Lice - Help Me Please!

Updated on November 11, 2011
K.P. asks from South Hadley, MA
20 answers

I am at my wit's end. I have been dealing with lice issues since July and we are absolutely miserable. I first realized my six year old daughter who has thick, waist length hair had lice in July. We are pretty sure she got it from a sleepover with her cousins. My sister in law found out her girls had it and sure enough our daughter had it too. We treated her with RID shampoo and washed everything in HOT water. I think we got rid of it then. So, in September there was another sleepover. (You don't even have to say it... There will never be another sleepover.) About 3 weeks later, I saw my daughter itching and I found she had it again. We treated her and everything again as well as treated her 7 days later. We notified the school and they checkaed all the kids and no one else had it. I found out later that her best friend was on vacation the week everyone got checked and when she returned, it was found she had it. This weekend, I saw my daughter itching again and found she had it again. All I want to do is cry!!! I don't know if she got it from her best friend, a cousin or becasue I didn't do a good enough job. I don't know what to do. Yesterday, I spent from 10am to 10pm vaccuuming, washing, spraying, cleaning, shampooing, vineagaring and combing. Now, I am doubting myself, should I have done the combing agin eventhough I am going to do it again next Sunday. How do I stop this from happening ever again. My husband is completely against cutting her hair. I understand that cutting it won't really help. The only nits that will hatch are those 1/2 from her sccalp/ Anyway, I am just rambling. If ayone out there has had anny experience with lice and keeping it away. I would love to hear from you.

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D.M.

answers from Chicago on

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1 mom found this helpful
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M.T.

answers from Portland on

I myself have not had any problems yet. I too have a daughter with long hair and I hope to never have to deal with this. Try this website www.FairyTalesHairCare.com, they have products that help to repel the little buggers. Hope this helps.

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J.R.

answers from Miami on

Dont laught. My pharmacist said that a new study shows cetaphil fights and stops lice. seriously. Put it on your child's head, comb it in, leave it on for a while and rince. apparently -- without chemicals -- it kills the lice and the eggs.

I would even call galderma that makes cetaphil and ask them for this information from them.

good luck,
jilly

3 moms found this helpful
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J.L.

answers from Chicago on

I am so sorry this is happening to you! All I can say is that when you've gotten rid of it.....Just to be safe you can buy Lice Defense shampoo and conditioner and hair spray. Look it up online. When there was an outbreak at my daughter's school I started using it right away and made sure my husband used hairspray before school. Lice like clean hair with no chemicals. Your DD sounds like mine with waist length hair. Pull it back in braids or pony tail and spray...spray..spray..use some hair gel before drying her hair too...Lice hate it.

1 mom found this helpful

R.D.

answers from Richmond on

It's not just about treating the lice on the head: you have to treat your entire home. Bag all stuffed animals and pillows for (I think it's) 2 weeks; wash ALL clothing, play clothes, jackets, bed linens, etc in hot water, throw out old hair brushes and buy new ones, vacuum the floors, couch, and curtains like a mad woman... it's never ending, lice is a nightmare :(

Also, sleep over aside, teach your daughter preventative measures: don't share hats, headbands, or hair brushes.

Be sure to really get her hair behind her ears; lice love living under head bands and barrettes and behind the ears for extra protection.

Good luck :(

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M.M.

answers from Washington DC on

Use NIX.
Take all her stuffed animals and put them in a bag and put them in the basement for at least two weeks or if they can stand the dryer do that for an hour on high heat.
Wash everything in HOT water. I mean everythign, even stuff in the drawers, the living room pillows and upholstery, treat it, vacuum and throw out the bag.
Comb through her hair every day with the nit comb
Better yet have your husband do it and then he may rethink cutting it. It will be easier to get the comb through it. Hair grows back. Common sense trumps beauty.
Treat youself and your husband.
Throw away the brushes and combs.
Every day wash her sheets and pillow cases.

We had lice once. My oldest gave them to the baby, she was maybe 10 months old. He got them from a boy in school. THey are a nightmare. The school had an epidemic that year.

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S.D.

answers from Burlington on

My daughter just got a mild case of lice and we did the Rid stuff and then repeated it one week later. We washed her bedding, clothes, etc and then I had her use a tea tree oil shampoo (I found it in the Natural foods section of the supermarket) every day for several months. We haven't seen any more of them since.

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P.B.

answers from Austin on

http://children.webmd.com/news/20110119/fda-approves-new-...

I feel so bad for you! Three times....ugh....once just about did me in. There was a new treatment coming out when my daughter had hers; I posted the link above.

I used Rid -- too much at once & daughter now has a gray strand of hair. So mad! It's pretty much permanent.

I was also told to use tea tree oil shampoo to keep them from coming back.

I used tea tree oil as well and never got it from her. BEST of LUCK to you!!

edited: your doctor should know the latest treatment -- we never used it since it was just coming out when we were almost done.

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B.D.

answers from Boston on

When we had an outbreak here... I combed their hair twice a day... I also had a friend say to blow dry their hair. Lice don't do well in dry envirnoments.

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S.D.

answers from Tampa on

It sounds like you're treating it right. Just make sure you do the stuffed animals too. But, when it comes to combing - it needs to be done EVERYDAY. You have to go through her hair daily till they are gone! I know it sucks. My sister & I had lice alot growing up, my neice has had it alot, & I got it once (so far) a couple years ago (luckily I had my parents to go through my hair every few days cause my husband would have NO idea what to look for). My oldest had a live bug & lots of nits once, luckily he's a boy, so we just did a really short buzz cut. And of course treated the house at that time just in case. Oh, and make sure you are spraying the car also - that can be easily forgotten. Good luck!

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A.P.

answers from Boston on

hi there--

so sorry to hear. i haven't had to deal with lice since i was in 3rd grade and the entire class got it, but i am not looking forward to my daughter's school's first outbreak, whenever that day will come.

since you've done so much already, maybe you can call: http://www.thenit-picker.net/. it is a professional agency that deals with lice outbreaks in homes. (why anyone would go into that business is beyond me, but i will definitely be calling them if need be!)

(and maybe your husband will "treat" you to this service in lieu of keeping your daughter's hair?)

good luck!

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A.C.

answers from Madison on

All I can say is, thank goodness my daughter likes short hair. It's so much easier to treat and get rid of lice when the hair is short. Her friend (the one she got the lice from) has long hair. They used one of those special combs for long hair and managed to get the lice out of her hair. All I know is, I gave my daughter "the layered look" because I cut a lot of the nits out. Thank goodness that when we found the nasty little critters in my daughter's hair that they hadn't multiplied too much yet!

A natural way to get rid of lice is to use Olive Oil. Put olive oil on the hair, make sure it is thoroughly mixed in the hair, then cover the head with a bandana or a dishtowel or even some type of a plastic cover. Leave it on all day--it's even a good idea to sleep with it in the hair overnight (therefore, doing it on a Friday or a Saturday night would be a good idea). Wash it out in the morning--will probably take a few shampoos.

You might need to do it more than once, but that should do the trick. The olive oil gets inside the Louse's body and kills is. We tried the lice kits you buy in the store--what a joke! Didn't work worth a darn. Tried the olive oil trick and BINGO! the nasty little critters were dead. I think it even permeates/gets inside the nit eggs and kills them too.

My daughter got them from her friend. My husband and I picked up a couple of the critters--only natural, I guess, since we live with her. We all did the olive oil treatment. My husband called my daughter's friend's dad--he was so mad that he needed to do his daughter's hair! He accused us of giving the lice to his daughter, only to call us back the next day to tell us that lice had been found at his daughter's daycare and ten kids had it.

Sigh. Lice is a fact of childhood. Unless you homeschool your kids and never let them into contact with other kids, you're going to run the risk of getting lice.

Lice can only last, like, for three days or something like that if they aren't on the human body. Not only do they need blood to live, but they need the human body heat (98.6) or they freeze to death.

One thing I learned--other than the olive oil trick--is to put conditioner in your daughter's hair after you wash it. I usually wash my daughter's hair, put in conditioner, give her a shower/bath, then rinse out the conditioner before she gets out of the tub. Apparently, the conditioner makes the hair shaft slippery/flimy and the lice egg can't adhere to the hairshaft.

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B.E.

answers from New York on

Well, my son just had it and a buzz cut immediately solved the problem for him (though I continued to use the Rid comb on his hair daily and right now I'm still checking him weekly, just in case).

He passed it to me and although my hair is only shoulder length and very fine, it was a lot harder for me to get rid of it. I did a nightly 1/2 hour combing for 2-1/2 weeks + the special lice shampoo.

Someone mentioned on here using a mix of white conditioner and baking soda on the hair and then combing - that helped.

Teachers in my son's school swore by putting vaseline in the hair. I just couldn't face doing that to my son or myself, but it could be a last resort thing, I suppose.

Best of luck - it was bad enough for us having it once - I can't imagine 3X! I sure hope this time is the "charm" for you.

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J.C.

answers from New York on

Ok, first take a deep breatth. It's lice... you can beat it.

The best thing for recurring lice is mayo or olive oil. First use the NIX or Rid shampoo. Then, that night, before bed cover her hair with mayo and comb it through. Give it a nice thick coating. Wrap some saran wrap over her hair as best you can and then put it up in a towel Carmen Miranda style.

Then be sure to cover the pillow, blankets, etc. with towels in case the mayo somes out. Wash it out the next day. At night, after a bath, shower, do a basic comb through looking especially behind her ears and nape of neck.

Take all dolls, stuff animals, etc. and toss in a big garbage bag and store them out of site for two weeks. Wash any favorites in hot and dry in dryer.

Change sheets, vaccuum your house and car seat. Don't forget any coats/jackets.

***The most important thing to keep it away is to never let her hair get too clean. Wash it every other day (it's fall now) and in the AM, use an anti-lice spray on her AND her backpack, hood. Fairytales is a great product. Try the shampoos and other anti-lice products. You can get them at hair salons or the internet.

Good luck!!

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C.L.

answers from Boston on

Your family doctor can prescribe a shampoo or cream that will be 99%good effective. Also when your daughter is going to be around questionable children put her back and use hair spray to create a barier. Lice will not go into heavily sprayed hair. Good luck to you. All parents go through this. I know just how aweful it can be to have your home invaded.

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D.K.

answers from Boston on

We did the olive oil treatment - leave it on all night, comb out & rinse out the next morning - every time we found live bugs. And we did regular comb-outs - saturate hair with white conditioner, sprinkle on a little baking soda, comb through with a good metal lice comb, rinse - to get rid of the bugs AND nits. The over-the-counter pesticides did not work well at all. Plus, many schools (including ours!!) have a zero-nit policy, so we had to do the conditioner comb-outs to get rid of all nits before the kids could be admitted back to school.

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L.C.

answers from Dover on

I used Nix on my daughter because it is the only shampoo that kills the Lice AND the eggs. I also checked and combed her hair every day. I know my part of my problem was that my daughter had so much hair, and the shampoo wasn't completely killing all the bugs.

One thing you can do is get cetaphil and use this method. It is non toxic so you can use it every day that way if you miss bugs you will get them the next time or the time after.

http://smsd.org/schools/belinder/news34181.htm

Also, spray the car seats and apholstery, put the pillows and stuffed animals in the dryer on high heat for one hour.

After you get her clear, I would do the cetaphil once a week just as a precaution.

C.P.

answers from Columbia on

Ooh, oh, oh! I have the heebie jeebies just reading this! *scratch scratch scratch!*

My boys brought lice home from daycare once. Luckily, we did the buzz cut thing and had no further problems...but I have long hair and am always worried they're going to bring it home and give it to ME!

I don't have advice, but wish you the best of luck in beating those little buggers! <3

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C.F.

answers from Boston on

Here ya go, everyone! :)

http://children.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-lice-overview

And, yeah, I have experience with lice, and, no, I have no experience with keeping it away! I tend to just keep some RID in the house at all times (or whatever the much-cheaper store brand is.) Don't drive yourself crazy with top-down house-scrubbing, and know you're not alone!

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S.J.

answers from Boston on

I sympathize. We were in this boat recently. I did a lot of reading, and I read that many lice have become resistant to the chemicals in the shampoos, making the shampoos the least effective way to get rid of them and also potentially harmful to your child. I think the most effective treatment is combing through your child's hair and manually picking out every single nit and adult you find. HUGE pain in the butt, but you know you're getting them. I found a site with a useful diagram of the lice life cycle. Knowing more about it and learning how we were interrupting it made me feel calmer about everything. Keep washing in hot water, and comb and pick those suckers out daily. Then after you think you have them all, keep combing and checking for a couple weeks after that. I understand the paranoia because I keep checking my daughters' hair weekly even though I haven't seen any signs of lice for over a month.

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