Lice!!!!! Gaaah!

[AlmiraGulch]

Today I discovered that my 6 year old's head is full of lice! Mostly the egss, but stilll....ICK!

 

I bought the Rid-X kit from the store and we did the shampoo and then the comb, but now that I know what I'm looking at I still see some that I just can't get out with the comb.

 

I didn't see in on my other daughter, and she didn't see it on me, but we're spending our Friday night de-lousing anyway.

 

So, what else can I do?

 

I've stripped the beds, sprayed the anti-lice spray on everything I could think of....stuffed animals, mattresses, drapes....that comes in the kit, vaccummed like a mad woman.

 

And what about my cat? Could she have it, too? What do I do about that?

 

GROSS! HELP!!!!:eek::eek:

[Loupelou]

Yuck!!!!!!!!

 

My kids got it a couple of years ago after a sleepover.

 

Permethrin and pyrethoids don’t kill the eggs, they kill the bugs. Check what is in Rid-X. After the treatment check head in 2-3 days. Vigilance will pay off.

 

We actually used oil as a treatment. Cover the head and hair completely with oil. Comb through with a nit brush thoroughly. Shampoo hair. Repeat every day until no nits or lice are found.

 

Nasty business, and some people are harder to take care of due to hair color, thickness,etc.

[KLynnTX]

There was another thread about lice. I copied here what I said there. Here is the link to that thread....

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90071

 

 

 

http://www.safe2use.com/licergone/index.htm

That is LiceRGone, and it is FABULOUS. Seriously, go read about it. A local health store may even carry it. If not, it's worth it to buy it online. Non toxic, works like a charm. I learned about it on these boards, and it worked when nothing else did, and I can say I'm not worried about lice anymore. BTW my dd has waist length blond hair. So, when we had lice it was a major pain in the butt.

 

Thing number 2 I wish someone had told me: DO NOT smother your child's hair in Vaseline. It is next to impossible to get out. If you choose to go a similar route, do mayo or something, but please do not do vaseline. It took weeks to wear all that greasy look out of her hair. And that was after washing it with everything. under. the. sun.

 

Another suggestion, is after picking the nits out, which you really should do.....when that is done, run a flat iron over all of her hair. (If the child has long hair). I really think this was a great idea. There might be a few eggs left, but they'll be fried eggs.

 

Good luck, I hate lice, but since using the LiceRGone, I don't worry about getting it, seriously go look around at their website, and read about it. They have people that answer a toll free phone line, that are extremely helpful.

 

HTH,

K.

[AlmiraGulch]

There was another thread about lice. I copied here what I said there. Here is the link to that thread....

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90071

 

 

 

http://www.safe2use.com/licergone/index.htm

That is LiceRGone, and it is FABULOUS. Seriously, go read about it. A local health store may even carry it. If not, it's worth it to buy it online. Non toxic, works like a charm. I learned about it on these boards, and it worked when nothing else did, and I can say I'm not worried about lice anymore. BTW my dd has waist length blond hair. So, when we had lice it was a major pain in the butt.

 

Thing number 2 I wish someone had told me: DO NOT smother your child's hair in Vaseline. It is next to impossible to get out. If you choose to go a similar route, do mayo or something, but please do not do vaseline. It took weeks to wear all that greasy look out of her hair. And that was after washing it with everything. under. the. sun.

 

Another suggestion, is after picking the nits out, which you really should do.....when that is done, run a flat iron over all of her hair. (If the child has long hair). I really think this was a great idea. There might be a few eggs left, but they'll be fried eggs.

 

Good luck, I hate lice, but since using the LiceRGone, I don't worry about getting it, seriously go look around at their website, and read about it. They have people that answer a toll free phone line, that are extremely helpful.

 

HTH,

K.

 

Thank you SO MUCH! I'm going to do the flat iron tonight for sure, and maybe try tea tree oil. If that fails, I'll buy this product for sure, no matter what the cost.

 

My baby has been a trooper! Mom is not faring so well. So. Gross.

[mom4him]

Thank you SO MUCH! I'm going to do the flat iron tonight for sure, and maybe try tea tree oil. If that fails, I'll buy this product for sure, no matter what the cost.

 

My baby has been a trooper! Mom is not faring so well. So. Gross.

No additional advice here. We dealt with this a lot when we were foster parents. It is not fun. You really do have to keep on it until you KNOW that you are free.

I do know that the ridX type stuff can actually feed the lice as in our area they have become resistant to it.

It wasn't until we got the stuff from the health food store that we finally saw results. I don't remember the name though.

Oh, remember if you see them again you have to wash bedding,clothes etc again. Be sure to clean any hats, coats, etc that may have been used.

[Starr]

Also putting down a sheet and sitting under a good light or out in the sun makes nits and lice easier to see. I hope all goes well and soon.

[Mommyof4ks]

Thank you SO MUCH! I'm going to do the flat iron tonight for sure, and maybe try tea tree oil. If that fails, I'll buy this product for sure, no matter what the cost.

 

My baby has been a trooper! Mom is not faring so well. So. Gross.

 

Tea tree oil works great! We use a tea tree oil shampoo and even when exposed we have yet to get lice.

[Tree House Academy]

Tea Tree Oil is a good preventative...I am not sure about the effects it has on getting rid of lice once the child has them.

 

I have heard about the flat iron...and also using a hair dryer on high heat. There is actually a treatment method pending in public schools that is much like sitting under the hair dryer at a beauty shop. The high heat kills the eggs.

 

And yes, things like rid-x are supposed to kill the knits. Lice lives eggs are translucent. Dead lice eggs are white.

 

*yuck yuck yuck...now my head itches!* LOL

[mominbc]

My daughter had lice a couple of years ago. I was determined to get rid of them so I used the tea tree oil lice product from the health food store( I heard about the resistance to drug store items too) and I literally sat with a lamp shining on her head and examined every strand of hair while she watched movies for 5 hours and removed every visible live bug and egg. We did this again in the prescribed waiting period on the treatment box (a couple of days or so) and found maybe 2 or 3 eggs I missed. I did a couple of shorter look throughs and they never returned. We washed everything and we also did the straight iron. We used tea tree shampoo for at least a year after this. The key is getting rid of the eggs. I feel for you.:grouphug:

[Karen sn]

STOP!

Don't panic and put down those expensive toxic chemicals.

 

First - mayonnaise in the hair for 5 hours (or overnight) will suffocate the bugs.

Wash well. Sit outside in the sun (or under bright light) and comb out the eggs.

 

Then you have to go through each section of hair and, using your fingernails, scrape the remaining eggs down the length of hair.

You can flick them on the ground outside as they will hatch and die without a host.

 

HINT: I took sections of hair and twisted them tight to her head and bobby pinned them so that I could have good sections to sort through. Then she had a bag on top of that (to prevent contagion to others and reinfecting of ourselves should a missed egg hatch) and if we went anywhere she wore a bandana or hat. We never had any shame in it and I was never embarassed because we just dealt with it. When I had time I would unroll a section, scrape it, and roll it back up. This I did at least twice a day. For several days.

 

Flip your matresses and bag all stuffed animals, throw pillows, etc. Must leave in bags for 2 weeks. Bugs will starve to death.

 

I have dealt with it twice. I was not afraid to inform everyone of our problem so they could be on the lookout.

Not one single person caught it from us and we found out where we got it. (Not really "we" just dd).

I never got it from her even though she had a head FULL of eggs with a few live bugs AND had slept with me for the past 2 nights!!!

Edited June 13, 2009 by Karen sn

[freerange]

I don't know if this will be available in the US, but we tried all sorts of things before we discovered the one that worked - neem & propolis conditioner & combing with a nitty-gritty comb. It also works great at keeping the little blighters away

[WishboneDawn]

I had to deal with this once and although we used a commercial lice killer I think the real key was simply sitting down outside ( as someone mentioned it makes the lice and eggs easier to see) to pick and comb. Personally, I found the combs useless and just used my fingernails.

[AlmiraGulch]

STOP!

 

Flip your matresses and bag all stuffed animals, throw pillows, etc. Must leave in bags for 2 weeks. Bugs will starve to death.

 

I never got it from her even though she had a head FULL of eggs with a few live bugs AND had slept with me for the past 2 nights!!!

 

Unfortunately I can't flip MY mattress because I have a sleep number bed. I did vacuum it thoroughly with my Dyson (which I'm convinced will suck up anything in it's path!), but didn't flip the girls' mattresses. I'll do that this morning. I'm a little freaked out because dd often gets into bed with me in the middle of the night!

 

I also sprayed everything I could with the anti-lice spray, but it didn't occur to me to put the 40 bajillion stuffed animals into bags. Off to that chore right now. Great idea!

[AlmiraGulch]

I had to deal with this once and although we used a commercial lice killer I think the real key was simply sitting down outside ( as someone mentioned it makes the lice and eggs easier to see) to pick and comb. Personally, I found the combs useless and just used my fingernails.

 

I did the same thing. The comb was actually too wide and passed right over most of the eggs anyway.

 

What a FANTASTIC way to spend a Friday night! :cool:

[beezus]

Rid-X made my kid sick to the stomach. When she ended up with lice again, we tried LiceMD. It isn't as stinky, but it does have a greasy texture. However, it did wash out of her hair okay. I think the key to getting rid of the eggs is just to keep at it with the lice comb. The combing didn't stop around here until we'd been louse and egg free for at least 3 combings in a row, to avoid missing one and having the whole cycle start again.

 

We used tea tree oil shampoo for a long time as well. If you can't find it at the store you can just buy a small bottle of tea tree oil and put some in whatever shampoo you normally use. The tea tree won't cure a big infestation, but we thought it was worth it to continue using the tea tree shampoo just to make our heads an inhospitable place for lice to want to move to and lay eggs.

[Reesegirl]

MY oldest daughter got lice from summer camp a few years ago. We treated it with over the counter products but it was hard to get rid of and we delt with it for 2 weeks. I washed everything in hot water and also sprayed down the funiture and vacumed. After getting a huge electric bill $150 over what I usually spend I decided that if we got it again I would simply move all the kids stuffed animals, stuffed funiture extra bedding and clothing out into the garage and bag it up rather than washing and spraying everything. We would live with very little and I would daily wash bed linens and clothes and sit in lounge chairs or wooden chairs.

 

My youngest daughter came home from a mission trip to Mexico in March and one of the girls on the trip had head lice...so after checking my girl, None thank goodness, I just left everything in the garage including her suitcase with clothing, pillow, sleeping bag etc......we washed it a week later and had no problem.

 

Keep vacuming every day and keep the bedding washed as well as checking her head.