# i gotta ask the dreaded bug question :((



## oceanmist (Mar 21, 2006)

:help: ok i just gotta ask the dreaded bug question....








what is THE best way to get rid of head lice?? :Bawling: 

We are in the initial phase of adult bugs, finding no nits or eggs... I can't stand it!!!!!

Misty


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

The other day I read somewhere that the original blue dawn dish soap kills them and it's much safer to use than that poison shampoo made for killing them.

I know dawn kills the fleas on my dog and they are in the same family as lice aren't they?


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## quadcam79 (Oct 1, 2007)

well just so happens my daughter got them from the YMCA afterschool program...
forget the rid -x shampoo, doesnt work...what we did find that worked, mayonaise and olive oil, saturate the hair and scalp with a combination of both, put a plastic bag over the hair and clip it tight, put a towel over that and leave it on for about 3 hrs. Rinse, then rinse with white vinegar, shampoo, rinse again...

after all that you will need to go through the hair with one of those little lice combs...this killed everything. But then she went back to her mothers house and got them right back again. I told her she needs to take everyone out of the house, spray bomb it real good, treat my daughter again and that will get rid of them but shes in denial that there are any in her house.

heres an article on mayo and killing lice http://specialchildren.about.com/od/medicalissues/ht/smotherlice.htm

good luck


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## Traci Ann (Jun 27, 2005)

Tansy also works. However we haven't tried that. We have used coconut shampoo (must have the coconut oilin it) with tea tree oil added - about 2 T was what we added. Wash comb and repeat. Worked great with my neices and nephew - fine fine baby hair and very blond so it was hard to see them to begin with!


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## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

If you have any type of hair gel, just use a an amount to cover all the hair good, and then blow dry. The jel hardens around the critters when it dries and suffocates. Game over.


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## Delrio (Mar 11, 2007)

Ditto on the mayonnaise, conditions the hair nicely too! Make sure there are no nits and check her hair daily. Also wash the bedding and if she has stuffed animals put those in a plastic bag, seal tight and leave in the bag until the lice are gone.


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## TheBiscuitQueen (Aug 31, 2007)

What Delrio said. Make sure you get everything that could harbor the lice, such as brushes, hair ties, hats, scarves, coats, etc. Wash and dry on high temp or seal in a plastic airtight bag. 

We have gone through this several times in the past, it is embarrassing, but it happens to even the cleanest family. 

Except now my head itches!


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## coryy (Nov 6, 2005)

we just went through this!!!! ugh!!!!!

okay. first off, we had to use NIX, using some kind of chemical was school policy.

secondly, i used conditioner mixed with tea tree oil (any old conditioner, just dump tea tree oil in it), every night AFTER the nix treatment.( i didn't use the nix every night! tues i used nix, wed, thurs, frid, etc, i did the conditioner). just pour it into dry hair. let it sit for AT LEAST 3 hours (put a shower cap on the kid and sit them in front of the tv!) use a LICEMEISTER comb (you can get them at CVS, mine was out but they ordered it and I had it the next day). Those are the best for removing the nits. comb the hair section by section, making sure to lift the hair up off the scalp with the comb. have a LOT of videos available for the kids to watch while you do this!!!! You can also use mayo but that stank after 3 hours and got drippy.

vacuum every bed and couch and room every day. i washed sheets and pillows on hot every day as well.....
and my friend did all of the above, but STILL HAD THEM until she took the bed apart, vacuumed the box spring, the carpet UNDER the bed, and the SIDES of the mattress, and washed the curtains!

you can comb through the dry hair every day and just do the conditioner twice at 8 days apart, but the conditioner makes it easier to pull the comb through, so i used it every day.You need to retreat after 1 week to catch any nits that you may have missed and hatched in the meantime.

do NOT reuse towels....wash and dry towels, rugs, coats, sweaters, school BACKPACKS!, CAR SEATS (the baby kind) and vacuum the the WHOLE CAR every day.

can you tell i took a week off work, we skipped preschool, and all school activities, to do this ???

my pediatrician showed us THIS website: nuvoforheadlice.com
basically you soak the head in Cetaphil cleanser, comb it out, dry it THOROUGHLY with a blow dryer (sheer TORTURE for my 4 yr old with long hair), and it shrink-wraps the lice. bonus is that it can stay in for a whole day and REALLY kill everything. it worked great, but it hurt to blow dry my DD. my ds liked it, especially since it smells better than the NIX or tea tree oil.

i am STILL paranoid about the lice. 
also, the treatments make your head itch and give you dandruff, that doesn't help the issue!!!!

tar shampoo once a week, once you have them at bay, is supposed to discourage them from coming back.

make sure you do ALL the vacuuming obsessively...
and 
things that you can't throw in the wash (all the halloween costumes!!!!!!), can go in the dryer for 20 minutes, that will dehydrate and kill the lice. 

whew. now my head itches again just thinking about it!


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## coryy (Nov 6, 2005)

oh yeah, this may be overkill, but with dd and i having long hair, i needed to make sure we didn't re-infect. i threw out all the hair EVERYTHING (including my wood handled boar bristle hairbrush, sniff!), went to the dollar store, stocked up on 5 packs of cheapies, and threw all ponytail holders/hairbrushes away every day. I"m still doing that since we've only just passed the one-week mark.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

Any flea shampoo made by Lambert Labs (usually available at Walmart) does a fantastic job and leaves the hair in beautiful condition...and it's gentle enough that it can even be used on a daily basis (for a while). 

Hartz Mountain does *NOT* work for this!

Mon


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## BaronsMom (May 22, 2005)

If you are looking for information on how to treat your child, home - at least go to trusted Web sites for information. People who have done the research:

Harvard School of Public Health. Great information for parents, includes information if you need to treat pets (NO), bomb the house (NO), or should use products labeled for pets (other than a flea comb) (NO) and what to do - steps for you to take. 

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html



Head Lice Resources You Can Trust. UNL. Watch the free video so you know how to comb a child's hair correctly. The only thing we've done different in our house is to not use veggie oil to comb hair - it is a mess getting out. We use a nice hair conditioner - SO much easier.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/lice/



Good luck - it is frustrating. I thought we were done with it after my kids were out of elementary school, but the high school softball team passed it around (with the helmets) last year. Even harder when dealing with teenage girls because of the embarrasment - that's why you need to go to sites where people have the information you need.


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## rb. (Jan 26, 2003)

http://www.drgreene.com/21_640.html

this appears to be a good page for both OTC info and alternative remedy info. It also includes a section on cleaning.

We've dealt with this issue twice. Since I've started using tea tree oil in Pert shampoo as a preventative, we've not had it back. Cross my fingers and knock on wood.


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## Cara (May 9, 2002)

You've already had lots of great advice....so I'll just sympathize. We've been through it. It bites. Hang in there.


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## MarleneS (Aug 21, 2003)

I actually had a roommate once who was intelligent enough to make it thouogh nursing school and pass her boards...who swore by dog shampoo made to kill fleas, ticks...etc. Even when the label warned against this  I was always holding my breath waiting to find dog shampoo in the bathroom...when neither of us had a dog.

When my sister's children were in grade school, there was an entire neighborhood who volunteered to help one family rid their house... can you imagine how fedup they all were with having to continue to retreat their own families to motivate them to go and literally take everything out of that neighbor's house - de-louse it and put it all back? Amazing.

Marlene


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## ZooNana (Feb 25, 2005)

After a LONG fight with those nasties a few years ago, I found the only thing that worked was a mix of witch hazel and tea tree oil. I mixed about 1/4 bottle of tea tree in a bottle of witch hazel and soaked their hair then wrapped it. The mix STINKS like you wouldn't believe, so do it in a well ventilated area. 

Best comb out there for removing nits is the Licemeister. A mix of tea tree in conditioner makes it easy to comb them.

I then did a daily ritual of removing bed linens, pillows and such and running them each in a HOT dryer for an hour. All furniture was covered in sheets during this time so I could remove and clean them every day.


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## oceanmist (Mar 21, 2006)

Delrio said:


> Ditto on the mayonnaise, conditions the hair nicely too! Make sure there are no nits and check her hair daily. Also wash the bedding and if she has stuffed animals put those in a plastic bag, seal tight and leave in the bag until the lice are gone.





TheBiscuitQueen said:


> What Delrio said. Make sure you get everything that could harbor the lice, such as brushes, hair ties, hats, scarves, coats, etc. Wash and dry on high temp or seal in a plastic airtight bag.
> 
> We have gone through this several times in the past, it is embarrassing, but it happens to even the cleanest family.
> 
> Except now my head itches!


Well shucks I am at a loss now... this is what the little girls mother did in the afternoon before she came over to our house! I just don't buy it! If the mayo had "killed" the lice why did they come crawling on ME!???

Yeah, I hated asking this questions because I knew it would make others start itching! Sorry!

Misty


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## oceanmist (Mar 21, 2006)

ZooNana said:


> After a LONG fight with those nasties a few years ago, I found the only thing that worked was a mix of witch hazel and tea tree oil. I mixed about 1/4 bottle of tea tree in a bottle of witch hazel and soaked their hair then wrapped it. The mix STINKS like you wouldn't believe, so do it in a well ventilated area.
> *I then did a daily ritual of removing bed linens, pillows and such and running them each in a HOT dryer for an hour. All furniture was covered in sheets during this time so I could remove and clean them every day*.



THIS is what frustrates me soooooo much! I am a single mom working part-time and I can't afford to take my bedding to the laundrymat EVERY day for however long this takes to get rid of!
Add to that the physical aspect of vaccuuming, washing, drying.. man I am exhausted and all because this lovely woman decided that she didn't need to mention the fact that her lovely kid had bugs! :flame: 
Sorry, it's just frustrating! I spent 3 and 1/2 half hours doing my dd's hair yesterday, it's LOOONG.

I am curious as to why the buggers would go onto the couch and stuff? don't they want to stay as close to their food source as possible? And what about the warmth of our heads... what would intice them to go elsewhere??

Thanks Misty


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## oceanmist (Mar 21, 2006)

coryy said:


> we just went through this!!!! ugh!!!!!
> okay. first off, we had to use NIX, using some kind of chemical was school policy.
> secondly, i used conditioner mixed with tea tree oil (any old conditioner, just dump tea tree oil in it), every night AFTER the nix treatment.( i didn't use the nix every night! tues i used nix, wed, thurs, frid, etc, i did the conditioner). just pour it into dry hair. let it sit for AT LEAST 3 hours (put a shower cap on the kid and sit them in front of the tv!) use a LICEMEISTER comb (you can get them at CVS, mine was out but they ordered it and I had it the next day). Those are the best for removing the nits. comb the hair section by section, making sure to lift the hair up off the scalp with the comb. have a LOT of videos available for the kids to watch while you do this!!!! You can also use mayo but that stank after 3 hours and got drippy.
> vacuum every bed and couch and room every day. i washed sheets and pillows on hot every day as well.....and my friend did all of the above, but STILL HAD THEM until she took the bed apart, vacuumed the box spring, the carpet UNDER the bed, and the SIDES of the mattress, and washed the curtains!
> ...


Cory, you make me TIRED TIRED TIRED!!!!!!!!


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## BaronsMom (May 22, 2005)

oceanmist said:


> THIS is what frustrates me soooooo much! I am a single mom working part-time and I can't afford to take my bedding to the laundrymat EVERY day for however long this takes to get rid of!
> Add to that the physical aspect of vaccuuming, washing, drying.. man I am exhausted and all because this lovely woman decided that she didn't need to mention the fact that her lovely kid had bugs! :flame:
> Sorry, it's just frustrating! I spent 3 and 1/2 half hours doing my dd's hair yesterday, it's LOOONG.
> 
> ...


You are right Misty! A study done in schools in Australia confirmed that the lice stayed closer to their food (the kids) then they end up on the floor, carpet, etc.- it makes sense. They don't fly, they crawl - no hopping no nothing. If they fall off and no food, that's the end of them.

Lice will crawl across shared combs, hair accessories, hats, helmets, coats and toys the kids snuggle with. And girls especially like to flip their long hair around and are much more "close" to other girls than boys are. Next time you are at an elementary school, watch the girls - I get nervous every time I see them with their heads together!

The last time we dealt with lice at our house - we only changed the pillow cases every day and washed those. And then one of my DD's felt better if she could vacuum her bed. We also washed their fleece blankets every other day or so.

Better to save your time and energy for combing and my DD's have long hair too. Keep it in a braid or pulled up in between combings.


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## gottahaveagoat (Jun 5, 2006)

We have never had it, thank God. We were always told to use hairspray. I would put daughters hair in braids and spray it. The teachers told us this trick. Good luck


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## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

We had it twice in England- well once probly got it in Austria maybe from hotel or from rental ski helmet for DD7 (4 then).

The English don't require kids stay home from school when they have them.

Both times I got rid of them organically just nit combing hair generously coated with cheap conditioner daily for a week then weekly until bored with it. Also washed sheets of affected folks every few days; do have leather couches but didn't wash any fabric cushions or the fabric upholstered chaise longue. Put brushes in freezer for af ew days and a few stuffed animals too big for that in plastic bag for a few weeks.

But it's quite possible English lice are less hardy having less hard core pesticides used on them- but another reason to skip pesticides in the US- to avoid resistance.

Whatever you use vigilance in removal beats getting lucky on the poison used. And my old nit combs still work well for fleas on the animals now.


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

I keep my daughter with long hair in ponies or braides... and use coconut shampoo/condidtioner... and i have drilled into them NOT TO SHARE ANYTHING ( even had to go as far as flip flops with one child) SO FAR so good!!! They are 8 and 10 next month! and I have a neice who every single time she visited had it.. one christmas i spent 6 hours doing her VERY SHORT hair!! thats how bad it was.. from that point on.. i wouldnt bring my kids over !


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## WindSongAcres (Aug 8, 2007)

I knew someone who swore by using rubbing alcohol as a prevention - just put on dry hair before they go off to school. My girls would come home with them always at this time of year - one time they kept getting them back - I checked the neighbor girls head and found big ones crawling around. Gave me the heebeegeebees (sp)! But once her mom treated their household we didn't have another problem THAT year. I got them when I was a junior in HS - what an embarrassing time!


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## coryy (Nov 6, 2005)

oh, oceanmist, i AM tired!
i have a good friend whose baby i haven't even SEEN yet who just flew in from washington state, and i'm SO paranoid i'll send it home to her! Another friend was coming in from canada but she cancelled her trip. just did the nightly check of all heads a few minutes ago. I hosted a baby shower today for my best friend (thank GOD we had a free hall rental, it would have been cancelled if it had been at my house!) But an hour before the shower, i thought i saw something in MY comb, and had my mom come over & head check ME. sigh.(clean, just paranoid!)

we are at the point where WE wish we could go over to the source's house and help them...it's a mom with 6 kids. but unfortunately things are not working out that way...she's got cancer and a brain tumor and so the family has pretty much shut us all out, no matter how much we want to help. (or how desperately we want the whole school to be RID of these things!)

i have 6 garbage bags of bed linens (the down comforters, the mattress pads, the "extra" pillows, the afghans because it's fall and i didn't want to turn on the heat)....in my basement. they aren't coming out again anytime soon! I just keep bagging any extra stuff up. I bagged up all the stuffed animals and dolls with hair, too--lol the kid's bedrooms have never looked so clean!

we read the harvard study and did what it said, and even though some sites said that environmental cleaning (ie, curtains, toys, under the bed) wasn't necessary, these particular buggers have been persisitent in carpet at my girlfriend's house. I am VERY grateful to have wood floors right now!

combing and conditioner/mayo would probably have done it (esp since the NIX DIDN"T work on these guys). BUt school policy is school policy.

today i'm taking a chance and NOT drying the comforters. but i still feel like i should have, and i will in the a.m.

Did you report the lice and who you got it from, to the school nurse? they need to know the mom who has it, so they can send out notes to the other kids in the class or on the bus. the families that keep it secret are the ones that drive me nuts!

it took 4 hours to do my dd's hair the first time, and 2 tries and 3 hours each on me & the other mom who got it. but with the constant vacuuming i think we have it under control.

she also used a clear glass of hot water to rinse the comb as she dry-combed every morning, to see if any of the debris she got in the comb wiggled. They are very hard to see, so that helped her. 

Make sure you wash your dd's bookbag and jacket...i sent my middle schooler to school with a duffle bag last week, as opposed to a backpack, so i could avoid washing that every day.

oh geez! i just realized...his locker...his gym clothes...ugh....

okay, had to take a break and comb my head. is your dd in grade school, or just preschool? Ditto what they said about braids or ponytails...if you use new ones everyday, or keep washing scrunchies every day and using dried ones. also use hairspray or gell on the braids.

if your dd is in elementary school, the school needs to know and the nurse will check your dd too, which i found reassuring. I also knew that a friend of mind helped the school do lice checks, so i asked her help me with treatment advice, and i knew she wouldn't criticize me. the best thing she told me was that the school nurse will check ANYBODY in your family (preschool siblings, moms, dads, etc) if you bring them in...they know what to look for and are just as anxious as you are to be done with them, already. That reassured me, as i know i can't see the back of my own head. I've trained dh pretty well in the last week, but if you don't have a friend you can trust to check YOUR head, i'd ask the school nurse to have a look. better to treat both of you at the same time and get it over with. Find another mom you can trust to comb out your hair, if you can...i couldn't feel better until somebody else did mine. 

(at the baby shower today, i was still hesitant about hugging people. my friend who helps the school with lice gave me a big hug, and said in my ear, "i feel really safe, don't worry". boy did that make me feel better!) she knows how frantic i've been in the last 2 weeks.

hang in there, buy the licemeister, and get somebody to check you. give up and buy a lot of chocolate to eat while you fold the laundry. it's the only way to cope!

oh yeah, and if you keep a comb to use or a brush, make sure to keep it in a cup of alcohol when you aren't using it. vodka would work. you can do that with the hair pretties, too.


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## greenacres (Feb 21, 2003)

Yep, been there done that. My DD 5 came home with them from Kindergarten, I think or a friends house whose brother has very long hair. He thought his itchy head was dandruff. Anyway....I tried to RID shampoo. Didnt really help at all. I did wash and condition my daughter's hair eveyday and comb with the lice comb. I also washed and/or dried all bedding, stuffed animals, backpacks, etc. I was told by the school nurse that for precaution, those of us that didnt have it to use 1/4 vinegar to 3/4 shampoo and leave on for a few minutes and rinse. I did this for 2 weeks. I just buzzed my boys' hair. They were due for a haircut anyways. But I didnt end up with them, and she was laying on my chest on my bed at the time that I found them!! EW!! I will say that my head is starting to itch after reading about them again.


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## RachAnn in NW Okla (Aug 28, 2002)

coryy said:


> vodka would work.


is that to drink or to soak stuff in? :lookout: (I would drink some and then soak stuff....then drink some more!!!)

my DD is 6 and so far so good!

Rachel


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## oceanmist (Mar 21, 2006)

RachAnn in NW Okla said:


> is that to drink or to soak stuff in? :lookout: (I would drink some and then soak stuff....then drink some more!!!)
> 
> my DD is 6 and so far so good!
> 
> Rachel


LOL that's not a bad ider! I think I'll do both! LOL unfortunately I am not a drinker, although the idea appeals to me at this moment.

We just got back from my dad's BDay party and couldn't hug anyone! :Bawling: 

I am going to just keep blow drying my hair a LOT, like 7-8 times a day, combing and putting all the bedding through the dryer every night before bed.

I KNOW heat kills them. The Nix I just spent $15 on, doesn't. So glad I didn't waste it on dd's hair. :grump: 

I refuse to use the chemical spray on my car/ furniture as I know how much damage that does to the environment and plus I have asthma.

Thanks for all of your support and Cory hang in there! So sorry you are having to go through this too..

oh btw my dd 14 is homeschooled, we don't have any friends that come over and the little girl that gave it to us is only 3 years old. Her mother swears that school nurse gave her a 100% bug free status, but obviously she missed some. We don't have to worry about bags, coats, nit policies and such Praise God for that!

Misty


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## comfortablynumb (Nov 18, 2003)

Sevin-10 insecticide dust.

it has a ffffffffew side eeeeffects.


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## Jan Doling (May 21, 2004)

We used the dog's flea and tick shampoo....much cheaper than Nix and was already on our shelf. Also, twice daily I did the inspection and removal routine....which was miserable with the long-haired kid with the thick tresses! The whole laundry-vacuum bit is so tedious that I whisk the kids away from other kids with lanky-looking hair.


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## oceanmist (Mar 21, 2006)

comfortablynumb said:


> Sevin-10 insecticide dust.
> 
> it has a ffffffffew side eeeeffects.


LOL only a few huh? I think I'll pass... lack of sleep and excessive physical effort is already making meeee loopy~!  

My DM suggested pyretherins... you know like the ones they use to spray inside of horse barns?? OMW come on mom! LOL

thank for the thought,

Misty


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## Clifton73 (Jun 18, 2007)

I just watched a piece on the local news about head lice a couple of weeks ago...they flashed to prescription medication...1% permethrin. I have 10% permethrin for horses....fly spray.


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## catk102 (Mar 29, 2003)

Hi not much of a poster but avid readeer.

I am so surprised nobody mentioned Listerine (the amber colored one original,not the other flavors)can be the generic dollar stoe kind to.Just pour it carefully but generously over the head seal it in for about 30 minutes with 1 or 2 disposable shower hats and wash.Now if she has been sratching alot it will defitly sting for the first few minutes but afterwards feels so good(I even sometimes do it just because)hair feels real nice soft and fluffy afterwards.(guess it takes hardwater deposits nd junk off)
I found this out a few years back when my DD had Lice from school for what seemed like the 100th time and it was couple days away from payday.I think I found it on the net and figured i give it a try.It was rather gross when we rinsed it off as the all came out(she didnt seem to have very many when we checked her head).
Also it seems to do something to the nits where maybe the alcohol or something damages them and they wont hatch anymore also it loosens some of the nits considerably.

Kat


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