Head Lice - Help! I'm Completely Ignorant!

My dds had lice this summer. I did not use any kind of spray in my house. I did use the lice shampoo only once but would not have used it at all if I had time to do some research. Chemicals really are not needed and can be quite harmful.

First thing to do is inspect your kids hair for any lice or eggs. Get yourself a good pair of reading glasses so you can see better and check the hair in bright light. Go through the hair thoroughly.

If you don't find any, I would just vacuum the floors and furniture and wash the bedding. Recheck the hair every day for about a week to ten days.

If you find lice, then get a Robi-Comb. Use this to comb through dry hair. If there are any live lice, they will get caught in the comb and the comb will stop buzzing. Stop combing and remove the lice from the comb. Continue combing the hair until all has been combed. Then wet hair and put in conditioner with a couple drops of tea tree oil added to it. Do not rinse out conditioner. Then use a metal lice comb to comb through the hair (while wearing the reading glasses) again section by section. Check the comb after each pass through the hair. Use a paper towel to clean the comb each time and to remove any lice from the comb. If you see any eggs attached to the hair, just yank out that piece of hair. Yanking out was a lot easier than trying to use fingernails to remove it. My dds quickly got used to me pulling out their hair.

After combing through the hair, then rinse the hair thoroughly. Then add some styling product to the hair and dry completely. Pull the hair back into a pony tail or braid. Spray with hair spray. Using the styling products will help prevent the lice from laying any more eggs. Lice actually prefer clean hair because it is smooth. If the hair is not smooth they will not lay their eggs. Repeat process everyday until you no longer find any live lice or eggs.

Lice don't just fall out of the hair. If they do, then they are nearing the end of their life cycle and won't lay anymore eggs. They usually transfer from head to head contact, sharing of pillows, brushes, hats, etc.

Reinfestations occur because the hair was not thoroughly gone through and all lice and eggs not removed.

ETA: Since I am the only one to mention the Robi-Comb, I guess Hawktress is saying that I am the one that is nuts. I never said that the robi-comb is going to completely get rid of the lice.Just like the lice shampoos did not completely get rid of the lice for you.

The harmful chemicals are completely unnecessary. And to use the shampoo more than what is recommended in the instructions is crazy. Being diligent and thorough in going through the hair is the only thing that is going to get rid of the lice. Lice are becoming immune to the chemicals used in the lice shampoos.

You don't have to keep taking the comb apart and the comb does not claim to get rid of the nits. It catches the LIVE lice and zaps them to stun them. Live lice are fast movers and using the robi-comb immobilizes them to help remove them easier. It should only be used on dry hair, not wet hair which will cause it to not work.

My dds both have extremely thick long hair. It would take me 3-4 hours to thoroughly go through each of their hair. By using the robi-comb first followed by using the metal lice comb, I did not have to deal with having to "chase" the live lice through their hair. To me the robi-comb was well worth the $30 I spent on it.

First you need to check your kids for lice or have someone do that. You should vacuum, including all cloth furniture and launder bedding especially if the girl spent the night. Lice cannot live for very long without a host so you really should check your own children regularly until school is out.

Personally, I would not use the medicated lice shampoo until I knew for sure or or more of my children actually have lice. There are some great natural products out there too. My children now use one of the natural products twice a week during the school year as our school is slow to notify about outbreaks.

Bah, my cousins were great at giving us lice when we were kids! Yes get the lice shampoo, throw all your combs and brushes in HOT water with a little of the shampoo. There is a spray that you should use on all of your cloth furniture. Don't forget the car too! Wash all bedding, vacuum like there's no tomorrow. We had really long hair too, there is nit comb that you will need to use on their hair too. My mom used to spray the mattresses (but if you have a steamer that would be better) she used to wash ALL of our clothes clean or not! I don't know if I would go that far. She also used to make us pick just a few stuffed animals out (those got sprayed, the rest were put in garbage bags for a month. And lastly we had to wash all of our barbies hair too! lol mom sure was thorough.

I have never heard of any kind of spray for the house. But we as kids had cousins who had lice ALL the time. In the event that we HAD to see them (my mom kept us at bay most of the time)...she washed everything in hot water...we used the shampoo and that was that.

Maybe wash the stuffed animals and pillows in hot water if they were playing around them. Vaccume real good.