Laura Corin Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Catch lice. Normally, Calvin's hair looks barely washed and Hobbes' is a fuzz of clean, dried out strands. Now, after a week of pouring on conditioner every two days and fine combing, their shoulder-length locks positively gleam, as do mine. Oh, and the wildlife count is close to zero. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 My kids have never had lice, but I did back in college. A friend of my roommate's babysat for some kids that had it. It was a school-wide epidemic! Kudos to you for looking at the bright side! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 You are so patient going the conditioner way, Laura! I am an everything natural kinda gal, but my kids had lice so many times in a few years, a few years back now, I went the whole hog for the strongest chemicals I could find! I ran out of patience with all the natural methods! Definitely not so lovely on their locks as conditioner. Glad you got rid of the little critters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 The last time I had them was the year I lived in Paris. I was teaching at the university but also travelling on crowded Metro trains. There was a report recently that the rise in louse infestation in British schools correlates to the change in seating patterns in classrooms: children used to sit in rows, separated from each other; now they sit huddled around shared tables. I assume that the boys picked up the lice at scouts. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phathui5 Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 You have a point. My dd's hair was lovely when we had our bout of lice. Of course, with the boys, I just shaved them completely bald, cause no hair = no lice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 You have a point. My dd's hair was lovely when we had our bout of lice. Of course, with the boys, I just shaved them completely bald, cause no hair = no lice. I don't think I'll push that issue, as I don't feel like shaving my own hair off. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanyan Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 My dd once went through a couple of months of having lice. She has long, thick, gorgeous hair that she wears in a bun for ballet almost everyday. Because of her ballet commitment, she really doesn't have the option of cutting her hair, nor did she want to lose her lovely long locks! We went through several rounds of RID, conditioner. combing, combing, combing, washing every blanket, sheet, pillow and pillow case several times over, and spraying everything from the couch to the car with RID spray and still, the lice would come right back. I finally talked to my hairdresser about the problem, and she said to pour a half bottle of rubbing alcohol on her head, cover her head with Saran Wrap for an hour, then wash it out, condition and comb. The lice were gone in one treatment and have never come back. I did retreat a week after the first treatment. And it only cost $0.50 per treatment! What a relief. The fumes are a bit difficult to deal with, so use the alcohol in a well ventilated area, and of course, anyone with alcohol on their heads has to stay away from open flames! But it works. My hairdresser got the tip from a friend of hers who is a foster mother. She does this treatment to every new foster child who comes to live with them, and they never have lice problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I finally talked to my hairdresser about the problem, and she said to pour a half bottle of rubbing alcohol on her head, cover her head with Saran Wrap for an hour, then wash it out, condition and comb. The lice were gone in one treatment and have never come back. I did retreat a week after the first treatment. And it only cost $0.50 per treatment! What a relief. The fumes are a bit difficult to deal with, so use the alcohol in a well ventilated area, and of course, anyone with alcohol on their heads has to stay away from open flames! But it works. My hairdresser got the tip from a friend of hers who is a foster mother. She does this treatment to every new foster child who comes to live with them, and they never have lice problems. Very interesting! I live in fear of lice. Both my girls HATE HATE HATE to have their very thick (one thick and curly) hair brushed. I can only imagine the screaming that a fine-toothed comb would bring :( Thanks for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 You have a point. My dd's hair was lovely when we had our bout of lice. Of course, with the boys, I just shaved them completely bald, cause no hair = no lice. I'd shave my ds's head bald if he ever got lice, too. Thankfully, that's something I've never had and neither have my dc. I don't know about dh, but I've taught piano in schools where they were doing school wide checks because someone had lice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I'm the same way. My hair is so thick that trying to get a fine tooth comb through it would be awful. I'd have to find another way. Same here, and with my dd's. If either of my dd's was willing to be shaved bald if she got them, I'd probably let her, but it's not likely. I doubt I would at this stage of my life, but there was a time when I would have since I always wondered what it would like to be bald once, but was too vain to try it. (Not sure if I could wear that look well.) Of course, then people would think they were on chemo, so perhaps not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I'm the same way. My hair is so thick that trying to get a fine tooth comb through it would be awful. I'd have to find another way. Heh, well, the little one gets the "thick and curly" from yours truly, so I'm right there with you. I know it will probably happen eventually, but until then, it's one of my neuroses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 When I was teaching I was completely paranoid about catching lice. We had a "no-nit" policy and I strictly enforced it. I have always had long, coarse, thick, curly hair. I checked every head when the parents were dropping off with a clean pair of disposable gloves and a clean chopstick. If I found anything, home they went. Every jacket, sweater, backpack and lovey (I taught Kinder) went home to be washed on the first day. The covers for the furniture in the reading area went home with me for treatment and I called the office to have my classroom carpet steam cleaned. I had very little spread and I never caught it myself. The other teachers thought I was crazy who refused to do these things because in their eyes it was going to spread to all the kids anyway. Our school was too poor to have a nurse more than once a month (not very useful,) so I became it by default. In no time I could diagnose ringworm and impetigo at a glance. This thread is making my head itch. The power of suggestion! Amber in SJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 (edited) We went through several YEARS of Diva getting lice every couple of months. Yes, it was when she was in public school. She's even had it since home schooling, caught from a 'friend' that is in ps :glare: I swear I've tried every freaking treatment known to man. It was Cetaphil and serious conditioning that finally did the trick. Cetaphil is applied to dry hair, bag over the head, left over night. Washed out the next day. Then, I used either conditioner or baby oil (You can use any oil) and bag on the head at bed again. I repeated it every 3 days for two weeks, and now we haven't had it in a year or so. Thank GOD. ETA: For those paranoid about catching it, add some tea tree oil to your shampoo. Also, a friend of mine that worked in daycares NEVER got it, despite it going around and around. She figured that it was because she used gel and hairspray (short, spiky 'do). I've found that using a fair bit of hair product is a deterrent too. One suggestion I had for getting rid of lice was to dye our hair. The chemicals in hair dye are supposed to kill the lil critters. *shudder* Edited September 23, 2009 by Impish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 We used to have school wide checks growing up. What gets me about that now (I didn't think about it when I was a kid) was they checked head after head with the same unwashed hands and tooth pick (or whatever wooden thing that was). Wouldn't this promote the spread? Hopefully they don't do it that way anymore! I was never part of a school wide check. Either there were never any lice in any of the schools I went to when I went there (my preferred way to think about it,), they went undetected, or they didn't do those back then. None of us ever had them. However, our pets did tend to bring fleas into the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanyan Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 It's interesting that Cetaphil worked too, since two of the main ingredients in Cetaphil are alcohol. Maybe try the rubbing alcohol, since it's cheaper, and if it's just too difficult for the child to deal with the fumes (that part just lasts a couple of minutes while the alcohol is being poured on), try the Cetaphil. It's good to know that Cetaphil works, too. It looks like those of us whose children have had particularly difficult cases of lice have had success with using alcohol in some form. That's very interesting! In any case, both of those products are far cheaper than using RID. Cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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