NOT on MY child!!! Well yes! It happens to the best of us. I have been looking through my DD hair for months the school has had out break after outbreak, some really A type mom kids have had. Monday it became our turn. I was combing, my dd long, thick hair and saw one of the little things moving around and the nightmare began. So I did the NIX, bought the $10 picking comb, washed everything in the house, vacced everything. She was passed into school my the nurse. Now I think I have it under control I know it isn't time to relax. How much, long did you keep up on it after the first cleaning? Did they come back? How Many family members were infected? How little bugs did you find?
Day 4 of Lice Patrol. I have learned what nit picking means, and lice-louse=lousy. I didn't think these was a vocab lesson. I have been vaccing, tossing all bedding in the dryer every day, and nit picking every night. To think this will go on for another 10 plus days is crazy. That's assuming they don't even come back. So far no one else in our house has been effected. With a 3 year old little girl nit picking would not be easy, for she doesn't sit still. Thanks for the feed back, misery loves company.
It was about 3 weeks for us and all of the kids got it. I shaved the younger boys' heads but the older one had long hair at the time so I would nit pick his head every night. Now I know what nit pick and lousy really mean. My head itches just from writing this!
There are non insecticide remedies available on the net that I found much preferable to the Nix route. They also involve vacuuming and washing everything but on harsh chemicals. You should look them up if the dreaded louse come back.
my son had it. he had long, "cool" boy hair and I had to cut it all off (thank goodness he is a boy).
I treated him and picked nits for about a week (it was during all that snow and ice we had in TX)
Anyways, re-treated per box in 7 days and they came back.
I would treat every 7 days for three weeks. While you can use the Cetaphil lotion (not cleanser) treatment for subsequent treatments that only impacts live bugs and not nits or eggs close to scalp.
Good luck!!
(Oh, unbeknownst to many, dirty hair is actually better for preventing/deterring lice - it is harder for them to attach, so maybe in the midst of treatments, less hair washing and more dry shampoos or baking soda at the scalp and brush to keep the little critters off).
Hang in there, Momma!
It took me two horrible weeks to eradicate lice. You have to be SOOOOO careful. There's no margin for missing even one little egg. If you do, the problem is still with you. You should probably treat everyone in the household one more time after you think the problem is solved. Be sure to wash and vacuum EVERYTHING, including car seats.
I learned too that hair color kills lice and their eggs!
Do some research on Nix and Rid, do NOT use them, they are a pesticide, do you really want that on your childs head?? Tea tree oil is great at killing them, and go through the hair, almost strand by strand to get rid of all the nits.Keep going through her hair daily for at least a week, using a bright light or sunlight.
I said the same thing....never on my kid....but yes it does happen to the best of us...I was neurotic when I found out my daughter had them....combed through my daughters long, thick, wavy hair every morning and every evening....I did one treatment and then 7 days later did another....I treated myself just in case, as we shared the same brush....hubby hardly has any hair so I didnt worry about him.....I only found one live bug and after the treatment found a dead one....not sure if they were one in the same....I went on every website, read every article possible because I was such a nut....I would strongly suggest treating again in 7 days and not sooner because it takes 7 days for the nits to hatch into the live bugs....if you do it too soon it will be for nothing..I also read that vinegar will help to remove the glue that attachs the nits to the hair follicle...if the nit is more than 1/2" from the scalp it is not viable as they need the warmth from your scalp to survive....I cant find the website that I found most useful but this one is pretty good http://www.medicinenet.com/head_lice/article.htm I hope this whole ordeal will soon be behind you...I know how emotionally disturbing it can be!!
Meg
I would not be so sure that the problem has passed. Nix rarely works. Lice are immune to them. I have 2 daughters that have both had lice at different times, brought home from school. The best remedy is coconut oil. Get a jar or pure coconut oil. Melt a couple of tablespoons and wait for it to cool. Saturate the scalp and hair with the oil and wrap a shower cap around the hair. Let it sit for a few hours and then wash the hair with Suave coconut shampoo. Then take the nit comb and comb through. The coconut oil kills live lice but also kills the nits by breaking up the exoskeleton. This is the only thing that got rid of them all. And believe me I tried every lice killer on the market.
Catherine is right, the bugs stay on the head (luckily) and you will not find them all over the home. Also, IF the nits fall off they cannot hatch without being in their handy hair incubator.
I would recommended that you check everyone else in the house just to make sure. If the comb you purchased is on of the nice metal ones you can use it to do head checks. Just wet the hair, run the metal comb through and wipe it on a white paper towel. This way you can see if there are any nits or bugs in the persons hair.
Wet combing with a good metal comb will eventually get rid of them all, it just takes time and patience. Focus your energy on getting all the nits out and enjoy your now clean home.
If you have any other questions let me know, I happen to treat head lice for a living, I know they are maddening, but it sounds like you are doing a great job :)
Nit Nanny
First off sorry to hear this, we went through this for 3 months. You need to check her hair at least every other day for 3 weeks, incubation is 21 days or so. If any eggs were layed and missed you will have live ones again that can lay more eggs. The best treatment we found was from our pediatrician which involved putting Cetephyl liquid soap on her hair and drying it. You leave it on for at least 12 hours. I think, to sufficate the liitle buggers. Good luck.
Awful- just awful! I got a call from my son's school in January that they found one in his hair. I had just begun a huge, time consuming project with my work and knew that I couldn't spend the time to go through his hair everyday, so I took him to a lice removal service located in Seattle called 'Lice Knowing You'.
What they do is a 3 step process that takes about an hour and a half to permanently remove the lice. It is guaranteed to work and they do a follow up check up a week later. I still had to go through his hair daily to check for a couple weeks and still do weekly just to be safe.
I also had to go home and scrub/clean/vacuum from top to bottom in addtion to washing everything. But, it was a done deal and has not come back.
Tea tree oil was also recommended to me. We switched his shampoo to a tea tree oil shampoo and I bought some straight up tea tree oil in the pharmacy. Everyday I dab a little behind his ears and the back of his neck.
Good luck to you!
blow dry her hair she will not get them again
For prevention I highly recommend switching your daughter to a tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner and then dropping some tea tree oil and lavender essential oil drops into some water and spraying her head everyday before school. I hope they dont come back! Lice is awfully unfun.
If she does get it again you can smother them with coconut oil and leave on overnight, then comb through it in the morning. It doesnt have the harsh chemicals as nix and the lice cant become immune to it. HTH!
M.
You will likely have to repeat the scenario in a week or so.
Check out the SeattleMamaDoc blog. (Type seattlemamadoc and children's hospital into a search engine). She has a post on lice (she and her kid both got it) with great information.
Eugene has an endemic situation with lice in the public school. My nightmare went on for several weeks. Braid your daughter's hair. The little black vermin cannot attach to a braid only to single strands they climb.
Pinesol and hot water. We didn't even try our own washer and dryer. We went straight to the laundromat with every piece of bedding and stuffed toy, towel washed or not, linen et. al. HOT water. No standing back. PINESOL until it stinks. Rinse and re-rinse into the dryer on HOT. If something melts so be it. It won't and then fold take home. Wash child's hair and do the fine tooth comb every other day.
More work than a mother deserves but we have our children to protect. And our older children too. My older daughter kept checking her hair for weeks.
Man was I ever P.O.'d at the school district but they kept their same policy and so children still get bugs. Also, you must take the nits out. They not only laugh at soap and water they use NIX as a hatching agent.
tHE BEST ADVICE THAT THIS SIGHT HAS EVER GIVEN IS USING TEA TREE OIL SHAMPOO ON YOUR CHILD'S HAIR!!!!iT WORK SOOO GREAT YOU JUST WOULDN'T BELIEVE!! IT GETS RID OF THEM AND HELPS PREVENTS THEM...THE BUGS CANT STAND THE SMELL!!
Please go to headlice.org and don't put poison on your child anymore.
Lice like clean hair, they are not dirty. Take a breath and relax. Head lice is at epidemic levels in just about every school district in the world.
