How to Treat Head Lice

Dont laugh at me, but my mom and her family with my cousins used beer! And yes, really cleaning the rest of the house. Good luck and hope by now, it's gone!

My daughter had the same problem when she was 5 to about 6 I tried everything. I went to the store and picked up a bottle of flea and tick doggie shamppoo and washed her hair with it for about 3 days when ever she tool a shower. Then every other day I used it. I also changed all the sheets and pillows and cleaned all the couches and chairs. Vac. the rugs every day for a month. The along with the doggie shamppoo worked. I kept it around for a while after just to use when ever and she has not had a problem since. She is 12 now. Doggie shamppoo is a lot cheaper thatn the Lice meds. Hope this helps Sony

I had the same problem but when I found this 5 years ago they have NEVER had it again its the only thing i found that works and as a plus it is safe liceice.com
Hope this helps! J. A.

Nix is best, but did you also treat everything in the house? You have to make sure to rinse all brushes in Nix, and wash all the household linens (not to mention vaccuming the carpet, and, sometimes, vaccuming out the car). Make sure to treat weekly for 1 month after the initial "scourge". If you have daughters, turn it into a "spa" day where they get their toenails done etc. while letting the Nix sit.

hi, I don't know about the oil, but it does make sense. When I worked at the preschool I used greasy hair products just so that I would not get lice. I was wondering if when you threat the girls are you treating your house as well? Car, carpet, all laundry, what about pets(do pets get lice?)At the preschool we had a family that kept getting it finally they realized the mom was the one that never got treated so it kept getting back ther her kids. Is it a friend house that they get it from? playground? Oh don't forget their ponytails holders and stuff like that. Good luck!!

Yes!!! it is horrible!!! my children had it and it is no picnic!!!
Yes the vaseline or cooking oil will do it!!! they cann't breathe, you must be sure you get it throughly and get all the nets. the school nurse,health departemnt could give you good information.Know the kids are getting tired of having hsir washed & cleaned!
good luck to you,
M.

What finally worked for me when we went though about 5 rounds of head lice was heating vinegar and rinsing her hair with that. It stinks to high heaven, but we tried the prescription treatment, store treatments and the oil and nothing worked but the vinegar.

Be dilligent about getting them out of the house and especially the bedrooms or you will never get them out.

I have had trouble with this before in my daughter it would go away and come back for about 2 1/2 weeks straight. I finally had to throw her pillows and bed mattress away. The bedding I was able to wash but color safe bleach but the others were not able to go in washing machine so I had to toss away and buy new. I also bleached her walls and room and once I did this and then treated her head again she has never had it come back. I also rented a carpet cleaner to do the carpets and couches just for extra coverage.

Last yr we went through the same thing with our 3 kids, and our neighbors. We kept on passing back and forth. We had to do the over the counter head lice products, many times, wash everything in hot water and bleach, spray down all stuff animals or put them in garbage bags and leave out in the heat.
I was told after u use the product sometimes it misses the eggs,or the ones attached to the hair root closer to the scalp.
It's a pain but u have to keep on doing it. I highly doubt if vaseline and cooking oil are good on girls hair it would be a mess to wash it out. Good luck I know how u feel

The products you are using are probably working.... what may be the problem is that you are treating the lice in their hair but not everywhere else. Meaning, there pillows, bedding, dolls, anywhere there heads are near. So, try washing all their bedding, spraying (look in the pet department) down all there carpets, any of there toys that are furry or have hair. It's a major pain but this is what I tell my clients and it ends the battle with lice.

I am not sure about how to get rid of it but going with the "tea tree oil" To keep from getting lice you should mix a few drops of the tea tree oil into your shampoo... and then you are shampooing with it everyday... but you are just supposed to add the few drops to the bottle and then let it mix in some... not drops each time...

Also blow drying your hair helps too because of the heat!!

My step daughters used to have terrible problems with lice (they are almost 15 now and don't seem to be as vulnerable anymore so maybe your girls will grow out of it, too).
We tried over the counter and prescription hair treatments, washed and vacuumed everything, and even put their stuffed animals in plastic bags and still nothing helped. The lice seemed totally resistant to the medications - the next morning they were just jumping around their heads. The only thing I found that worked was actual nit-picking. Going through their hair every day with the LiceMeister comb. Here is a link to that comb:
http://www.headlice.org/licemeister/index.htm

It was no fun, but it worked. (After I would use the comb I would pour boiling water over it)

When it got hard to find any nits, we would go to every 2-3 days, etc. Even after I saw nothing I would still use the comb about 1 time per week. We got in a routine - and I got pretty good at it. Anyway, I hope this helps.
-J.

Hi M., I came from South America, really lice have to be with something in the blood, because my sister always catch it and I didn't, anyway, my granmother allways cone her hair with small comb and cook vinagrer mixed at 40% with warm water, and also give shine and strengh. I hope that you understand my bad english, take care, A.

The girls need a good hair cleaning and you have to come out all the bugs in their hair after you treat them. Then clean pillows,bedding,clothes. Also they may be getting it from friends as well.

My daycare provider I had a few years ago treated her grand daughters with mayonaise for stubborn head lice and it worked great. Also, you need to put all stuffed animals and pillows in a big plastic bag or two and tie them up. Leave them in the garage for a few days, then take them out to wash out the lice remains. While those items are tied up in the garage, spray down the pillows and mattresses with the lice killing spray and have the carpets cleaned. Any clothes and bedding needs to be washed in very hot water. Give it a try! =)

Hi I myself nor my kids have ever had head lice. But when I was growing up my sister got it. And the doctors told me mother to take all stuffed animals and blankets and wash them. Also not to let us play or touch the stuffed animals for like 3 weeks becasue the eggs can be laid in them. So if you are killing all the lice on her head you may not be getting the ones laid on toys.

Along with treating their hair, you need to wash EVERYTHING! they make sprays that you can put on all your furniture and the mattresses. All the bedding and stuffed animals and clothes need to be washed in hot water. If all you do is treat their hair, it will keep coming back. Also, you need to make sure and clean all hair accessories, like brushes and hair bows. Anything they come in contact with must be treated.

I have never heard of using oil or vaseline, not sure that those things would work, have you tried washing all of there bedding, anywhere they sit, stuffed animals have to be placed in a large trash bag and tied put them outside for a few days and then I run them threw the dryer (or washer if they can be washed) wash hats, brushes, hair scrunchies anything that they have used has to be washed in HOT water and disinfected!! I'm a licensed cosmetologist and when we would have customers come into the shop with them we would tell them to use the hair product right away maybe a couple of times and disenfect everything!!!!!! There must be something in the house or a neighbors house that they are using that isn't getting washed and disenfected. Don't forget to wash their pillows that they sleep on and ALL bedding. HOT HOT HOT water on everything! I know that this can be a pain and frustrating, I can't imagine what you are going through, check with the girl's friends, it may not be you guys!!! :) I know that lice are around more in the fall and spring, so hopefully you can get a grip on these annoying little boogers and get rid of them! Take care, I hope that this helps you out some, hopefully this note isn't a repeat of everything that you have already tried!
D.
ARIZONA

One of the most frustrating problems to treat in children is
head lice. Although these bugs cause no serious health
problem, they are an unwelcome nuisance. The over the counter
shampoo's like Rid and Nix are the most effective, however,
after shampooing and rinsing, it is essential to use the fine
nit comb and remove all the nits. Nits are the oval shaped
eggs that are glued to the hair shaft. They can usually be
seen with the naked eye when looking closely. One method for
nit removal in young children is to place a dry towel on your
lap, have your child lie on the towel and carefully comb
through the hair with the nit comb. You should be able to
see the nits on the hair and on the comb when looking closely.
The lying position makes this process comfortable for you and
the child. Also be sure to change all sheets, pillow cases
and clothes and wash in hot water. If lice are still present
repeat treatment in 7 days. If your child is in daycare, check
with daycare as often children pass lice back and forth. Keep in mind, itching by itself, does not mean head lice and the
lice shampoos also can cause itching. Good Luck!

i tried everything to and then someone told me to put Mayonnaise on their head for at least 8 hours and it worked. make sure it is real Mayonnaise

The problem may be that you have the lice in your home. You may need to do a full on house cleaning with bug bombs and every piece of clothing, bedsheets, towels and rugs washed. It's a lot of work, but it may be the only was to fully get rid of the problem once and for all. Jess

M.,
You didn't mention, did you also wash all the bedding? Even though you treat them, lice can get in the bedding and stay there, which is why your girls might be getting them back. Wash the bedding, maybe even wash al their clothes. I realize this is a big job, but it is worth it to get rid of them. Treat yourselves, as parents. Soemtimes, if things aren't getting better, you need to get more aggressive, ie: washing bedding and clothes, etc. You might even need to steam clean carpets.

My daughter got head lice when she was four years old. We treated her twice with a perscription shampoo which didn't get rid of them. Our Pediatrician finally perscribed an oral medication. I believe it was a form of an antibiotic. (It happened five years ago so I am unable to remember exactly what was perscribed.) Apparently the lice either die when they bite their host. I also applied Mayonaise to my 6 month old daughters hair as a percaution. The Dr. recommended applying the Mayonaise, which suffocates the lice and eggs. My baby never got the lice. Good luck! I know what a terrible experiance head lice can be!!

Hi there,
My two girls had head lice before and it is tricky to get rid of. The two things that i did was, I went through their hair everyday for about a week and removed all the nats and the lice that i could see. I mean seriously went through their hair strand by strand. My oldest daughter was 5 at the time when she got it and what i found was sit her down with a movie and just really throughly go through it. I used the over the counter shampoo in their hair once a week too. Also I am not sure if you know but you need to wash EVERYTHING. We basically stripped the house of all the washable materials and bagged the pillows and stuffed animals and put them away for a week. Another thing that we found out is that the lice like clean hair, so everyday when i did my daughter's hair for school i made sure to put some gel in it to help combat from getting it again. Hopefully these suggestions help, and good luck.
M.

I have tried the vaseline route before on my step daughter and all it did was to cause her hair to be greasy and a pain to wash for nearly a month. I don't know about oil but the vaseline definately did not work for us. I have heard there is an antibiotic that some doctor's will prescribe for severe and hard to get rid of cases. Maybe you could talk to your doc and see if that is an option.

Hi, M.,
The lice may note be responding to the lice shampoos and prescriptions because they are building up an immunity to the active ingredient in them. Before proceeding any further with lice treatments, please read Jesse's story at http://www.headlice.org/jesseproject/jesse.htm.
I shop with a mail-order company called Melaleuca. They have a shampoo that I have heard works wonderfully on lice and the good news is that, unlike the drug Lidane (gamma-HCH, the active ingredient in many lice shampoos), it is non-toxic and safe for kids. Lice do not just live in the scalp, they also live in other hairy parts of the body, including eyebrows and eyelashes. They are transferred by sharing combs, clothing, pillows, the couch...etc.
Melaleuca Alternifolia oil, AKA Tea Tree Oil, is a natural solvent and it penetrates deeply into the skin making it more effective than other oils for this type of problem. It is also rich in monoterpenoids, which are insecticidal agents toxic to a louse�s nervous system, but safe for us to use. The shampoo I wrote about, above, has a high concentration of this ingredient. It is recommended in R.M. Barry's book "The Melaleuca Wellness Guide" that straight Melaleuca Alternifolia oil be massaged into the scalp and hair and then wrapped in a hot, moist towel for 10 minutes every other day for 10 days (5 treatments).
If you want to e-mail me about this, I will let you order these items on my account if you don't want to open up your own account. FYI, though, the $29 membership fee is 1/2 price until the end of July($14.50) and they offer a lot of other products that are more effective and safer to use than brands available in stores.
You can look at the catalog for pricing and selection at www.melaleuca.com and look at information about head lice from R.M. Barry at http://www.rmbarry.com/research/lice-tea-tree-oil.html.

Forget the expensive store treatments. What worked for me and my kids is baby oil (same idea as cooking oil or vaseline, I suppose). You just saturate their hair in oil and wait about 10-15 minutes. You'll need to use the lice comb from one of the kits you bought to comb out the dead lice and eggs. Your kids' hair will be greasy after this. I washed my kids' hair in dish soap (to cut the grease) after this treatment and then one more time with regular shampoo. My daughter's hair was a little oily the first day after being treated, but then everything went back to normal. We did not have repeat infestations after using this method. However, you are going to have to wash all bedding, clothes etc. one more time.

You need to go to the doctor and get a prescription for the headlice. Have you treated yours and husbands heads? If one person in the house (or three) then eveyone in the house needs treated and you need to get it out of your furniture too.

Hopefully, you've found something that works already. But if you haven't a head full of mayonaise worked on me. I had two bouts with head lice growing up and the second time I just could not get rid of them so my grandma recommended the mayonaise and it worked. Just slather a jar of mayonaise on their heads (if they have long, thick hair you might need to use a whole jar on each, but just make sure that the mayo is thick on their heads) then you can very, very tightly secure some sort of sack along their hair line. I was in high school when my parents tried that with me so they made sure that the bag was super secure and I slept with it on my head. You could probably try doing it during the day though for about eight hours or so. Then, if you still have them, you can go through their hair with a comb that you got from one of the brands you bought at the store. And as long as you wash everything their little heads came in touch with you should be all right.