Everyone start itching their heads right now! I was going to post a picture of real lice but I am not that mean! Truth is, there was no way I was going to be able to type a post looking at it!
Because we are heading back to school, AND there is a $2 off RID coupon ( 90210 and look under Heath Care) I figured we could do a public service announcement and talk about preventing and what to do if you child gets lice.
Now, I have a few things to say about lice….
As a former hairstylist having worked in salons for a few years, lice is not that uncommon. It is also NOT a reflection of your parenting skills or personal hygiene. I have seen EVERY type of person from all walks of life get lice. If you have a child that interacts with other children they have a good chance of getting lice.
BUT, if your child has had it a few times or you can’t get rid of it, then you have a problem. I personally like to use homeopathic methods to treat things first. But, the exception that I make is with lice. I have NEVER seen them work well. Or completely get rid of the lice. The scary thing is that if it gets to the point where you have to use a prescription to get rid of them you put your kids in some real danger. The prescription medication is very toxic and can cause seizures and other problems with children.That is why it is important not to mess around and get rid of them as quickly as possible.
Part of getting rid of them is washing everything in the house with very hot water in the washing machine, bagging up all your stuffed animals and bedding, and keeping them bagged for a few weeks.
Also, once you do the first treatment, you have to do another at 7-10 days to kill anything that you missed that hatched in the past week (itching my head now!) or you start all over again and find lice in another month.
About 3 years ago my girls had lice, when I found the first one I started shaking and crying! Remember, I have totally seen this 100 times! I FREAKED OUT! My husband actually had to grab me by the shoulders and tell me to calm down I was scaring the kids! So, I pulled it together and must have spent 30 hours that week taking care of all the things I had to do to get rid of them. It was a nightmare! Anytime I know the kids have had any contact I go ahead and treat them to save myself the trouble.
Tea Tree Oil is a good way to help prevent head lice, you can use tea tree shampoo or mix the oil with your own shampoo. Tea tree oil makes the human scent and the lice will not want to transfer to your child. I also educate my kids and tell them not to share combs, brushes, hair clips, hats, and even jackets with other kids.
What is your experience with lice? What have you found that works?
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Hi tiffany,
When this happen in Mexico all we use to wash the head a soap that it called Roma it’s sold at foodtown and other latino markets, now this is s laundry/dish detergent but it works wonders it pretty much kills them all on the first wash but we try to use it for a couple of days, then all you have to do is comb it to get the critters out, the hair get an incredible shine and doesn’t get damage with the detergent, this can also be use to kill the fleas on dogs same method and the best thing is that it doesn’t contain phosphates so it’s a great alternative ……
yesssss i used it before and you can literally the lice fall out in the shower anyone should definetley use this
I too have a fear of my kids getting lice b/c several of my friends have experienced the horror of lice. I use the generic brand tea tree shampoo and conditioner from Sally’s beauty supply. Plus, I put half water and half tea tree conditioner in a spray bottle and my kids use on their hair before school. Having the conditioner it in also helps with the tangles.
My daughter brought lice home once many years ago. It was horrible, everyone but my husband got it. It was a battle getting rid of it. I was told to use mayonaise & I it worked better than the rid, I didn’t like the idea of putting bug killer (rid) on my kids head anyway. The mayo really worked you have to repeat it in about a week too. The oil from the mayo is suppose to smother the lice. Warning it is VERY messy. After you get in on your hair you put on a shower cap & we used that hairdresser cotton to go around the cap cause as that mayo warms up from your body heat the oil from the mayo starts running down. Wasn’t a fun treatment but worked really well.
oh my! I’m going through that right now with 4 girls! What a hassle! We started the first treatment last night and I will for sure proceed…I’m thinking of trying the mayo…
The thing that finally worked for my daughter was also the mayonnaise treatment described by Kim. A negative side effect though is that now as an adult, she still to this day can not stand the sight, smell or taste of mayo!
I went through that 2 years ago and NOTHING worked. We got the lice at WDW of all places. I finally had to get the Rx and it worked fast!
A couple of years ago my girls brought it home from school. We tried so many different treatments but nothing worked until my husband found something called Neem oil online. We saturated the girls hair, covered it with a shower cap overnight and repeated it once a week for 3 weeks to be sure we got everything. Warning though it smells really really bad but it worked!
Oh the JOYS of LICE!! As a Teacher I deal with it frequently!! I never had them as a child but as an adult got them on airplane of all places…Didn’t realize for about a week or more thought I had allergic reaction to a new shampoo. By this time my Baby 14 months had as well!! So we did RID and more RID and vacumed and did car seats everything…
FINALLY is what worked was lavender on pillows and dabbed in hair line… I have also used head and shoulder or dandruff shampoo on my oldest as he was proned to the critters….the mayo works as well as tee tree! The best thing is remember to TREAT everything !!
I’ve already started stocking up on tea tree oil and the shampoo and conditioner. I had it when I was a teenager and it took forever to get rid of since my hair is long and VERY thick! Have you found any one tea tree oil shampoo to be better than the others or should they all be pretty much the same?
Things brings back a memory. I was babysitting my husbands two nephews. We had a great day. Made cookies, played outside, went to the playground. But the entire day I noticed them scratching their head. Finally I asked them what was going on with their head. Now I have never been around lice, never had it and I do not have kids. They said their head just itched. I ran my finger up the back of their hair and saw actual bugs! Talk about ruining a great day. It cost me over $100. I freaked. I insisted my husband drop everything and run to CVS where he cleaned them out of RID and spray and anything else I could find. I may have went overboard but it worked. Now when I see a child scratch their head I run and hide.
We unfortunately had this problem when my daughter got it from her best friend at school. The girl was being sent to school with glitter sprayed in her hair to cover the nits and lice. It was a bad situation. We did the homeopathic route. We tried an OTC homepathic solution, then tried mayo. We finally used a cedar oil on her hair and it worked miracles. The nits rinsed out and combed out easily. It smelled very strong, but worked and made her hair silky smooth. I even was able to spray her mattress, carpet, and stuffed animals with it.
I battled lice with my son for 2 months. RID did not work. I put mayo on my sons head and then a shower cap and let him sleep in it. In the morning I rinsed it with a solution of half water half vinegar. This helps remove the sticky residue that the lice use to lay their eggs on the hair strands. Then I picked through his hair for hours. The trick is to recheck your childs head every day after an infestation. One egg can lead to hundreds of lice!
We use something called Lice Ice. You use it to get rid of them and then you use it as a preventive. We found that this works great…
I have 6 girls! I have battled lice this past school year twice. It is horrible, nasty, frustrating and alls you want to do is cry. After trying what seems like everything…I found a homeopathic called “Licefree” at Walgreens. It claims on the package to be %100 in killing live lice and its eggs. The eggs part was very important to me. It works! It smells like liquorice, but it works! I will have a stock of that stuff on hand for the coming year. I am very interested in the tea tree as a preventative. That sounds wonderful if it really works.
So re-reading my post…I guess you can’t kill dead lice, so I am sure the package claimed to kill lice and its eggs. 🙂
Lice Ice is a brand that is all natural and non toxic. I used it when I went thru this a few years ago with my girls. I highly recommend it. I agree teatree shampoo is a great preventative also spray hairspray on their hair each morning.
There is also a $1 coupon for Lice Shield in the September All You mag. Looks like a preventative spray. My daughter and I recently had lice. I bought the lice combs and used it in the shower with lots of conditioner then washed hair as normal. We did this every other day for about 10 days until there were no more signs of lice. I didn’t want to put chemicals in our heads either but now I know we don’t have to:)
We use Tea Tree shampoo and it works great. Never have had it. My niece had head lice alot and we got the tea tree shampoo and she had never had it again and that was 10 yrs ago. I also wash my kids arms and legs in it I think it help to keep other out side bugs off of them.