Head lice....

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My 5 year old daughter has been battling head lice for quite a while now, nearly a year, I have tried everything, every product that is on the drug storre shelf, even bought a $30.00 electric lice zapping comb. Please help if anyone has any solutions, such as old remedies for head lice, your suggestions would be so greatly appreciated! What can I do? Please send me any suggestions. Thank you, "distressed mom" in N.C. :(

-- Tonia Parton (toniatdc@yahoo.com), November 28, 2001

Answers

We battled the little boogers earlier this year, and it was just awful! We tried EVERYTHING - OTC stuff (nasty chemical crap), Mayonaisse, Olive Oil - none of it worked for us. FINALLY we tried something that a lady posted here on the forum. We took a bottle of baby shampoo, poured out a little of it, and added 2 ounces of oil of lavender, then shook it to mix it up. It will turn white. Then, wet your hair, and shampoo with the mixture. Leave it on your hair for 5 minutes, rinse and repeat. It kills them dead on the spot! You will also need to "debug" your house. Wash all bedclothes in HOT water. And we put a little oil of lavender mixed with water in a spray bottle and sprayed EVERYTHING. (It sure smelled lavendery around our house for awhile!) We did repeat the shampoo treatment after 1 week just to be sure. It worked!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), November 28, 2001.

Haven't had to deal with this yet (knock on wood) but did your child get it from school or daycare? She may actually be getting reinfected by other kids. Some schools will make you keep your kid home (they actually do head checks) but some don't and some parents who work outside the home can't or won't take the time off work to stay home with their child, thereby exascerbating the problem. One more reason to homeschool, I guess, lol.

There was at least one thread on this if you look under Health (down below the original questions) and I think it was addressed fairly recently, so it might be under new postings (though pretty far down). I would advise caution using the essential oils, they are quite strong, and can do as much harm as some of the "chemicals" out there.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 28, 2001.


I have no personal experience with this, (Thank GOD!) but I recently read a very frightening article about a child who was severely sickened by repeated chemical lice treatments. Do be careful!

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), November 28, 2001.

Head lice is certainly a good reason to be distressed. It's a lot of work cleaning up, and as you know not cheap! If your children are public schooled, or even if you use the public library-all of those people and places have to be de-liced or you run the risk of reinfestation. Our public school and library had fabric seating (since switched to vinyl)the repeat infestation finally stopped when a group of us persuaded the school and library to de-lice the carpets, mats, chairs, sofas, everything! Even after that there may be one or a few families that did not de-lice properly, you'll figure them out and bring it to the school nurse, or library directors attention. Good Luck.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), November 28, 2001.

Wash all bedsheets, clothes, etc. in hot water and dry on HOT.

Spray car (or avoid car for couple days after spraying).

Drop all combs, brushes, hair barrettes and ribbons in simmering water for a couple minutes each time you use them until you are certain you are lice free.

Are they riding in someone's car that has them? Be wary of all upholstery.

I have heard that tree tea shampoo will repel them. Also that hairspray will slow them down before they can lay eggs.

But I have been doing a preventative combing once a month this year just to make sure--What I do is get their hair wet, put lots of conditioner on their hair and then comb out in sections with the METAL lice comb. If you don;t have a metal one : it's called the "Licemeister" wierd I know. You can get it online at the national pediculosis (sp?) website.

I found the metal combs at Walmart but I think they came with some product--it was worth it to have those combs.

You really must get ALL the nits.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), November 28, 2001.



My son, Peter who is 5, has Alopecia Universalis (which means he is totally bald) and is quite happy to tell perfect strangers the benefits of being bald. One of the benefits he tells of is never having to worry about getting head lice. (Smile)

-- Anita in NC (anitaholton@mindspring.com), November 28, 2001.

another sure way is to shave the head,, would be very popular for awhile

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 28, 2001.

When we were kids we all got head lice from school. My mom used that green Hartz brand dog shampoo (recommended by her doctor). Worked like a charm. All the other kids kept battling it & ours was gone in one wash. We also washed all bedding & worn clothes in hot water.

-- ellie (eagle-quest@juno.com), November 28, 2001.

Tonia...When my great-aunt died several years ago, I inherited several of her books (she was an avid collector of every kind of book!). In this collection was a book titled "What To Do Til The Doctor Comes". Circa 1920! There are so many tried and true treatments in that book. For head lice it is recommended to shampoo the hair, then rinse several times with hot vinegar (as hot as the person can stand). I have used both white vinegar and cider vinegar at different times...seem to work equally well. Sometimes it will take a few rinsings to work. Good luck!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), November 28, 2001.

At our school we put all coats, hats, gloves, etc in a large handle top trash bag and hang them on the student's coat hooks. This keeps the little varment from jumping from coat to coat.

-- Rhonda (schoolmarm4@hotmail.com), November 28, 2001.


I strongly empathize. My daughter went through this in first grade. We would tear the house apart, wash EVERYTHING, vacuum EVERYTHING. I would use a pyrethrin-based spray on upholstery. I would freeze for 2 weeks anything that couldn't be washed in HOT water and dried. We would treat the entire family with Nix, wait 10 days, and do it again. It was ugly. We did this 3 times that year. She hasn't had lice since (knock on wood). I've never tried this, but when I spoke of this to a woman I work with, she said that she used something called quashi bark on her children. She would get it at the pharmacy, make a tea of it and brush it into the hair. I have no idea what this is, but this woman has a great deal of life experience and has that annoying quality of truly always being right!!!

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), November 28, 2001.

I e-mailed privately a file i have for a head lice remedy. I can't remember where exactly i got if from, might have been this forum. I just wanted to mention, did anyone read this past issue of Countryside with the article about head lice? It was really sad. A mother wrote about how her son contracted head lice a lot and she used this strong application ot get rid of it, then after a few yrs her son died. I can't recall off top of my head the product used nor exactly how it eventually resulted in the child's deat.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), November 28, 2001.

We now home school all the children,because where we live the schools could not get rid of lice.We spent a lot of money trying to get rid of these things.Then i heard about tree tea oil how some schools were using this to get rid of these lice.I found the cheapest place to buy tree tea oil is walmart big bottle for about 8 some thing and just put it on the hair for 20 min. then shampoo out kills lice and eggs did that they never came back .It stinks but works, only thing that did.never bothered again with those things.we tried every thing for month's it was like they just got better and had more babies and more eggs till we got this.

-- Pastor Hughes (hbchurch@brightok.net), November 29, 2001.

Check out this issue of CW. Page 64--

-- Dawn (olsoncln@ecenet.com), November 29, 2001.

Also when you are washing everything add 1 cup of household amonia to every wash... it really does work.

Put all stuffed animals in black trash bags and leave them there for several months in the attic.

-- Becky McAuley (playsinsoil1@yahoo.com), November 29, 2001.



My daughter got them from school too... We used vaseline. Put on at nite and put on shower cap. Rinse out with hot vinegar water. Seemed to do the trick and as an added bonus I found out that a little bit of vaseline left in my hair (hard to rinse out) made my naturally wave/curl just totally controllable. Before it would grab moisture and frizz. Now it shines and curls, not to brag but to help,my hair is truly very pretty. So after shampoo (no need for conditioner)use a lil mousee and a little vaseline.....viola party time lol

-- samesame (venus@zeelink.net), November 29, 2001.

My daughter has had the lice and pin worms several times. She doesn't have a problem in the Summer because she is not around the other kids at school. She has not had them this year yet. Younger kids seem to get them more because they don't know anybetter than to use other people's clothing, hats etc.. The worms are caught from not washing hands. A Dr. said that around 60% of school kids have them and parents don't know it. A lot of people with continuing lice trouble don't go the full route. They treat the hair, but not everyone in the house's hair and the bed clothes of everyone in the house, and the carpets, toys etc. I tried the olive oil and it worked but my daughter is allergic to it and her eyes swelled shut. Rid usually works well, but overuse of it dries the hair out. I have seen kids that have the eggs in their hair, because the parents used the shampoo, but didn't pick the eggs out. If you have done everything and the child still gets them, make a list of physical contacts, if you believe it is transmitted by someone at school or such place inform them, if it keeps up, report it to the health dept.

-- Vanessa (tvhayes@aeneas.net), November 29, 2001.

You can drive yourself crazy doing everything you can think of to get rid of them but it only takes one mother not doing enough to let there kid bring them back to school and it starts all over again! Let the school nurse know and every kid with them will be sent home for 3 days and will be checked again before they are let back in.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), November 29, 2001.

Tonia, my youngest daughter was in second grade when we started homeschooling. They went to school on Friday for the Halloween party and on Sunday as I was helping her get ready for church I found lice all over her head. We shampood everyone in the house with lice shampoo. We then washed everything in the house. About 3 months later she had them again. One of her friends had spent the night. I talked to this child's mother about it and she got very angry that I was accussing her child of having lice ( I did SEE them on before I called her mother). A couple weeks later I was informed that this child had been sent home from school several times with lice. So... if your child keeps getting reinfested with them you need to take a look at who she is around. And definately be carefull with any treatment that you use.

-- Lou Ann in KY (homes_cool@msn.com), November 29, 2001.

Also: I teach a girls class at church. There were these girls in different classes but sisters who had lice, you could see the eggs and they were scratching. I informed their grandmother and the woman over the girls group. A week later, they were still there. I informed them again and had a nurse from the church check them. She informed them to notify their parents and told their grandmother. This went on for over a month and they still had them. By this time school started, so I called the school nurse and informed her to check them and that I had informed the family and nothing had been done. A week later, the eggs were gone. It took the parents having to stay home with the kids in order to get anything done about the situation. Now I check the girls and when I see the eggs, I call the school. Sometimes people have to be forced into doing something. Its not right for them to let their children infect other children because they don't care about their own children.

-- Vanessa (tvhayes@aeneas.net), November 29, 2001.

Last little note; I remember what the person said about a child dying after having used something to get rid of lice. It was "lye" like in the old dip people used to use on dogs and people before we had over the counter products. They used the lye treatment on the child more than once, in fact several times, caused brain damage and death.

-- Vanessa (tvhayes@aeneas.net), November 29, 2001.

My sister's step-daughter had her cousin over for a sleep-over during the summer. The cousin brought in the lice...she'd had it for several months already by then but no one said a word to my sister. She then battled it for several weeks. She FINALLY got rid of it...but the cousin STILL has it and is going to school. The school has been notified, the public health nurse has been notified, and NO ONE is doing a damn thing about this kid and her whole family. My sister of course, never sent this cousin home until all the lice was gone but she went back into the same home where everyone else has it. My sister was supposed to have her for an overnight and ended up with her for 5 weeks. She surely went over and above. And for what???

-- BenBen (11022033@canada.com), November 29, 2001.

This site has a lot of information, and debunks some of the other stuff floating around. Hope it helps.

http://www.headlice.org/

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 29, 2001.


Most of the facts people said above are accurate. However, there is no need to get paranoid about head-lice. They're a well-adapted parasite - that is they don't do much damage. Sure they're very infectious, and sure you want to get rid of them, and from your family, and sure you want to eradicate them from the other children at your child's school, and from their families, and from everyones towels, and bedding and clothes and caps, and pillows, and toys, and pets, and homes, and - you beginning to get the picture? Fact is, you CAN'T eradicate them - they will always be around - what you have to aim for is control. Of course, EVERYONE should be aiming for control, and they often don't, and you may need to get some action on that front. I used pharmacy anti-lice stuff, and a fine-toothed louse comb, when my kids brought them home from school. In fact, I found the fine-toothed comb so good for my fine hair that I've been buying and using them ever since - 20 years or so.

I also got bird lice more than once - damned starlings would nest under our eaves, and their lice would get to us. Found that a commercial insecticidal/arthropodal (actually for fleas) soap for dogs and cats eliminated them quickly and cleanly from us as well - shampooed the hair really well.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), November 29, 2001.


Thanks so much for the helpful advice, although some were a little farfetched!..lol As if I would, or even be allowed to "SHAVE" my daughters hair, that was a hoot, though!...lol I took her to the pediatrician today, and she actually prescribed an antiobiotic that is supposed to kill the lice, it is "septra", and I will also use some of the suggestions that you have given me. Thank you all very much.

-- Tonia (toniatdc@yahoo.com), November 29, 2001.

I know someone who has to send their children on court ordered visits with a parent. Every 2 weeks they come home with head lice. After trying every thing, they have resorted to putting kerosene on them and shampoing out. That sounds dangerous to me. Anyone have feedback on this? Thanks.

-- hillbillyfaye (hiddenholler@netscape.net), November 30, 2001.

That's awful, hillbillyfaye. Are they documenting this with medical records so they can win a permanent custody battle? Not only is the kerosene a fire hazard, what is going on in that household to have lice all the time? Does the other parent have it too?

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 30, 2001.

We battled head lice all of last year-My kids would get rid of it then go to school and get reinfected again-though their school would send kids home if they found it. I had chats with public health nurses, looked up information everywhere-there are some good sites on the Net and this is what I've found out:

Although I HATE lice, it IS NOT a health hazard-but it is annoying and if children scratch they can get some minor infection. Things like RID really don't help and there are some medical risks- the best things in my experience is to goop up kids wet hair with cream rinse- the cream rinse stuns the critters briefly-about a half hour or so, so they are not so active and then use a fine (lice) comb and comb out hair-you probably will even have to pull them out with your fingernails-I just had to get over the creeps and do it. I would put on a couple of kid videos and go to work-it takes time! Scouring the entire house didn't help though I did wash sheets, pillow cases in very hot water.

Prevention is key. I have tried a Tea Tree oil and Coconut Shampoo-I believe it has lavender oil in it as well. I bought it at a health food store and it was fiendishly expensive-though not as expensive as lice treatment! I alternate using this with a cheap coconut scented shampoo-so far this year we have Not had any lice-my kids have wised up and will NOT let any one use their combs, are hats, etc. This time last year we had all ready had a couple of rounds, so I'm thinking its working-January will be the real test though.....

-- Kelly (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), November 30, 2001.


Our family went through that a couple a years ago and it lasted for about 6 months. Our problem was that all five girls (with long thick hair) had it - shaved the boys head. We finally used a old recipe used for removing ticks and lice from a sheep's wool. I DO NOT recommend this!! It is a toxic poison and we only used it because we had tried EVERYTHING else and spent at least a$100 + on everything that could be had at the store. Make sure you had exhausted all other possibilities before going for something with poison in it. Maybe you could look at some organic websites to see what they recommend. Good luck!

-- c.d. (his4ever@mac.com), November 30, 2001.

Tonia, you laugh at the shaving idea, but I had a mother with her 2 sons come to the farm/nursery where I work last spring to buy plants and all 3 of them were shaved due to lice. She had just gotten fed up with trying to deal with them and figured it be less annoying to deal with being bald for awhile than it would be dealing with lice ad nauseum!

A couple reasons why parents don't deal with lice are a lack of time for complete treatment (initial treatments, daily nitpicking, a thorough housecleaning, and a repeat of all this in 10 days), and lack of money to buy treatments (Nix cost our family of four $20 per treatment, with 2 treatments per infestation, then we had to dry all our clothes in the dryer which wacked our electric bill for the month...my estimate was $100 per infestation total cost). This thread is making my head itch....

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), November 30, 2001.


I`VE HEARD OLDER PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT LICE.THEY JUST RUN A FLEA COMB THROUGH THE KIDS HAIR.THEN TAP THE COMB ON A PIECE OF PAPER LAYING ON A COUNTER/TABLE AND CRUSH THE LICE WITH THEIR FINGER NAILS. HERE IS THE BEST THING I USED FOR FLEAS WHEN I USED TO SHOW DOGS.THERE WERE THESE FLY KILLING STRIPS CALLED "VAPONA STRIPS".YOU HANG THEM UP IN THE HOUSE.IT DOESN`T SAY ANYTHING ON THE PACKAGE ABOUT FLEAS.A FRIEND WITH A KENNEL TOLD ME THATS HOW SHE CONTROLLED THE FLEAS...IT WORKS. I`M WONDERING IF IT MIGHT WORK ON LICE AS WELL.THE VAPONA STRIP ALSO KILLS OFF THE FLEA EGGS.SO NO CONSTANT RE-INFECTION. JUST A THOUGHT BUT IT SEEMS TO KILL ALL TYPES OF BUGS INCLUDING SPIDERS.

CORDWOODGUY

PS:THE STUFF LOOKS LIKE WAX AND COMES WITH A CARDBOAD WOOD GRAINED HOLDER WITH S CLIP FOR HANGING IT.YOU PUT THE WAXY STUFF INTO THE FANCY CARDBOARD HOLDER.

-- CORDWOODGUY (cordwoodguy@n2teaching.com), December 01, 2001.


After working in a public school system for several years, my best piece of advise is to make sure your child's school has or adopts a "no-nit" policy. Not every school district sends children home with lice and/or nits when they are identified. This could save everyone lots of time, worry and money. This sort of policy is designed to target the chronic cases of lice within a school system and ultimately limit cirulation of the little bugs.

-- Carmen Black (carmen@zoomnet.net), December 03, 2001.

Wouldn't diatomacious earth work well on lice?

-- Just Duckie (Duck@spazmail.com), December 03, 2001.

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