Head Lice in our Area! Tips on staying safe?

[earlybird10842]

I posted on the major lice breakouts at the local school several months ago, and I thought they were over for the last two months or so. Nope! I got a notice saying there's ANOTHER outbreak, and I think I may have exposed myself by working with a girl who was cured of lice, but still has nits. I am in the school often, so how can I keep myself safe? And take care of any nits that work their way into my hair?

 

[newfoundland]

Nits are the eggs of lice. If they are white specks, they are empty eggs shells, and the lice have hatched. If they are brown then the lice are still inside. People who refer to nits generally mean the white empty shells, so these are harmless. To protect yourself, comb your hair often during the day with as fine a tooth comb as you can buy. Remember the old motto, 'break their legs and they can't lay eggs, so comb over and over again.
Use a shampoo with tea tree oil, or better still a conditioner with tea tree oil as well. Keep your hair short or if long tied back so that it doesn't touch anyone else. If you discover lice in your hair act quickly. It is worth getting a bottle of treatment and keeping it handy just in case. There are many ones to choose from and they have a long shelf life. Ask your pharmacsist for advice what to use in your area, as head lice are becoming resistant to treatment and that varies area to area.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Hmm, not sure, maybe keep your hair up in a bun, don't share hats and wash your hands?

P.S. I think your chicken names are cute! Love Whilloghby--too cute!

 

[nok13]

cant understand the big problem with lice. its rampant here. so just comb out your kids' hair, comb out your hair : take a good metal lice comb, put conditoner in your hair (or olive oil , do a hair treatment at the same time), and comb out hair in the shower...

non of the chemical stuff works anymore, and lice do not spread diseases. the only thing they do is irritate the scalp, causing itching which causes some kids to scratch until they get small infections on their scalp. nothing else.

we have it here in the army (scabies is an other story), we have it in kgarten, schools, high schools, and anyone else (mostly women) who work with children and hug them or put their heads close together....

there is a great kids book in hebrew (not sure if its ever been translated) about a louse called nehama (nice, or full of pity) who lives on a hairless head... its found in every 'well child' clinic or school... its actually a good book, with good pics.anyhow, anyhow, keeping hair short makes it easier to comb out.

some kids are more prone, some poeple never get it. my youngest had it for years, now she works in a sort of 'childrens' home, for orphans and children who have been withdrawn from parents or taken off streets; she has lice again. and she's 19 years old... so she just combs out her long hair, nightly. boyfriend has not got lice.

one of teh best ways for bonding between a mother (or caretaker) and child, is to sit and comb out their hair and search for lice... its relaxing for the person, and the person getting the checkthru gets a good head massage.

rosemary drops in oive oil combed thru the hair works to repel the lice.

moraz company makes a 'natural remedy' against lice, but mostly combing is the treatment... i can think of worse things to have, like a fungus called ringworm for instance, or pinworms...

 

[earlybird10842]

Okay. Comb often, wash often, tea tree oil. I wish we had some DE on hand--What worksfor my chooks is probably fine for me

 

[MeatKing]

Lice sucks, I agree with the comb hair often, and check hair.

Do not agree with the wash often approach. (Unless you already have it) Lice like clean hair, if it's oily and dirty, it's harder to stick too. So here kids hair is washed once per week.

tee tree oil is amazing. We spray it, mixed with water on girls hair, in the am, while I'm putting it in a pony tail and then braiding it.
I would never send my girls to school, without their hair back.

Funny story, my dd age 4, told her best friends Mom, while Mom was there reading to kids.. Her dd, must have head lice, cause it's never in a pony tail.. My kids hate, getting their hair done every morning. It takes about 15 min, per two kids. I tell them, it has to go back if not, the will catch the lice..
I guess dd, now thinks every girl who doesn't have a pony tail has headlice. I've tried to explain to her the difference.. But hey, if it makes her keep her hair back at school.. That is great!!

 

[earlybird10842]

Lice sucks, I agree with the comb hair often, and check hair.

Do not agree with the wash often approach. (Unless you already have it) Lice like clean hair, if it's oily and dirty, it's harder to stick too. So here kids hair is washed once per week.

tee tree oil is amazing. We spray it, mixed with water on girls hair, in the am, while I'm putting it in a pony tail and then braiding it.
I would never send my girls to school, without their hair back.

Funny story, my dd age 4, told her best friends Mom, while Mom was there reading to kids.. Her dd, must have head lice, cause it's never in a pony tail.. My kids hate, getting their hair done every morning. It takes about 15 min, per two kids. I tell them, it has to go back if not, the will catch the lice..
I guess dd, now thinks every girl who doesn't have a pony tail has headlice. I've tried to explain to her the difference.. But hey, if it makes her keep her hair back at school.. That is great!!

 

[nok13]

it doesnt matter if u wash often or not; the combing in the shower with conditioner just makes it more pleasant and easier to comb out long thick hair, and rinse the comb out all the time, out of the shower, its much more difficult.
we have all varieties of combs but i found the best one is a long tanged one from metal, at least on our hair, all my kids have thick thick hair, and long.

there are different theories about hair, cleaniliness, oiliness, hormones (why do girls get it more); but mostly from what i have gathered, girls get it mroe become they tend to put their heads together more, they have more physical contact, and here in israel, they will lay together on beds and sofas while talking, or hug a lot more... in areas where siblings sleep in beds together also there is more head contact , like here (many kids, small houses, sleeping in trundle beds/pull out beds; which is why lice had always been associated with 'poor' people: due to smaller sleep/living areas, and close contact. its difficult to get head or body lice when there is no bodily contact whatsover, and everyone has their own 'space'. personally, i'd rather get head lice.

check out moraz kincare shampoo; that also works , to a point... my kids are all allergic to rosemary which is an other natural method of lice repellant but moraz works fairly well... not sure its sold in the states, its made here, and sold in asia and england...

but im sure there are similar things in the states

 

[newfoundland]

Here in the UK head lice are taken very seriously in schools. If your child is found to have them, and school nurses do check, you must keep your child off school until they are treated. Of course they are not really harmful, but they are not to be tolerated either. Any mum who has found lice in her little child's hair for the first time experiences that stomach churning feeling. I remember being summoned by the school nurse because my son had been found to have head lice. I had to go and observe while she combed through his very short hair because I had never seen head lice before and had no idea what they looked like. My older child had been through school with no infestation at all. As for body lice, I don't think we want to go there!

 

[earlybird10842]

I had no idea there were such things as body lice! Fine tooth combinbg is now being adminestered--we don't have a lice comb on hand at the moment.