Question about treating headlice... again!

[vatblack]

I will give it another two weeks to see if they come back. If they do, I will call my pediatrician. I just hope that the kids get clean on the other side. We are all tired and weary from the experience.

We had lice back in September too. Because my DD was still 2 at the time I decided to just shave her head - within 3 days there was nothing left to worry about. Now she has a pixie style again and my husband and I feel really bad about shaving her again. She's been called a boy enough. It is really, really hard to get her to sit still for me to get all the nits out.

[Kimmyann]

Make sure you are vacumeing out the cars too as well as washing any backpacks ect they are carrying. If they aren't cleaning and bagging things at mom's they aren't going to get rid of them and they will continue to bring them over to your home.

[lookatreestar]

that sounds like a losing battle ! are there any natural cures?

[Icryinbaseball]

After battle upon battle upon battle....I got tired of the treatments and started doing the nit comb twice a day on everyones heads. After 3-4 days it was just once a day. 3-4 days it was down to every other day. That is the most effective way I have found. We did everything under the sun short of shaving heads. We washed everything that could be washed, bagged what couldnt, treated the vehicle, soaked the combs/brushes in bleach after every use, did the old wives tales,I spent 6 hours one day of straight nit picking every single strand of all 6 of our heads, OTC treatments, treated once a week, treated every day.........and still had bugs/nits. Now you get the nit comb every 3-4 showers regardless as a precaution. I am catching them before they spread now.

[vatblack]

Originally Posted by Kimmyann Make sure you are vacumeing out the cars too as well as washing any backpacks ect they are carrying. If they aren't cleaning and bagging things at mom's they aren't going to get rid of them and they will continue to bring them over to your home.

I have cleansed and bagged and vacuumed and stopped short of burning down the house and car to make sure I got them all. I've done this now 3 times in 3 weeks. I did read a lot too and most accounts say that the environmental treatment is less important that treating the actual problem on the heads because lice cannot survive for more than 24 hours without blood. But I wanted to be sure.

The house has never been this clean! The bonus was that I purged a lot too! Ha-ha. I was actually thinking of joining the 2013 things in 2013 thread.

Originally Posted by Kason's mommy After battle upon battle upon battle....I got tired of the treatments and started doing the nit comb twice a day on everyones heads. After 3-4 days it was just once a day. 3-4 days it was down to every other day. That is the most effective way I have found. We did everything under the sun short of shaving heads. We washed everything that could be washed, bagged what couldnt, treated the vehicle, soaked the combs/brushes in bleach after every use, did the old wives tales,I spent 6 hours one day of straight nit picking every single strand of all 6 of our heads, OTC treatments, treated once a week, treated every day.........and still had bugs/nits. Now you get the nit comb every 3-4 showers regardless as a precaution. I am catching them before they spread now.

I comb my DDs hair every 1/3 day too. It is such a hassle with her. The worst is that her hair is so fine that I have seen nits and small insects stay behind. So, when I comb her hair, I also inspect each small strand and take the insects and nits out by hand! If I don't, they just stay behind. I tried 5 different combs with the same results. It is enough to make me scream.

I really don't know how to handle the X wife's reluctance to comb out her daughters hair. On the one hand, I don't blame her; she works a heavy job and is a single mom. On the other hand, I wonder why the 14 year old brother can't comb his sister's hair and she (11) comb his. I actually suggested they do so.

I was thinking of letting the two of them read literature that say:
1) long hair hanging loose over shoulders is more likely to get lice - they both have long hair.
2) Combing is important or going through the hair often to pick nits.

I mean, they are old enough to take the reigns here and I can show them how.

[ajane]

We had lice go through dd2's classroom a few months ago. Thankfully, she never got it. But, I had many a conversations with my friends about it. One of dd's friends had gotten them and another friends' dd had them before.

Anyhow, I was told that you do have to pick through and comb through to get all of the nits out. In our school you can't go back to school if you have nits. Even after they have been treated. I don't know what treatments they used, but I have heard that putting an entire jar of regular mayo on their head and then wrapping their entire head with plastic wrap and leaving on for a set amount of time is supposed to smother them and kill the eggs.

Personally, I wouldn't put alchohol on their heads. Lice makes their scalp itch and most likely they will have open scratches that will absolutely hurt if alchohol is applied.

I would make sure they don't come over until they are for sure lice AND nit free. It isn't fair to you and your dd to keep battling with this.

[JustSomeChickVee]

Originally Posted by ajane We had lice go through dd2's classroom a few months ago. Thankfully, she never got it. But, I had many a conversations with my friends about it. One of dd's friends had gotten them and another friends' dd had them before. Anyhow, I was told that you do have to pick through and comb through to get all of the nits out. In our school you can't go back to school if you have nits. Even after they have been treated. I don't know what treatments they used, but I have heard that putting an entire jar of regular mayo on their head and then wrapping their entire head with plastic wrap and leaving on for a set amount of time is supposed to smother them and kill the eggs. Personally, I wouldn't put alchohol on their heads. Lice makes their scalp itch and most likely they will have open scratches that will absolutely hurt if alchohol is applied. I would make sure they don't come over until they are for sure lice AND nit free. It isn't fair to you and your dd to keep battling with this.

oh yeah, it'll hurt. no doubt about that. but it works as a last resort.

[Icryinbaseball]

Originally Posted by vatblack I have cleansed and bagged and vacuumed and stopped short of burning down the house and car to make sure I got them all. I've done this now 3 times in 3 weeks. I did read a lot too and most accounts say that the environmental treatment is less important that treating the actual problem on the heads because lice cannot survive for more than 24 hours without blood. But I wanted to be sure. The house has never been this clean! The bonus was that I purged a lot too! Ha-ha. I was actually thinking of joining the 2013 things in 2013 thread. I comb my DDs hair every 1/3 day too. It is such a hassle with her. The worst is that her hair is so fine that I have seen nits and small insects stay behind. So, when I comb her hair, I also inspect each small strand and take the insects and nits out by hand! If I don't, they just stay behind. I tried 5 different combs with the same results. It is enough to make me scream. I really don't know how to handle the X wife's reluctance to comb out her daughters hair. On the one hand, I don't blame her; she works a heavy job and is a single mom. On the other hand, I wonder why the 14 year old brother can't comb his sister's hair and she (11) comb his. I actually suggested they do so. I was thinking of letting the two of them read literature that say: 1) long hair hanging loose over shoulders is more likely to get lice - they both have long hair. 2) Combing is important or going through the hair often to pick nits. I mean, they are old enough to take the reigns here and I can show them how.

We went as far as to bomb the house for fleas after I nit picked for hours. They are going ot have to get it under control one way or another. I stayed up until well after midnight picking nits, washing bedding and car seat covers, bagging anything, vacuuming, shampooing, treating the van, and washing clothes. You just gotta do it.

[qsefthuko]

We used a mix of essential oils put directly into our shampoo. Everyone in the house had to use the shampoo regardless if any lice had been found on your head or not. To get everything washed I had to drag everything to the laundromat. This got to expensive so I had to stop. Aslo the otc stuff peeled the skin off of my daughters head and still didn't rid her of the lice. The shampoo wth essential oils did.

[vatblack]

Originally Posted by Kason's mommy We went as far as to bomb the house for fleas after I nit picked for hours. They are going ot have to get it under control one way or another. I stayed up until well after midnight picking nits, washing bedding and car seat covers, bagging anything, vacuuming, shampooing, treating the van, and washing clothes. You just gotta do it.

I know right!

Originally Posted by qsefthuko We used a mix of essential oils put directly into our shampoo. Everyone in the house had to use the shampoo regardless if any lice had been found on your head or not. To get everything washed I had to drag everything to the laundromat. This got to expensive so I had to stop. Aslo the otc stuff peeled the skin off of my daughters head and still didn't rid her of the lice. The shampoo wth essential oils did.

What mixture of oils did you use? Did you use any shampoo as a base?

And I also wonder ... please don't get angry at me, it is just the way I think ... but if you struggle that much to get rid of lice, why not cut everyone's hair short. Shorter hair is very easy to maintain (for lice) and nit picking is almost a 1000x more successful.