Head Lice - Am I Doing Enough?

wow~good job trying to keep it under control. You are doing all the right things for sure. Our household had the same problem about five years ago. We had six people in our house, but only one child had the problem ( thank goodness). I spent everyday dealing with it. Starting out w/ the RID and washing everything that wasn't nailed down. This went on for three weeks. The one thing I would suggest is to make sure you when you are checking hair for the lice, to sit by a window ( or outside now that it is nice) where the light is better. You would not believe how much more lice we found once I put her by a window to check her hair out. Everyday for seven days straight, I popped a movie on and my daughter sat and watched a 90 minute movie while I carefully worked over her hair strand by strand! As I took out the lice, I had a bowl of water and dipped the tweezer into the bowl to drown the lice (disposable bowl went into a trash bag and tied it up and placed in another bag outdoors). The final detail was .....we went to her doctor for her to look at her head to make sure we were on the right track for getting rid of it. After I told her everything I had been doing for three weeks, she wrote up a prescription for lice shampoo. This was the miracle we needed and wished I had known about it sooner. Although I had got out most of the lice eggs, there were still some in her hair. After one shampoo of this prescription, I could not find one egg on her head and we have never had a problem since. I was lucky enough to get a prescription for all four of my kids ( just in case) and I never had to use the other three, but still have them on hand in case. I'm sure they are expired by now, but the pharmacist assured me that we could still use them because they had a ten year shelf life. Anyhow, good luck and if the problem continues, I would ask my doctor about the prescription. Good Luck!

Hello M.!
I had to chime in because we just experienced our first battle with lice. Arrgh! You are doing everything that I read/heard to do and I totally sympathize with what you are going through. We have 3 daughters who all got it and were in various stages of infestation and they all have tons of hair. What worked the best for getting the live critters out was a newer product called LiceMD. It is a silicate gel (if I am not mistaken) and an ingredient often found in hair conditioners. It basically smothers the lice and makes it easy to comb them out especially in long thick hair. Non-toxic, odorless and plus they get really conditioned hair after you rinse it out. It makes it really easier to comb although it can be a little goopy. We tried other methods (one on each girl) to find the best combo. RID just did not work as well nor any of the other products we tried. I was trying to comb them out and they were jumping all over me...yikes! You can also use olive oil (per several websites) to smother them but it is messier and you have to leave it in longer. After the LiceMD, we followed my father-in-law's advice (he is a pediatrician in Peru). We soaked the girls hair in white vinegar (cover their faces with a wet rag so they can breath) and then we wrapped their heads in a towel for 30 minutes with the vinegar stewing. It is cheap and natural but it smells terrible and the kids hated it but it does a really good job of killing the eggs that are still left. It does this by drying them out. They are have kind of a coating which the acid in the vinegar dissolves. This kills them, turns them whitish which makes it easier to see them and remove them. (They are a lot tinier than I was ever led to believe!!!) (Not sure if you tried this but looking for the eggs is a lot easier in the sun, plus you are outside if they happen to fall off the wet kleenex or whatever you are putting them on after removal).
This all happened over two weeks ago and we have been checking every day and still no recurrence. I did wash everything once and still wash the bath towels after every use. You can get your carpets cleaned if you want to but if you have a good vacuum with a good filter, vacuuming should be sufficient (this goes for couches as well) I, too, put the sheets on the furniture and that seemed to help and make me feel better. Good luck and hopefully it will end soon for you and your family. On another note, I was shocked to hear that in our neighborhood, an average of 3 people A DAY come into the drugstore to get lice treatment materials! (Walgreens and Bartells have the best selection/widest range of products. Target has hardly anything.) I hope this was helpful!

A. :)

It sounds like you are doing a LOT already! Our school nurse for my building is not an advocate for chemicals, and her method is just constant diligence. Combing daily for two weeks. DO not overwash the hair (lice love clean scalps, oily scalps are not as desirable), contacting friends, girl/boy scout troops (apparently they seem to keep the lice cycling since kids do things at different kids' houses frequently in larger groups this way), no sleepovers for two weeks, etc.

Here is a parent responsibility checklist from the school district where I teach:
Parent Responsibility:
• Check your student before school starts in the fall and before returning from school breaks.
• Contact the school if you know or suspect that your child has lice.
• Inform family and friends so they can check their children.
• Treat your child and follow “Lice Aren’t Nice” pamphlet instructions to control transmission in
the home. This includes combing and picking for nits daily for two weeks.
• Examine all household members and treat anyone infested.
• Soak brushes, combs, hair clips in pediculocide shampoo or rinse/soak in hot water above 120
degrees for 10 minutes.
• Wash clothing, bedding and linens by machine washing and drying using the hot cycle for 30
minutes.
• Vacuum all rugs, carpets, furniture, car, car seats and strollers. Discard the vacuum bag, If using
a bagless vacuum, securely bag vacuum contents immediately after vacuuming.
• Use of environmental sprays is NOT recommended due to possible toxicity and ineffectiveness.

Here's a link to a website with some .pdfs that may be helpful too:
http://www.snohd.org/snoLiceArentNice/index.htm# They're large (25 pages), so maybe just reviewing those might be helpful.

I nannied a girl who got it THREE times in one school year. (the third time I got a phone call during the day with her sobbing saying, "put a garbage bag on the car seat and come get me") They finally figured out it was a girl on their softball team's basement where they were having sleepovers. All the parents pitched in and helped them really go through and get it taken care of for once and all! She was 7 then too. hang in there!

Sounds like you have it covered. I would throw the pillows in the hot dryer to make sure that any lice that have gotten on them get killed. Don't think that washing them is necessary.

We did all of the above as well and got them a third time. So what we finally did was leave for a few days because they can only live without a head for a few days so we removed our combed, washed and clean heads and went to the beach.

my suggestion is to buy the better lice comb. It is so much better on their hair. And you can keep it for future battles. I bought mine at a drug store it is metal instead of plastic.

Good luck

An additional vacuuming of every three days (eggs hatch about in about that time). Lice are a real pain. Check or get rid of hats and barrettes. Don't forget eyebrows. Check siblings and yourself! (sigh)

Sounds like you are on the right track. There's a couple of other things to try:

Put your daughter's hair up in a pony tail so that her hair doesn't sit on the back of her neck.

Put a plastic bag over her pillows, but under the pillowcase to avoid dealing with the pillows every day for 2 weeks.

Make sure if your daughter uses headphones, that they are either bagged or not shared by others.

My sister-in-law found that the RID shampoo chemicals were too harsh on her daughter's scalp (because she had been scratching), so her doctor recommended a one-time treatment with regular olive oil (no need to use expensive extra-virgin olive oil). Coat the hair thoroughly with olive oil and then put a shower cap over the oily head. Let it sit on the hair for at least 6 hours (from after school to bedtime) or overnight if you can. The olive oil cuts off the air supply to the lice and makes it easier for eggs to slip off the hair. Mix a tablespoon of Dawn dishwashing detergent with your daughter's shampoo to get the oil off of her hair/head.

Hello M., I'm very sorry to hear about your head lice issues. I hear similar stories very often at our salon, people are desperate to use and all solutions to resolve the problem and unfortunately wind up getting a product like RID or other chemical-based 'solution', which is a definite 'no no' in my book.

I'd only recommend using something that is 100% safe, non-toxic and eco-friendly. Such solutions do exist and I use them daily at our salon.

If you're in LA - we'd be glad to take care of this problem for you. If not - please call our salon if you have questions. I hope this is helpful & you get it resolved soon.

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