it every day until you don't find anymore eggs. I've also heard
that blow drying wet or damp hair can help keep from getting
reinfestations - don't know how true this is, something about the
heat, I guess.
The most embarrassing thing about lice is that
it is really
important
that you speak to the parents of the children who play
with
yours.
Chances are their heads are infested, too, and if
everyone
"battles"
the problem at the same time your chances of nipping it
in the
bud
are better.
I think you'd be surprised at the number of
children who
have had
lice -- the biggest problem is that their parents don't
tell
others
so that treatment can be started on everyone exposed,
thus
the
terrible cycle.
Be sure to check your head and your husband's, too!
Good luck, sleep well, and remember, it happens
to the best
of us!
P.S. Just think of how clean your house is
going to be when
you're
all done with dusting, vacuuming and washing everything
in
it!!! You
WILL sleep well!
you have to pick off each and every nit. Use a nit comb and section
the hair off in tiny sections, you have to do it by hand...no medicine or
eo, etc will do that part.......that is the hardest part. do it daily until
they are completely gone.......I did it in 2-3 hour stretches.......
Please don't keep using the chemicals on her :o) They are so
dangerous.......
My Daughter was a teacher in a Daycare
& came home with
them (only time I've
ever seen them) And she has thick black hair down to her
butt
hair.........it was a nightmare. We bagged up all the
couch
cushions, washed
and bleached everything else.....vacuumed the house top
to
bottom...the cars
too.
After it was finally over I came to understand the
phrase
"nitpicker"
Unfortunately it's the only way along with the nit combs
to
get them off the
hair shaft.
I found a recipe for an herbal lice treatment posted by Ela Heyn in a
Hair Care Recipes site. it calls for 2 oz of olive oil, 20 drops of tea
tree oil, 10 drops each rosemary, lavender, lemon, essential oils.
it says to combine, apply to dry hair and cover with a plastic shower cap or
small trash bags with paper clip. wrap head in a towel and leave on for two
hours. Then work shampoo into dry hair to cut oil, rinse and shampoo until
all residue is gone. Our school nurse also suggests to soak the hair
in olive oil, wrap with plastic bag for an hour or so, then wash out. It
seems that the oil smothers the little buggers.
Good Luck... We had our problem with scabies.... We FINALLY got rid of
those little bugger, now every time I see a little rash I start to panic.
Neem oil's also an excellent insect repellent, as well as it's other
properties. One site also says it's insecticidal. I'm not sure of that,
but it sure helps to keep those stupid 'no seeums' at bay.
I tell you head lice is everywhere. No matter
how clean or
how many times
you wash your hair you can get head lice. The
head lice are
becoming immune
to the RID products and the new products have even
harsher
chemicals in them.
A mother sent me a 3 page hand written note to
share with my
moms who are at
their wits end in dealing with habitual head lice
problems.
She takes and
warms 2 ounces of Olive Oil in a baby food jar in the
microwave for about a
minute and then adds 40 drops of Tea Tree Oil and lets
that
sit while she
washes her daughters hair with Dawn dish washing liquid
two
times. She takes
her daughter outside and applies the olive oil/tea tree
mixture and she says
the head lice start running!!! She then puts a plastic
bag
over the hair and
waits 2 hours. She then gets a flea comb from
Wal Mart or
Rite Aid and combs
through her hair. The olive oil loosens up the
nits, kills
the bugs and
gives her daughter a "hot oil" treatment all at once!!!
She
then adds 20
drops of tea tree oil to every bottle of
shampoo. She said
her daughter has
not had it now in two years. I have
been the school nurse
now for two years
to 2000 k-12th graders. Head lice seems to be
getting worse!
I try to
educate the kids about sharing hats, helmets, combs,
scrunchies, brushes,
coats, etc. I have my "Lice Squad" check all
the elementary
rooms two times
a month. Some of the rooms weekly!!! I hope
this
helps.
(see above)That is great
advice..the detergent
strips the oils out of the hair and truly
is cheaper than buying Prell...our nurses do not have
time to
deal w/lice
here..that is why I got the job :-) actually,
it is really
slowed down..due
to frequent preventative checking..for anyone who wants
any
information on
the comb I use..please go to
www.LiceMeister.org. Great Folks
to work
with..the flea combs are less expensive, this type of
comb
seems to be longer
toothed and tighter teethed.
No need to be
embarrassed. It can happen to
anyone. I caught them on a
Greyhound bus. It takes about two weeks to
really get rid of
them. The
best thing i know of to get rid of them is smother her
hair
with mayo and
put a plastic cap on her hair and leave it over
night. Wash
the hair in the
morning and rinse with vinegar. Leave the
vinegar on for at
least 5 minutes
and rinse it off. The mayo smothers them and
the vinegar
loosens the nits.
Repeat this every other day for two weeks.
Boil hair brushes,
combs, hair
clips, hats etc. Run pillows thru the dryer
for 20 minutes on
high temps
then cover with plastic for two weeks, wash all bed
clothes in
hot water and
dry with high heat. You can spray the mattress
with a
solution of 1 cup
water, 10 drops tea tree oil, 10 drops camphor
EO, 10 drops
eucalyptus EO,
and 10 rosemary EO, and 10 drops of citronella
EO. Spray a
light mist over
mattress and let dry. Once it drys, cover with
plastic for
two weeks.
You can also spray brushes, and anything that comes in
contact
with the hair
with this solution to help discourage
reinfestation.
HTH
Don't feel bad. I've just
been through that
with my daughter. At least
yours is old enough not to go around telling every
stranger in
the store
about it! I'll be glad when my 6 year old stops that.
Anyway, try massaging mayonnaise into her scalp. I think
that
will loosen
the glue the nits use. I also made a bar soap that was a
little strong in
lye, not too much or you can burn her scalp with it. The
lye
will kill them
little bugger's. I think I upped the lye in mine about 2
ounces, not for
sure. I also used a tea tree soap (tea tree
oil was the only
additive) and
used that to help with the itchies. So far no more lice.
I
just dread next
year when jenna starts 1st grade! I know it will be back
and
I'll be
prepared! Good luck.
I'm sure you will get tons
of great info on
this subject from other 'nuts,
but I wanted to put in my .02. My daughter had
lice once,
too. And she has
hair nearly to her hiney! Not thick, but still
lots of
it!
I happened to have a fluorescent (sp?) light
that I used
when picking the
nits out, and it did a wonderful job of helping me find
them -
and I just
used my fingernails to scrape the little buggers of the
hair.
Press a
middle finger nail to a thumb nail and slide all the way
down
the hair to
the end, then rinse the nasty little thing under warm
running
water. I also
washed every item I could get my hands on in the house,
and
stored all of
her toys and bears and etc. in plastic bags for two
weeks. It
was a LOT of
work, but we made it through and the lice and their nits
were
irradicated.
Far Far from embarrassing!!! I am one who is sooo picky on how things look
and how clean things are etc..... and have fought and fought with lice!!
(knock on wood none this year!!!) it is a lot more then just the hair the
car, the beds, carpets, pillows, stuffed animals and other such things. They
can carry them too -- my daughter was the only one who couldn't get rid of
them. When I started treating the truck and car, her school locker etc...
then they finally were disappearing!! I also have started to use tea tree
and lavender oils in my shampoo -- can't say this is what has kept them at
bay but as I said -- so far none this year :)
good luck!!!!
Don't be embarrassed, head lice are more common than you might think. I
can't recommend a homemade remedy although you might check out some of the
essential oil sites for something you could add to a light oil and comb
through. What I can tell you is that your doctor can probably prescribe
something that will be more effective than RID. Like you say, it's fine
for killing the live ones but it doesn't get the eggs. You should also
call your daughter's school and talk to the nurse. Your daughter could be
getting reinfested by another student and it is the nurse's responsibility
to see that anyone infested is treated so that can't continue to happen.
One small step you can take to prevent reinfestation is to braid your
daughter's hair as tight as she can tolerate it. French braids are
attractive and fashionable and it will keep her hair away from other
students hair and clothes. Good luck!
This is a terrible problem in most school districts,an we have discussed this
alot on the list. An acquaintance of mine,shampoos/bathes her grandchildren
with 15 drops +/- of tea tree oil daily.They haven't had a infestation in 3
years, in a school district that is really loaded with the lice. She says
that it works because the lice haven't become insensitive to the t-tree yet.
May or may not work as a control/deterent after you have gotten going with
the other controls. Would a shorter hair length make it easier to get the
combout done. Short haircuts are very in style right now.
Thirteen is such a self conscious age,I hope that this will help.
I hope that this will help some of you, please research all ideas before trying them out especially on young children. I think the most important advice or thought is that you must not feel this is any fault of yours as a mother/father/grandmother/grandfather, you get the picture. Many people seem to think that this is a 'dirty' subject that needs to be hidden, you would be surprised at the number of cases each year, this is not a question of your competence as a parent, but an outbreak that should be treated like any other childhood illness such as the flu, chicken pox, etc.
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