I think there should be a lice sticky.

[Dana Joy]

I have learned so much about lice~ all the things I have done wrong, some of which can have tragic consequences (read here)

Here are some resources that have been really helpful to me:

Head Lice.org FAQ page

Pictures of Nits

The Best Comb I have found.


Some warnings for everyone who may read this and may not click the links:

OTC shampoos and RX shampoos are pesticides with all the dangers associated with them. No treatment completely removes lice, only repeated careful combing does. So why risk the pesticides.

Pesticide sprays for bedding and furniture are not effective. Vaccumming is.

Plastic bags and shower caps worn while sleeping, carry a huge risk of suffocation.

---------- Post added at 08:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 AM ----------

IF you decide to use a chemical treatment method:

• Don't use shower caps and never leave the product on longer than directed.
• Don't use a prescription product containing the pesticide LINDANE.
• Don't use a chemical treatment on or near the eyes.
• Don't use a head lice treatment on a baby.
• Don't use lice sprays.
• Don't buy products that are packaged with Lice Sprays.
• Don't treat individuals who are not infested.
• Don't use treatments to prevent head lice.

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 AM ----------

Signs of Pesticide Poisoning

[JavaMama]

Thank you for posting these links... I hope we won't need them but several of the neighbor kids have been passing lice back and forth and I'm soooo paranoid we'll get them.

[Dana Joy]

The steps I have used, and have found effective:

During the day:
1. Wash all bedding / stuffed animals. Any non-essential items placed in plastic bag until completely sure lice are gone. Anything unable to be washed can be placed in dryer on high heat.
2. Vaccum all carpeting and matresses.

In the evening:
3. Check every family member, by wetting hair and looking under natural light. Look especially behind ears and at nape of neck.
4. Apply conditioner or cream to heads effected.
5. Comb through hair with metal toothed comb. (plastic ones have never worked for me) Use a white towel to wipe the comb clean and inspect what comes off. Continue combing until no lice are seen when cleaning comb.
6. Blow dry hair.
7. Wash hair with a shampoo with tea tree oil added.
8. Place long hair up in bun or braids, maybe even use clean head scarves while sleeping.
9. Wash all brushes and combs.

In the morning:
10. Replace all hair clips etc with clean ones, put ones warn in laundry.

Repeat process every three days until no lice are found.

[cobluegirl]

I stickied it.

[ThirstyTurtle]

How often did you wash the bedding? After washing the bedding for 2 days and then not washing for 2 days (although I threw everything but the sheets in the dryer for a hour at a time), I'm thinking that it is an important step to wash the bedding every day. I would have been doing that if our washing machine wasn't broken right now and I was so tired of the laundrymat.

[JavaMama]

Originally Posted by ThirstyTurtle

How often did you wash the bedding? After washing the bedding for 2 days and then not washing for 2 days (although I threw everything but the sheets in the dryer for a hour at a time), I'm thinking that it is an important step to wash the bedding every day. I would have been doing that if our washing machine wasn't broken right now and I was so tired of the laundrymat.

Dh and I were really paranoid because dd2 was the only one in our family to get lice and she sleeps with us still so we washed and/or dried our bedding every day for over a week and then switched to every two days and then spaced it back out to our usual once a week. I'm dreading the water bill we get next month!

I think drying everything in the dryer should probably be enough esp if you are carefully combing for bugs and nits every night before bed.

---------- Post added at 10:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 AM ----------

Also- for those who are trying to avoid or get rid of lice, we had good luck with Fairy Tales Haircare (Organic) Rosemary Repel Shampoo etc. Our neighbor girl always runs (or used to) to dd2 to hug her and she's had them so bad other kids' moms were noticing them so I assume that is where dd2 got them since no one else in the family every got them.

Anyway, everyone in the family has been using the Rosemary Repel product in conjunction with all of the tips Dana gave. I do think it helped! We got rid of them that way whereas another neighbor who got them from that girl ended up having to be treated with $150 Rx treatment that Medicaid paid for- and the girl who gave them to everyone STILL has them. I think they have become resistant to the chemical treatments.

[everybody's mother]

Robi-comb. Costs about 30 dollars. It is reusable, can be taken apart and cleaned if you want. It is basically a mildly electrified lice comb. It is chemical free. I had my kids cover their ears when using it, ears are quite sensitive. Otherwise I tried it out on various parts of my own body first, it generally produces a mild tingle, if anything. Then just wash the bedding twice a few days apart.

[Mommainrwanda]

I'll put in my two cents for another non-pesticide option.

I had lice for 6 months when I was a teenager and *nothing* worked to get rid of them. Not nightly combing, not pesticide treatments. Finally we slathered mayonnaise into my hair and then wrapped my head with saran wrap (ok, wouldn't do that part now...but an old towel would work) and slept on it. Apparently the mayo smothered the lice and my hair was super conditioned

Any oil kills them, since they breathe through their skin. You need to use a lot though, and then after an hour you can wash it out and you will comb out dead lice. We use sunflower oil (cheap organic sunflower oil is readily available to us)!

Neem oil kills them, and also repels them, but I wouldn't personally use it direct on skin except for very diluted. (Neem kills fleas too. ) Tea tree and rosemary also repel them, but neem works best IME.

[JavaMama]

Originally Posted by everybody's mother

Robi-comb. Costs about 30 dollars. It is reusable, can be taken apart and cleaned if you want. It is basically a mildly electrified lice comb. It is chemical free. I had my kids cover their ears when using it, ears are quite sensitive. Otherwise I tried it out on various parts of my own body first, it generally produces a mild tingle, if anything. Then just wash the bedding twice a few days apart.

Wow... interesting! If God forbid, we end up with them ever again I will have to try this!

[ThirstyTurtle]

I used the Robi comb but didn't like it. I had 2 different types of metal combs. One worked better on ds1's hair and the other worked better on ds2's hair.

Even if you kill the lice with mayo or any other oily substance, you still have the nits to contend with. I am rusty now on the development cycle, but basically you have to do a treatment every few days to kill any newly hatched lice before they are old enough to lay more nits.

[shaslove]

I have had great success with the tea tree oil shampoo, but I still have them. I may try the oil-I do not like the pesticide stuff, ugh! Anyone try dying theier hair to be rid of them? I was thinking about doing that.

[ThirstyTurtle]

I got rid of them when we had them within 2 weeks with no new outbreaks by constantly saturating our hair in oil (olive oil and coconut oil ... sometimes one and sometimes the other) and nit combing everyone about 3 times per day. We put oil in our hair at bed, nit combed, went to bed, nit combed when woke up, washed hair, nit combed again, oiled hair, nit combed at bed, put more oil in our hair before bed, repeat. Doing it every day was over the top, but I think based on their life cycles you want to do this every 3 days for 2 weeks.

We washed with tea tree shampoo and I did straight vinegar rinses on my hair and 50/50 vinegar/water on the kids' hair. Some things I read said that vinegar could kill nits and some say it didn't, but apparently vinegar does loosen the nit glue. I think I changed/washed the bedding every day for the first week (the washer broke at the beginning so we may have only done that once in the first 3 days, but I think I was changing it everyday because we had 3 changes of sheets for each bed). I put the pillows in trashbags and then put the vacuum hose in there to suck any lice out ... the bag and pillow should shrivel up if you are doing it correctly. I sprayed the beds and furniture with a mixture of vodka and tree tea oil, but it was also supposed to have cinnamon bark oil (? I think that was it) but I didn't use that because I was pregnant and also didn't have it on hand. I don't remember where I found the recipe for the spray, but it's supposed to be effective. I also spent $90 on a steamer to steam the mattresses, because I was wanting to cover every option since I was pregnant and had a 2 year old and 1 year old and didn't want to resort to pesticides.

I know I was obsessive with doing everything, but it did work. The main thing is to keep on top of nit combing and make sure you buy a metal comb.

[mommie]

Just wanted to add a comb that I love to this list. Just got it today.
Nitfree terminator comb. Combed out nits! And it camb with a nontoxic treatment kit.
Als to ask a question what kind of tea tree oil shampoo? Would paul mitchels work?

[shaslove]

We had fantastic success with 1hr hair soaked w/mint mouthwash, then soak hair with 1 HR of white vinegar on top of the mouthwash and rinse. The only thing that ever worked.