Those Little Suckers Are Back!

Headlice Are In Season

Yes, it's that time of year again, as I discovered yesterday. When my grandbaby got dropped off at my house yesterday afternoon she was busy trying to scratch all of her hair off of her head. A feeling of dread washed over me. I put on my glasses, grabbed a comb and took her outside in the sunlight. There they were in all their creepy glory- the dreaded head lice!

The rest of the day and night was spent plastering everyone in the house with de-lousing medicine, meticulously nit combing hair, washing all bed clothes and throw covers, vacuuming, spraying, boiling all combs, brushes, hair doodles, etc. It was every mother and grandmother's nightmare.

As it has been many years since I've had to deal with lice I thought it would be a good idea to bring attention to it. Everyone can be at risk. Yes, that means you too! So here's a little info:

The bane of many parents, the head louse is a tiny, wingless parasitic insect that lives among human hairs and feeds on extremely small amounts of blood drawn from the scalp. Although they may sound gross, lice (the plural of louse) are a very common problem, especially for kids ages 3 years to 12 years (girls more often than boys).

Lice aren't dangerous and they don't spread disease, but they are contagious and can just be downright annoying. Their bites may cause a child's scalp to become itchy and inflamed, and persistent scratching may lead to skin irritation and even infection.

It's wise to treat head lice quickly once the diagnosis is made because they can spread easily from person to person.

The first signs you may notice are scratching of the head and possibly tiny red bites or bumps. If you notice this, the best place to check your child's head is outside in direct sunlight. You can trust Granny on this one. The eggs (which is what you generally find as the bugs are tricky and good at hiding) are usually the first thing you will find. The eggs are attached to the hair shaft close to the scalp. Take a comb and part the hair in numerous places. The best places to look are at the nape, the crown, and in the hair behind the ears. These suckers like to lay their eggs in the warm spots, but the eggs can be in other places as well. They are hard to see but look close. Dandruff easily slides off the hair but eggs have to be scraped off.

There are many readily available products for treating lice. Just read the directions well and follow them to the tee. Also, do not trust those little plastic nit combs that come with most kits; pay a little extra and get the metal comb, most pharmacies have them. They work MUCH better. Here are a few more things you should do:

Wash all bed clothes, pillows, coats, hats etc. in hot soapy water and dry on hottest dryer setting. If they can't be washed or dry cleaned seal in plastic and throw them in a closet for a month.

Spray mattresses and fabric upholstered furniture with lice spray. It's usually next to the hair treatment at the store. Don't forget car seats!

Vacuum everything meticulously!

Soak all combs, brushes, hair doodles, etc. in rubbing alcohol and then boil in soapy water. If you can't then throw them away.

Put stuffed toys and dolls in plastic bags and seal. Put them away for a month. If there is a special Wubby you can follow directions for bed clothes if necessary.

Re-treat and do it all again in a week to ten days. The treatment you buy will tell you exactly when in the instructions. You must be viligant!

While having a lice outbreak can be stressful and very tiring (as well as taxing on your wallet) it can be overcome. The sooner you become aware the more successful you will be, but beware- re-infestations are common! And please, don't take your aggravation out on the kids- it's not their fault. It's just one of those things that happen like catching a cold. It has nothing to do with being dirty (in fact lice prefer CLEAN hair).

If I left anything out some good information can be found at several web sites:

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Good Luck!

Very gross.....at least they can't spread diseases.

When my cousins had lice, the doc told them to coat their hair in mayonnaise. They then wrapped a towel around their head and left it covered overnight.

The mayonnaise smothers the lice, then its simply a matter of removing the nits (or repeating the mayonnaise when the nits hatch).

It was hard to get the mayonnaise out of the hair, though. Required lots of washings.

I have two kids in school, head lice is nothing new to me. It is the biggest pain in the @ss to get rid of. Seriously clean and disinfect everything, and when your done do it again you miss one spot and you F'ed in the A. such a nightmare, one of my daughters friends had them not to long ago, we stripped everything down and washed and bagged everything, luckily we were spared this round, but its just the beginning.

reply to post by smyleegrl


When my own children were young we tried every home remedy in the book. Mayonaisse, rubbing alcohol, vasoline, tea tree oil, rinsing in chamomile tea, you name it! There was an outbreak at my kids school. We would get rid of it, send them back to school, then they'd come home with it again. The last time after going through all the necessary procedures I personally took my kids back to their classes, and both the rooms were full of kids scratching their heads. I went to the school nurse and told her my kids would not be attending classes until the school enforced their lice policy and took my kids home. The nurse called me about two weeks later to say they had it under wraps, so I took my kids to their classes. The school had cracked down and enforced their own rules (children sent home and not allowed back to class until cleared by the nurse's own head check). My kids never got it again, but this incident with my grandkid has brought back memories of a near nervous breakdown during that long ago battle!

gosh! this brings back dreaded childhood memories!
long story short, the only 'cure' i ever found was a fine toothed 'lice' comb,de-lousing product from the pharmacy,and washing all bed ware in bleach!
or shave your head!!!
good luck!

Originally posted by reficul
gosh! this brings back dreaded childhood memories!
long story short, the only 'cure' i ever found was a fine toothed 'lice' comb,de-lousing product from the pharmacy,and washing all bed ware in bleach!
or shave your head!!!
good luck!

Hey before that in a certain part of the country.... they would urge your mam to cut your hair short and pine tar your head. Everyone looked punk and smelled like pine tar Back then it was really a baaad thing.. you were trashy and dirty if you got lice, when in reality they love clean hair much more than dirty! ( we wont tell mom that, she thought I didnt get it cause I was so clean... NOT! LOL!!) My hair was down almost to my butt at the time I recall it got so bad in school that they wanted EVERYONE to do it.. even if you didnt have it do it just in case there were nits. I used to have my hair braided by a nanny and rolled up on the sides of my head much like princess leigha ( or however you spell it) and these were called : Cootie Garages. Appropriately. My mom went berzerk, wasnt cutting my hair, and sent me to the catholic school.... where they scared me to death.. daily. I had to pine tar hair that long, anyway! Mean mean little women.. specially toward a brownish non-catholic heathen. St Francis.. WHO DAT? SLAAAP! BRING ON THE LICE and get rid of the sisters!!!
Sorry, had one of those waking nightmare flashbacks..

My kids have got it, we spend ages getting rid and within 2 weeks they've got them again.

The wife has them, I've had them, and they are a total pain.

Like someone said, you only need 1 kid in the class who's parents don't bother to sort it and everyone has it in no time flat.

reply to post by littled16


Simple preventive care. If your kids go to school with, or to a nursery/day care with hispanic children, make sure to use the proper shampoo to prevent these things. A good many diseases and stuff where almost unheard of in America until the flood gates on immigration where open.

Originally posted by korathin
reply to post by littled16

 

Simple preventive care. If your kids go to school with, or to a nursery/day care with hispanic children, make sure to use the proper shampoo to prevent these things. A good many diseases and stuff where almost unheard of in America until the flood gates on immigration where open.

Wow.. youre a genius arent you?

Originally posted by korathin
reply to post by littled16

 

Simple preventive care. If your kids go to school with, or to a nursery/day care with hispanic children, make sure to use the proper shampoo to prevent these things. A good many diseases and stuff where almost unheard of in America until the flood gates on immigration where open.

Wow most ignorant comment award goes to you.

You can't be serious! Anyone can get lice and African Americans are less likely to get it actually.

You could be the cleanest person ever and can still get lice, it has NOTHING to do with the race of the person!

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Well said!

My grandkid caught them from her neighbors, who are definitely not Hispanic.

I'm more concerned about what's 'in' one's head than what's on it though when in a time of need.
Either shower or seek a natural remedy.
Did you know that there is a natural solution for every ailment?

Lice are a rite of passage for children. Everyone gets it at least once. ,and we were told lice love clean hair, they have a hard time clinging to nasty dirty greasy hair. So cleanliness is not the issue. They jump and kids get close together, especially when telling secrets. Lice are also very politically correct and try to infect all races as equally as possible .

reply to post by korathin


Do some research about the royals , the rich, and regular folk many centuries back and head lice. Educate yourself. Here's a start.
articles.latimes.com...

reply to post by littled16

absolutely no Danger of me getting lice .....due to the fact im bald as a pool ball [by my own choice] but thank you for the timely reminder will start keeping my eye on the kids here thanx

reply to post by maxrockerfella

They'll slide right off the skull! That's the good thing about a boy getting lice, you can just shave that hair off!

Oh do I feel your pain! When Iwas a kid they'd send you home and you weren't allowed back into school until treated... at some point that changed because after a year of misery Ifinally contacted my daughters school to request a "lice hunt" as she just kept being reinfested, and was told our school district no longer "excludes" for lice. They don't care if kids have them. Won't even check them or send notifications. Its now been 2 years since she first got lice. Summers are great but by september they're back.

Biggest frustration is the traditional treatment shampoos are becoming less effective plus who wants to poison their childs head every month?

I found this electronic thing called robicomb, it doesn't kill em but emits a sound that quiets when it touches one and gives it a shock so it'll let go of hair and come off on comb to be squished. At full outbreak Iuse on kids nightly. When Imake it a couple nights without finding any Iswitch to every 2-3 days to grab the newborns as they hatch before they mature to lay their own nits. Once I make it a week with no buggers I do a weekly check for a month or two then it drops to a couple times a month or whenever Ithink of it just to try to catch a reinfestation before it explodes. It may seem like a lot of work, and at first it is, maybe an hour a night, but that quickly drops and may only take 5 minutes if none are hatched yet. It was a lifesaver for me as my youngest is on autism spectrum and won't tolerate nit comb. After shampoo Ihad to take flashlight and individually pick nits out, hours at a time! Definitely like catchin em upon hatch much better! Hopefully this helps some people because Iknow the frustration all too well!

Tea Tree oil! 100% guaranteed way to make sure no one in your family ever catches it.
If you have school age children always make sure you add tea tree oil to the shampoo. Lice won't come near you and you'll save yourself hours of time treating it.

reply to post by calstorm


When my kids were young we started adding tea tree oil to the shampoo and that actually did work. However these new lice must be "super bugs" because we just had to retreat the grandkid yesterday. She was bug free up until late Friday night (trust me, I've been checking religiously). We didn't have her Sat. or Sun. this week, but she showed up early yesterday morning eat up with them, even though we've washed her hair with tea tree oil in shampoo every day. So there was another round of hair treatments, nit combing, spraying, vacuuming, washing and bagging in two households again yesterday, and daughter had to miss half day of work to do her house.

These were not new hatchlings, they were adults of various sizes and were caught from an adult visitor to their house on Sunday. Guess we have to watch for more than just kids now! That person has been informed that they aren't welcome to return until they handle their business. Come to find out it was the mother of the kids who she caught them from originally, who treated her kids and home but not herself- go figure!