Niiiiiicccceeeeee.....lice

[AuntieM]

:glare::glare::glare:

 

Got an email this evening letting us know that lice had been found on some kids at ddK's private school. They were found in grades 3,4,5. I checked her over and she is clear, but, I want to minimize her chances of getting them. So....

 

:bigear:

 

I don't want to have to do what you had to do, Mariann!

 

I was thinking of pulling her hair into a tight little bun and shellacking it with hairspray in the morning. What else can I do?

[MariannNOVA]

:glare::glare::glare:

 

Got an email this evening letting us know that lice had been found on some kids at ddK's private school. They were found in grades 3,4,5. I checked her over and she is clear, but, I want to minimize her chances of getting them. So....

 

:bigear:

 

I don't want to have to do what you had to do, Mariann!

 

I was thinking of pulling her hair into a tight little bun and shellacking it with hairspray in the morning. What else can I do?

 

Well, you certainly don't want to do the stuff I did -- (do you mean the Cetaphil or the Lice Professional? :confused:;))

 

Anyway, yes, I would pull it into some bun or braid or something. Lice LOVE clean hair - they can slide along the hair shaft more easily to get to the scalp. So, lots of gel or hair spray is a great idea - they hate it because it slows them down. (Is this just SO gross?)

 

And, they hate peppermint oil (the lice professional 'gave' us a spray bottle of peppermint oil that the kids were to spray all over their hair before going to any 'group' activities), they also hate tea tree oil (I would put a few drops in the palms of my hands and rub it over their hair before they left the house), and they hate lavender oil.

 

I'd say that your hair bun and coating with hair spray is going to be quite effective! Is the school putting backpacks and coats into large plastic garbage bags so those items aren't piled on top of each other?

 

And, thanks for your kind words about my daughter and her husband.:grouphug:

[cindergretta]

Put drops of tea tree oil in your shampoo and conditioner. It is a preventative. We had lice this last summer and we have used tea tree oil ever since b/c now I am soooo paranoid about it. What a Hollywood production!!!!!!!

 

And ITA with putting hair in a bun and spray hairspray on it like it is 1986!!!! Lice don't like hair with "stuff" in it.

 

Keep in mind that lice don't jump. There has to be head to head contact, sharing combs or brushes, or sharing hats. Educate your children *hard core* on the need to NEVER share anything hair related, including barrettes, scrunchies, etc.

[Wildiris]

Oh, I feel for you. My girls got lice in July. I though I was OK and did not do any kind of prevention. Six weeks later my head was infested. I was horrified.

 

Tea Tree oil is supposed to be a good preventative.

 

If you should find yourself in need, I wrote Head Lice Treatments~A Non-Toxic Remedy. I used this treatment both on the girls and myself. I was amazed at how well it worked.

[dhudson]

Making sure she takes a good warm shower before bed should help too.

Edited November 19, 2010 by dhudson

[Starr]

Mariann is so right. Check on what they are doing with belongings at school and be sure they are not in any "comfy reading corners." You know, pillows, cloth chairs etc. Not everyone gets them. I pray you don't. But you can always call Mariann for more advice, just an old school nurse kidding around.:D Oh, to check the hair be sure you have really good light.

[justasque]

When lice hits our homeschooling crowd, which it seems to now and again, we've taken to covering our hair. Some of the moms cover anyway for religious reasons, and some like to wear hats or scarves anyway, and the kids are usually willing to don a bandanna or baseball cap. Yes, it feels a little like foolish overkill, but it WORKS. The kids with longer hair "braid and cover". They all know the drill, and since everyone's doing it there is no social stigma. Something to consider. Bandannas are cheap and come in a wide variety of colors and designs.

[AuntieM]

Thanks for the advice! I wonder if she could get a bandanna in with the dress code...I'll have to think of something...

 

I do not have the money for a professional nit-picker, and I don't want to even have to deal with it! My sweet dd would be mortified to learn she had bugs in her hair that laid eggs there, too. I mean, copious tears, wailing and gnashing of teeth would ensue...

 

Tomorrow we will go with the 1980's hairspray plan. I will talk to her about not putting heads together. I don't know if the school is providing plastic bags, I will be sure to ask and look closely at her things before she brings them into the house.

 

I have some Burt's Bees acne stuff that has tea tree oil in it, as a stop-gap I will run some of that on my hands and pat her head. I'll have to go and get some to add to shampoo.

 

Just... ugh. Hope I won't be back next week asking for more info:glare:. Wildiris, thanks for the non-toxic remedy, I could never put pesticide in my baby's hair. Hope I won't need your recipe, either, but I am glad to know it's available.

Edited November 19, 2010 by AuntieM

[MariannNOVA]

Mariann is so right. Check on what they are doing with belongings at school and be sure they are not in any "comfy reading corners." You know, pillows, cloth chairs etc. Not everyone gets them. I pray you don't. But you can always call Mariann for more advice, just an old school nurse kidding around.:D Oh, to check the hair be sure you have really good light.

 

Thank you, thank you.....b/c it has always been a secret ambition of mine to be the GO-TO person when one has BUGS in their hair!!!!!:glare: You know?;)

 

And as for the bandanna thing - I have always thought it was a fabulous idea, but when I tried it hundreds of years ago when the bugs were running rampant through the ps my girls attended, they were told to remove the hats. Now of course, their bodies could be pierced ten ways from Sunday and everything else could be hanging out, but THEN, NO HATS!:glare:

[SailorMom]

We have been battling these for the first time. I have never had to deal with it before - and was loosing my mind. We only discovered them on Friday, and thankfully only myself and DS had them (He occasionally will use my brush).

Anyway - we used Rid, and then 3 days later Nix. But the true lifesaver is a comb I bought off Amazon:

 

The Nit Free Terminator Lice Comb

 

It is the only thing out there that actually takes the nits out. I was picking them out with my fingernails until this came today. It is truly worth its weight in gold.

 

I plan on running it through my kids' hair weekly after we have made sure they are all gone.

 

We look pretty good right now. I am off to find the pepermint stuff (or tea tree oil....).

[AuntieM]

Oh, Kristy, I am so sorry for you! I am glad you have found some success. I'll keep the comb in mind if I should need it.

 

If you could have seen me last Friday, I was doing the happy dance for evading the little buggers for so long. Poor kindergarten dd spent the last month with her hair gooped up with hair spray and tea tree oil. The last week I braided her hair in a web all around her head and sprayed it. On the second to last day of class she had to sing, so I washed and curled it and prayed that no critters would come near her clean hair.

 

I applaud the school for being very proactive. They started hplacing the students' items in black trash bags during the day, got rid of any classroom items that might harbor lice, and sent home lots of info on how to avoid the things. They never made it out of the third grade. But those families that were affected apparently had a very difficult time preventing recurrence in their homes. Obviously they didn't have Mariann's professional delouser!

 

Hope your trial is soon over. Watch for them in a week or so, in case you missed any eggs.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

:glare::glare::glare:

 

Got an email this evening letting us know that lice had been found on some kids at ddK's private school. They were found in grades 3,4,5. I checked her over and she is clear, but, I want to minimize her chances of getting them. So....

 

:bigear:

 

I don't want to have to do what you had to do, Mariann!

 

I was thinking of pulling her hair into a tight little bun and shellacking it with hairspray in the morning. What else can I do?

 

You could use a lice comb preventatively on her wet hair with lots of conditioner in it so that it is fairly easy to comb. After each pass through, you should rinse comb and wipe with paper towel and dispose of same paper towel.

[bearnpurple]

We put Rosemary Oil in our hair spray and detangler so no matter what we use in our hair it has something in it......along with using tea tree oil shampoo 1 time a week.

 

We have to be careful with the tea tree oil....it dries your scalp and can end up scratching because of dry scalp.....ugh!

 

Good luck!

[mom4him]

Worn, worn, worn NOT to use anyones comb, brush, put their hat on or allow them to put her hat on. No, not ever, lice or no.

I had a foster daughter that we fought lice. Thought I had them GONE at last, one visit with birth mother, birth mother brushed her hair with brush from purse and guess what? She had head lice back.

[Violet Crown]

The Nit Free Terminator Lice Comb

 

I got one of these when we had the false diagnosis of lice. Turns out it takes care of cradle cap (dd3's bane) better than anything else I'd been using.