Lice Treatments

Please read this - if nothing else. It's tea tree oil! Look this up online and following the proper dose (it's very strong) but it does work if you're consistent and use it every day. It should all be gone in a couple weeks without any of the usual hassle. Also, use coconut scented products for the unaffected ones in the family to prevent it from spreading - lice don't like the scent apparently. Remove all stuffed animals outside in the garage for a couple weeks in case they got infected, and don't let kids sleep over for a while!
Best of luck.

Lice love clean hair, my doc tells me.

Try buying large bottles of the cheapest grocery store conditioner you can find. Coat damp hair in it thoroughly and then use a lice comb.

If you don't have time to order this online, go to a kid friendly salon. I don't know if you have a Cool Cuts 4 Kids near you, but they sell it there.

http://www.cofbath.com/Retail/Lice-Free-Zone

I so feel your pain. My daughter got lice on Halloween last year - after treating her and cleaning the house, we had to go trick or treating! Not fun. A few months later, she got it again. I couldn't face going through it all again, so I called Lousy Nitpickers (you can find them online) and a wonderful man named Frank CAME TO OUR HOUSE, treated my daughter, checked everyone else, and got 4 heads done in an hour. Best $100 I ever spent. Plus he came back a few days later to recheck everyone. I still had to clean the house, but I didn't have to spend 2 hours combing through my daughter's hair, or worry that I missed something, or worry about everyone else getting it. Plus Lousy Nitpickers uses organic products, so I didn't have to worry about putting that poison on my daughter's head again. I highly recommend the company. To keep it away from you and your daughter, you must vacuum every surface in your house - couches, chairs, mattresses, rugs, car seats in your car - wash anything the boys have worn for the past few days and all bedding in as hot of water as possible, seal any stuffed animals and bed pillows in a plastic bag for at least 2 weeks (you can also have them dry cleaned but it's pricey), wash all combs and brushes using hot water and hydrogen peroxide (let them soak), and check everyone's head every day for about a week or two. It's awful, and I feel so bad for you. Good luck!

S.,
My three year old had head lice and I before I realized she had it I had it too. The rid worked but we needed a repeat dose about four days after the first. I know that it is horrifying but it is perfectly normal. Lice actually prefer clean hair if that is any consellation. Make sure that you wash all bedding in very hot water and put it on the hottest setting in the dryer. Vacuum the carpets and the sofa as well as her car seat. Put her pillow in the dryer on the hottest setting. Once again.. make sure you give her that second treatment in a few days and it will all be hunky dory. Good luck.

Hi,
Okay, I hope you're ready: the simplest, quickest, chemical free way to rid your household of lice is A STRAIGHTENER.

Seriously. A high-heat (200 degree) hair straightening iron kills lice, nits and eggs in one fell swoop. A local girl (I'm overseas right now) won the science fair testing the theory and after extensive media coverage it was put to the test by adults.

So I tried it. One treatment, 100% success. You can go directly to the straightener or you can follow my routine, either way will work. If you opt for just the straightener, just go sit your kids in the bathroom and go for it. Otherwise, here's what I do:

1) Put child in bath and cover head with conditioner -- I use Pantene, nothing fancy. THE CONDITIONER PARALYZES THE LICE for about 20 minutes. If your child dunks his head they will literally float out of the hair. Then use a nit comb and run through the hair to get the rest of them out -- the conditioner makes this easy and painless.

(I do this because, frankly, it really grosses me out to think of ironing the adult lice AND lice have a tendency to kind of free-fall to freedom in a crisis. Better to throw the more agile critters out with the bath water.)

2) Dry hair COMPLETELY. No dampness. (dampness + straightener = steam= pain)

3) Take small sections of hair and slowly run the straightening iron across them -- just like you would on your own hair. Any remaining lice, nits and all the eggs are killed completely.

4) Nit comb in bath with conditioner every 3 days (hatching cycle) for about 9 days just to double check. I've never had a single nit hatch, much less a full recurrence -- and considering that we've got a lovely 'poison resistant' variety of lice in this country, that's saying a lot.

I hate using the poisons, so even before I learned the straightening trick, I avoided chemicals. I simply did the conditioner/comb routine religiously *every day* until they'd all hatched and been killed. It takes more attention to detail and I remained paranoid about a week longer than I would have with poison, but IT WORKED and I didn't have to use the chemicals.

Best of luck and remember -- this is NOT a hygiene issue, in fact, it's a testament to your kids' nice, clean, appetizing scalps. Now go fry those little suckers! lol :-)

Hi S., of course your husband is out od town. First of all keep your'sand your daughters hair up, you may want to use some sort of greese so they can not attach themselves to your hair, was everyhting the boys tool to daycamp in hot water, wash all bedding all stuffed animals or bag them all up in a heavy duty trash bag, they will evewntually die, vacum, vacum, vacum. If the boys get it again, apply mayonaise on their heads, the mayonaise is said to sufficate the lice, also run all brushes and combes through your diswasher, lice is if anything is a nusesance. One of my daycare kids years ago got lice, gave it to me my daughter, who is half black and has really long thick hair, I got rid of it, they treated her, but not their house so she got it again gave it to me again, so I used my cats flea spray on my hair, that's how desperate I was, anyway left it on for 30 minutes or so them washed it out in the shower, it didn't com back, but I was siting on the edge og my bed and happened to look down and a lice was crawling on my footy, so I took the flea spray, and sprayed my bedroom carpet, then vacumed really good, we haven't had a problem since, I'm itching just talking about. Oh I don't recoment anyone to use flea spray on their head, I did and I was fine, but some one else may not be. J.

Do NOT and I mean do NOT waste your time or money with Rid!
My daughter came home from her visitation with dad last Christmas totally INFESTED - I can't even tell you how bad! I kept using the rid over and over and it does NOT work... Here are the things that do work... take mayo (NOT generic as it seems to turn to oil right away) and coat your childrens heads totally with it. Put a shower cap on them and let them sit for at least 45 minutes (I did an hour because it was that bad) Lice can hold their breath for 25-30 minutes...the mayo under the shower cap suffocates them.
Next stand them in the bath or shower and using a mix of 1/2 vineger 1/2 water rinse their head - the vinegar crystalizes the lice eggs and makes it easier to use the nit comb to get them out. Then wash their hair with Suave coconut shampoo and conditioner... the coconut eats at the lice intestine so that and/or tree tea oil(the shampoo is .96 cents) will actually repel any lice from jumping on their heads from other infected childred.
Of course you have to bag up all their stuffed animals for three weeks and wash EVERYTHING in your kids room(s) in HOT water and the longest cycle and then do the same in the dryer... remember they can hold their breath.
This is much easier than spending over 300 dollars on rid which does NOT work! Good luck

The RID line also carries a spray can that will help clean the lice out of your bedding and furniture.That will help to tame down an infestation. Another thing I have heard is that lice do not like color treated hair and will not stick around. They make mild temporary color treatments that can be used on children as well as adults if need be. Hope this helps and good luck.

continue to treat their hair with the shampoo as directed also spray and wash all their bedding. also keep checking your daughters hair. if she is really young like 3 and under you can get a different liquid from their dr to use on their hair. good luck!

Lice is terrible! It went through our kids last year and was a nightmare. Everyone needs a treatment, even if you don't see anything. All of the bedding needs cleaned, including any stuffed toys on the beds. RID worked well for us. If you dont get it all - IT COMES BACK! Good luck, my heart goes out to you. It is really a pain, but get it all or you have to do it again-ugh.

Treat everyone in the house - including you and your daughter. Keep up on it. My friend had an outbreak at her house at the beginning of summer (she has 4 kids) and they just discovered that her littlest one still has lice (or got reinfected, they are not sure). But, keep checking it and rewash everyone's hair again in 10 days, just to be sure. Good luck.

i have been through this many times in kindergarten - not fun! you need to wash their hair with rid and then take a comb and look through their hair and pull out all of the eggs. that is crucial since most eggs are resistent to rid. if you don't get rid of the eggs on the shaft of the hair you will have to repeat this (as i had to do! ugh!). i looked in the morning and the evening every days for a week. also, cut their hair! look through your daughter's hair too. i would just wash bedding and carseats and any other areas where your kids spend a lot of time. i don't think all of the natural products make a difference - it's just combing through and hand-picking the eggs. i had to do this with my two daughters and my newborn three day old daughter. hang in there! you WILL get rid of them.

hi S., Let me start out by saying that I feel for you! Lice is a pain! You should treat everyone in the house for lice, buy the rid lice spray for your furnature and spray everything! I would wash everyone's close in hot water if you can, If you can't make sure you dry on high. Make sure to get a lice comb and look through there hair and get out what ever you can. Good luck to you!

Even though you and the other members of your family do not have it (lice), you can use the Rid shampoo on all family members as a preventative if you are worried about this. It doesn't hurt to do so. Wash all the boys clothing and bed linens, bed spreads, etc. in the hottest water possible. Do not let anyone in your family use the same hats, combs, brushes, etc. Do not have head to head contact with anyone. You can also buy household spray for lice ( I think made buy Rid) which would not be a bad idea. Good luck with your situation. Lice is nothing to be ashamed of, as anyone can come in contact with people who have it. If your child goes to school, the school may advise you to keep him home until the treatment is completed (Read the directions on the Rid Shampoo, I think you have to re-treat with it in 7-10 days....this is very important, or the lice won't go away.)

be sure to wash ALL bedding and clothing. vacuum all floors and furniture everyday and empty the canister or change the bag each time you vacuum. check EVERYBODY'S head for lice and eggs every night. it only takes one missed nit and the process will have to start over. lice are hardy little creatures. good luck!!!

After the rid shampoo treatments, use Frizz Ease shampoo and conditioner for yourself and the kids. It makes the hair too slippery for the lice to stick to. My kids shampoo with it all year round and they have avoided all school break outs.

Do not just rely on the RID. Make sure you go through everyone's hair thoroughly(sp) everyday and remove any nits that you find. It is a huge pain but trust me you need to get rid of it. Also, bag all stuffed animals for at least 2 weeks. Wash all bedding in hot water. Everyday put the pillows in the dryer for about 15-30 min on high. Good luck!

Just this week my daughter camp back from sleepaway camp with LICE! she has long red hair below her shoulders and the eggs were VERY hard to see. I hate chemicals and don't think they work anyway. In addition to all the advice about washing sheet/pillows, etc.(a must!) here's what i did: I mixed olive oil with drops of tea tree oil(cheap at Trader Joes) (found a ton of posts about this all natural oil online) and rubbed it into her scalp and hair. Tied her head up in a Ralphs shopping back for 3 hours. Washed out this mess with a mixture of Castille Soap (also from Trader Joes)and more tea tree oil. Her hair was still somewhat greasy but this was great because the eggs and lice weren't sticking well and I was able to comb through with a lice comb (pretty much a very fine tooth comb like your baby's first if you have one of those still laying around)and pull a ton out. You have to look through every hair on their head. Ug. Swished the lice comb in a bowl of water and scraped out the comb as I went along with an old toothbrush. This took about an hour and she was SO unhappy but I took her to the pediatrician (for an eye infection)the next day and he couldn't find any trace of lice, so I did a good job. I'll keep checking and combing every day for a couple weeks. Her head was kinda itchy this morning (probably from drying out her scalp from all the washing?) so I put an oatmeal conditioner on her scalp and that helped a lot. It is horrible and I've been through this a number of times with all my kids. I have heard that spraying tea tree oil (or listerine!)on their hair or using a lot of product (gel, hairspray, leave in conditioner) makes the lice not want those heads.

There is an effictive way, the school nurse told me and it works wonders. It's called RobiComb. You can buy it off the internet. It is a battery operated lice comb that you use on the head and it will get rid of the lice and nits within a week. Better than the shampoo.

My daughter has exceptionally curly hair. I used this comb and was able to get her lice free easily and economically. The shampoo is expensive and you have to continue to buy it. The nits hatch every 3 days, so the shampoo doesn't get rid of them all.

You also need to wash everything in HOT water. Toys, bed sheets and blankets, stuffed animals that cannot be washed should be put into an airtight bag and stored for a month. Also the lice spray for all your furniture.

In addition to using the shampoo, you should wash all of their sheets in hot water. Also, wash all of the clothes that they took to camp with them. I hope you and your daughter don't get it. It makes me itch just thinking about it. :)

What a pain - there is a girl that goes to my church that owns this company - It sounds like a great resource - good luck!!
http://pickyournits.com/

Ugh, lice, brings back memories - shudder. My daughter got lice over and we did the Rid and the baging and the washing everything. They kept coming back. All you have to do is miss one. We finally got rid of them. Months later I picked it up somewhere. To get rid of them I did Rid every three days for two weeks and ended up with a burned scalp. Then later she got it again and someone told me about coconut oil.

We treated both of us at the same time. We washed our hair and globbed on the coconut oil (available at any health food store) pinned up our hair, put on shower caps and cleaned house and watched movies. I made a day out of it and tried to find stuff to make it, if not fun, at least easier. I think we left the oil in our hair for about 12 hours. It may have been overkill, but it suffocated everything, plus the eggs really swelled up and were easy to see.

It took a while to get all the oil out of hair, but it left it nice and shiny when we did. We didn't have anymore problems and no chemicals, no burned scalps. We did toss the hair clips and brushes and combs. I even bought cheap towels to use and tossed those after too.

Tea tree oil, mayonaisse or vaseline should work too, but the vaseline at least is more difficult to get out than the oil.

Best of luck.

With five kids, I went through this twice! Just to be on the safe side, we used the shampoo on everyone in the family. Lice actually prefer clean hair, so using hair gels, leave in conditioners and hair spray can help keep them away.

wash or spray all bedding with lice spray. i believe it comes with some kits? I had to do that with my daughter when she went from private school to public school (yes.. i was sooo horrified). also, if your child has any stuffed animals you can not wash, place them in a plastic bag for at at least 2 weeks (a month would be better). if there are any lice in those items they will die becuase there is nothing to feed on. dont share combes until you KNOW they are all gone and dont share pillows. When my daughter got it my son was less than a year old and neither of us got lice from her - i guess we got lucky. good luck!!

Been there! Be grateful they're boys, I had to deal with this with girls who have waist length, white blond hair! Here's my recipe for lice eradication:

1. Nix, repeat as soon as the directions say it's safe. Key thing, you must comb through their hair and remove all nits. I used a super thin dog comb and a magnifier to see them. Treat all family members.

2. In between the treatments mix olive oil with tea tree oil and have the kids sleep with it, with their hair in a shower cap.

3. Key thing, and this came from my doctor whose kids had it too - for 10 days you must strip the beds, including the matress pads etc. You must wash every stuffed animal toy etc. If something is too large to wash, a floor rug etc, you must put it in a large black hefty bag for at least 2 weeks, they lice die out during that time.

Hang in their, I agree, it's totally gross!

i do not have any personal experience with lice but i have known people who have experienced this. With their boys they just shaved their heads. Lice cannot live without the hair to attach to. I know that probably is hard right now esp. with the boys hair styles being on the longer side. but it saves you time and stress. Keep your daughters hair up and dirty. that sounds bad but lice do not like dirty hair, they like a clean environment...they cannot attach to dirty hair.
good luck and hopefully you or your daughter don't get the lice.

well ur lucky that you have boys you can just shave their heads! i think the only real way is to manually remove every louse and egg. some say use vinegar, baby oil, mayonaise, lots of homeopathic ways but I don't think any of that truly kills everything, its all about manually getting them OUT.

Google tea tree oil and lice. I don't know the ratio of tea tree oil to water so I don't want to give you any wrong info. But you can use it on their head and in the home! In the home, you'll add it to water in a spray bottle and spray away! It is natural and works great!

Best wishes,
M.