Getting Rid of Head Lice

Updated on October 27, 2008
J.R. asks from Strasburg, VA
12 answers

My 4 year old daughter has been exposed to head lice and we have treated her twice in the past 3 weeks. The latest treatment included coating every strand of hair with mayonaisse, having her wear a plastic shower cap and leaving the conconction on her head for 2 hours before combing through with the nit comb and washing her hair. We have removed all stuffed animals from her room (they are resting peacefully in a plastic bag in her closet) and have removed all linens, washed in hot water and vacuumed. We have used the Rid Spray on the mattress, car seat and in the vehicles. Does anyone have any other suggestions for getting rid of these hard to deal with critters?

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L.C.

answers from Washington DC on

hey! i have found the only thing to get rid of head lice which the schools and docs don't tell you is: apply one egg on childs head, cover with swimmers cap for over night, then wash next morning with dawn dishwashing det. and head lice should be gone. hope this helps. old wives tail but it does work. had same problem when my oldest daughter was 9 the stuff on the market does not work. after you put the egg in childs hair pile it up on top of head. egg has to stay on overnight. take care L., virginia. forgot to mention you need vaseline along with the egg. sorry

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T.Y.

answers from Washington DC on

Hi J.!

This REALLY works. You may have to do it two times. Get Cetaphil cleanser and:

* Apply to the entire scalp. Leave in for 2 minutes, then comb out the excess.
* Dry it with a hair dryer (to suffocate the lice).
* Leave the dried lotion on the scalp for at least 8 hours.
* Shampoo it all out.

It doesn't make the dead lice come out of her hair, so you may still see lice in there afterward, but they will be dead! Good luck.

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A.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Dear J.,

I once contracted lice when I was in high School. At that time I was living in Puerto Rico, and the mama's and grandmamas kept telling me to wash my hear with dog shampoo. In those days I had my hair really long, covering my back and it was full and thick so it took two of the small bottles of dog shampoo to get my entire head covered. I then combed my hair with the shampoo still in it, and while I was combing my hair, the little critters were being pushed off my hair and into the sink. It was a nightmare, so horrible. But the next week to make sure It was completely gone, I then got a bottle of RID and combed my hair again and finally got rid of them.

You may want to try the dog shampoo. Also, you may want to try and pick her hair and try to get the little eggs out as much as you can before you shampoo. Pick them out, and squeesh them. When you pick an little egg out, place the egg on your thumb finger nail, and with the other thumb finger nail squeesh it... if you hear it pop, it was a live egg that eventually will have become an lice... I am telling you it is a nightmare. These little eggs are attached to the root of the hair, so sometimes the comb does not take them all out. Try really hard to get as much of these out as possible. Then shampoo, comb, and then rinse and put conditioner on because the doggie shampoo smells funny. Then the week to follow try the RID. And do the same thing, pick her hair, you should be getting the little eggs, but dead ones (the eggs won't pop if they are dead)... shampoo, comb, rinse, then condition, comb while the conditioner is on again if your little girl is not too tired.

Good luck. Let me know if this worked... it is a process and with a four year old I imagine will be very tiring.

A.

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N.B.

answers from Washington DC on

Hi, J. - Lice hate Melaleuca oil. I have never heard of a Melaleuca customer having head lice issues. Lice simply will not live in hair shampooed with Melaleuca shampoo; the oil in the laundry & cleaning products is very effective as well. Good luck! N.
saferforyourhome.com
melaleuca.com

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H.K.

answers from Washington DC on

Be sure you are going through her hair DAILY and getting rid of all the nits and any newly hatched lice.. I checked my 2 girls every night for a week after their first treatment, gave themn the second treatment and continued to go through their hair for 3 more days and then every other day for a week after that.... its just a matter of staying on top of it and getting every nit out of their hair. I know its soooooo time consuming. Good luck!

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N.R.

answers from Richmond on

J..

I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for you. Yes, I do know of some wonderful products that not only help to get rid of head lice but they also help to prevent their return. How cool is that?! Don't worry, I don't sell anything either. LOL!

Call me and I'll give you all the info that I have ###-###-####. Today's Sunday 10/26/08 and it's 1:15pm. We should be home most all day today and this week too.

Take Care,
N. :) SAHM homeschooling 3 boys 12, 8 & 2 yrs old and married to my Mr. Wonderful for almost 15yrs. I love to help other moms, who want to become SAHMs, reach that goal.

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L.D.

answers from Norfolk on

If you have tried everything else, there is a prescription medication called Ovide that really stinks...but works reeeaally well. I had to resort to that when my 3 kids got lice and we tried everything else. I finally called my doctor, and this is what he reccommended. I hope this helps.

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K.H.

answers from Norfolk on

When I got head lice as a child my mom washed my hair with kerosene(sp?)oil from the kerosene lamps. It did the trick.

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

We used the commercial shampoo, and left it on overnight (using shower caps). Then we combed through their hair daily. With a girl, you may want to comb through her hair and braid it every day to minimize contact with a carrier. Wash all her pillows, jackets, etc. We washed pretty much anything washable in the house, and sprayed down the sofas, etc. We also vacuumed more. We had them use tea tree oil shampoo, too (you can get the oil and put it in your regular shampoo). It took us a while to track down the source (my stepdaughter kept getting reinfested) and to eradicate the bugs. If she's been anywhere, like a sibling's car or Grandma's house, have them treat, too. Good luck.

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M.Z.

answers from Norfolk on

When my daughter came home this year with head lice we opted not to use the rid or thins like that....instead we used Baby oil, a shower cap, Denorex, blow dryer and a lice comb. I covered her whole hed with baby oil and ran the lice comb thru it a couple of times, then I placed a shower cap on her and she slept in that for the night. then the next morning we went and washed her head with the denorex and then we blow dryed her hair and used the lice comb again. after that we didnt have any more issues with them I did the laundry the say way everyone else has and the toys too. It took us about tow days to get the oil out of the hair but we have not had any more issues with the lice. Good Luck !

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T.O.

answers from Washington DC on

I feel for you! We went through the same - the night before school started! It took about 6 weeks for us to be lice-free. Ugh. We did all the same as you. The only difference was I did vegetable oil, overnight, rather than just 2 hours of mayo. I checked their head everyday, and removed a couple - several each time. Finally, after another dose of vegetable oil, and some "nit-picking", they seem to finally be gone...for now. Each time they washed their hair, I would leave just a little bit of conditioner still in (that they didn't need to wash out) and use the nit comb, rather than a regular comb. I was shocked that I kept finding the nits and an occasional stubborn live one! OH - the other thing we did was have our daughters, 5 and 7, sleep on a bed on the floor of our room for the duration (so we didn't constantly have to change out their bed sheets and comforter), on a sheet, with blankets and pillows. I changed (and washed) the pillowcases and for the first week, the blanket and sheet EVERY day. I think this was key because they survive, without a living host, for 24 hours. So of course they fall out of their head at night, onto the pillowcases/sheets, and then if the kids lay down that night - the lice have their host back. Gross. So this may actually be the secret - - this time. Good luck, honestly.

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J.O.

answers from Norfolk on

Hi

I am a teacher and one of my parents could not get rid of it so she colored her 3 year olds hair and finally got rid of them. Good luck!

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