Lice and Children in School

Hi Jennifer,
While this is an old posting, I thought you may want to know that "Cetaphil" cleanser is know proven prevent and get rid of lice. Leave in hair for as long as you can. comb in and rinse. it is also ok for daily washings of skin and face. the great thing: no chemicals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my pharmacist got rid of the other stuff.
HTH. Jilly

I used to be a preschool teacher and when we had lice outbreaks we had to remind parents to also treat their cars/car seats. Most people treat the entire house and forget about the little ones being in the car often. Hope this helps.

Hi Jennifer
my children are now all grown up and I went threw the same as you.
my daughters had long hair so we kept their hair in braids,and ponytails with lots of hair spray,and that seem to help.
and I also talk to their teaches when the problem kept up so that the teacher would have the class rechecked some times it may be the child next to yours their parents may not be keeping up on it sadly to say .I hope this helps
L.

Oh, Jennifer, I have been in your shoes! My 13-year-old daughter has had lice 3 times. Many lice these days are resistent to the toxins we put on our kids' heads to get rid of them so we end putting all those chemicals on them w/o it even working. PLEASE get the book "Head Lice to Dead Lice." It describes a natural treatment, using olive oil. It's a lengthy process, but it does work.
I actually had my hair highlghted b/c lice don't like treatments (or hair spray or hair gel or anything like that. Like you said, they like clean hair.)
Anyway, reading that book will give you understanding and powerment to get rid of the lice.
Good luck!
L.

I heard Tea tree oil works and you put a few drops into shampoo I used PERT since the oil has a strong smell and that covers it well. You can find more info on it online as a treatment. I think you can use it as a deterrent to.
We got it at CVS.

I just found out yesterday at Easter services, a friend from Minnesota informed me you need to use lots of hairspray because lice are repelled from it.

I know she said Nix is the best and then hairspray everything after you wash bedding, clothes, etc. She said she even hairsprayed her furniture and curtains.

Good luck!

Baby oil suffocates lice too.

When I was in high school my little sisters brought home lice several times and my mom had to treat their hair and the house. I used to blow dry my hair every day and I was the only one in the house that did not get it. Just like the heat from the dryer kills it in bedding and stuffed animals a hair dryer will do the same thing for the hair. Not that you need to blow dry their hair every day but it would help along with the treatments or other methods you are trying.

Hi Jennifer,

Did you clean brushes after each use? All hair accesories need to be wash or replace. My daughter when was little had it and i used RID, washed hair every three nights and every day I sat down to search for bugs and take them out as I found them, including the eggs. Washed linens every other day and hair accesories, I personally replaced them all.

Hope this helps.

My two boys had lice 5 years ago. I called the pediatrician and she said use the OTC stuff, I did and it didn't work. One of the my boys has blonde hair(the eggs and bugs were easy to find), my other son has dark brown hair(not so easy to find). Using a fine tooth steel comb, definitely not fun. I had tried to contact their ped again and in the meantime, my husband and I were going through each others hair, I had to bomb the house(I forget what the stuff was called), washed sheets everything. Finally the ped gave me a prescription for it-I am so sorry I don't remember what it was called, but it worked GREAT!!!! I was pissed because she made me spend money I didn't really have on things that didn't work, all this was so time consuming. The last time I saw lice was I was in elementary school. I think I was 8 years old. I decided I wanted to be a hair dresser when I grew up, so I used the family brush on the neighbors kids. Big mistake. I use to have hair down the middle of my back, it got cut off. My sisters and my mom had to go through a hair cut as well. When my boys got it, it was my worst nightmare came back. I will never forget it. But the prescriped stuff worked. I hope this helps.

Hi Jennifer,

Unfortunately, head lice is a very big problem in the school system. I have four children (3 girls with long beautiful hair). Each of them have gotten head lice from another child at school. I found out that it is best to get a prescription lice shampoo from my doctor to make sure that all the lice and eggs are killed. The over the counter remedies no longer have full effect on the lice.

I also learned that you need to suffocate any lice that might have gotten on to things like throw pillows, stuffed animals, etc. You do this by heating in the dryer and then placing these items in plastic garbage bag for four to six months. I did find that Rid has a furniture spray which seems to work on sofas, love seats, easy chairs, and carpet.

I bought a large magnifying lamp to help me search for the "nits" in my daughters' hair. Every nit has to be pulled individually off each strand of hair. This is a very tedious job especially with long, blond hair; but is very necessary. If even on nit is left on, new lice will develop. It took me 3 hours per daughter to carefully go over every strand of hair on their heads.

I had to go through the process several times before we were completely lice free in our household.

Another method I used (because the prescription shampoo is very harsh on the hair) is smothering the hair with MAYO and wrapping the hair in Saran Wrap at night and then washing the hair in the morning before going to school. The mayo not only suffocates the lice but conditions the hair.

I found that putting my daughters' hair in a bun and covering it with a cute hair net with a bow kept their hair from being easily accessable for lice on other children to transfer to their heads. I would also use hairspray on their hair to further discourage the lice from transfering.

Understand that there are several times of year that lice are more likely to be a problem - beginning of school, after an extended holiday (Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring Break).

Also, remember that you need to treat everyone in the family once lice is found on one person. The only exception is a very young child. Their hair tends to be too fine for the liking of lice. Lice tend to prefer very healthy, clean hair to nest in.

You also need to treat every area that anyone has slept on, sat on, or placed their head on. Don't forget the areas where the hair is brushed or treated at (carpets, bedspreads, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc.).

Boil all hair brushes and combs. Replace any pony tail holders that are cloth. I found that putting allergy covers on all the mattresses and pillows also prevented lice from infesting our beds.

I hope all this helps. I am glad that my children are in upper grades now where the lice problem seems to be almost nonexistent.

Karen - mother of 4