Head Lice Happens — 10 Steps to Make the Nightmare End
My wife uses the apparatus to look for lice.
Bed bugs may be an epidemic, but head lice is nothing to sneeze at, either. Our family recently received an unwanted visit from the scalp invaders, and the ringer it put us through was nothing short of extraordinary.
It started innocently enough — with a trip to our local pharmacy to see if what we had discovered in one of our children’s hair was, indeed, head lice. Initially, the pharmacist wasn’t so sure. He thought the sample we had bagged was too big. But after careful inspection of our child’s scalp, he determined that not only had we come down with head lice, but that we had also come down with an extremely advanced case of it.
So we did what anyone else would have done. We purchased an over-the-counter remedy and returned home to begin the battle of eradicating them. With a 9 year-old as well as toddler triplets, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. That said, we certainly never thought it would be as hard as it proved to be. During the first week, we made little if any headway (no pun intended). In fact, the situation may have even worsened.
So we turned to a prescription. After shelling out a bunch of cash and diligently following the instructions, we were still under siege. Homeopathic remedies, such as covering our scalps with everything from mayonnaise to olive oil didn’t do the trick, either. So we decided to bring out the big guns.
And it was still a struggle. All told, our lives were turned upside down for nearly six weeks. But fear not. Should your family suddenly find itself in the same quandary, follow these ten steps and you’ll reach the other side a lot faster than we did.
- Understand what you’re up against. Most people don’t have a clue how tough it is to get rid of these guys. Unless you’ve been through it before, it’s virtually impossible to imagine the battle that looms ahead. I, myself, was guilty of initially downplaying our foe. But I soon realized that conquering them would require a total team effort.
- Call someone who has been there. This is crucial for two reasons. First, such people are far more likely to lend you a helping hand, and as you’ll soon see, you’ll need all the help you can get. The stigma that comes along with head lice is so great that those who have never dealt with them before will be to scared to even talk to you, much less offer hands-on assistance. But second, and just as important, someone who has already experienced it can help you better understand exactly what it is you’re up against.
- Go visit licekiller.com. IMMEDIATELY! You can obviously try the conventional methods of battling head lice. Maybe they’ll work for you. But they didn’t for us. And though each of the Lice Killer packages is expensive, so, too, is trying multiple and various solutions. (Not to mention that some of the traditional OTCs carry with them various health risks, such as contributing to the occurrence of asthma.) We settled on “Kit F,” which was $239.00. Pricey? Maybe. But it was the best money we ever spent. It came with step-by-step instructions that were easy to follow, the first of which guided us through the hair-treatment process.
- Bag it up. Head lice thrive on hair. But without a scalp in which to nest, those little suckers should be dead within four weeks. So if you bag up all your extra pillows and blankets, as well as anything plush, like stuffed animals, the lice that might be lurking therein will never find its way to a scalp.
- Laundry, laundry, laundry. Quite literally, we did five loads a day. Minimum. We washed every single thing we came into contact with. Especially sheets. On the “sanitize” cycle. Same thing when drying them — “sanitize” cycle. If you don’t have that option, use the hottest setting available.
- Vacuum your mattresses. Just to be safe, we vacuumed each and every one of our mattresses. Unnecessary? Maybe. But we weren’t taking any chances. I recommend you don’t, either.
- Use the Lice Killer powder on all carpeted areas. Our kit came with a powder that we were to sprinkle on every carpet in the house, where it would remain for three days before we vacuumed it off. Then we would repeat the process. The bad news is that our hardwoods became a dusty mess. The good news is we were keeping our carpets lice-free. And with three toddlers, it was essential for us to safeguard any area that their little heads might touch.
- Use the Lice Killer spray on all upholstered furniture and bedding. It’s critical to spray your upholstered furniture and bedding two to three times a day with the concoction you’ll receive in your Lice Killer kit. Same deal as with the carpets — anywhere a head could come to rest must be lice-free. Since you can’t bag up your furniture along with the stuffed animals, the spray is essential.
- Examine affected scalps every single day. It’s not fun. It takes a long time. But if you want to rid yourself of lice, it’s imperative to go through the everyone’s hair. Daily. Lice Killer will send you an “apparatus,” as we called it. It’s part headband, part magnifying glass. Honestly? It looks like a prop from Ghost Busters. But this is no time to get all fashion conscious. Use it. It’ll help you to identify and seize every single bug and nit (egg).
- Never assume they’re gone. Just because you don’t find bugs or nits during one of your daily inspections does NOT mean that they’re gone. Head lice are quick and can sometimes move from one place to another before you spot them. And if you miss even one tiny nit, it could hatch and the whole problem will start over again. Even when we reached the point at which we no longer found evidence of our nemesis, we still went through each other’s hair for at least two more weeks. We resembled a pack of grooming-obsessed chimpanzees. So bad did it become that on my way home from work, I had a hard time deciding whether picking up a pizza or, perhaps, several bunches of bananas was a more appropriate call for dinner.
But all the hard work paid off. For six weeks after it began, we finally declared ourselves the victors. Thankfully, our lives returned to normal. Although we’ll be the first to admit, we haven’t gotten the stuff out of the bags just yet.
You know. Just to be safe and all.
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Olive oil cure worked great fo rmy daughter. She had long, thick curly hair. Olive oil it and put it under a shower cap & bandana for 6 hours – and LOTS of nit-picking with a the nit comb. Every three days for theree weeks. And of course, the vacuuming, bagging and eternal laundry, LOL.
Shudder at the thought. Luckily no one in the rest of the house caught the nasty buggers.
Reading this has my head all itchy. We went through this 12 years ago and I still have nightmares about it. Anyone with kids in school or any socialization in their lives are likely to go through it sooner or later. I don’t understand why the stigma stands.
@goddess — i wish it had worked for us. of the six of us, five had them. i didn’t. (filed under benefits of balding.) we sometimes wonder if the traditional stuff didn’t work for us because of the advanced nature of our case. but i tend to think it’s more because we had several people who had them. we know two other families that had multiple “carriers,” and both of them had to go outside the traditional route. shudder the thought, indeed!
There’s good intent in this column, but it is too bad that a lot of the suggestions provided are based on myth. Most of the recommendations offered are busy work. They won’t do anything to eliminate or otherwise ‘control’ an existing louse infestation. For free and non-commercial educational information about the biology and management of head lice, search for “IdentifyUS and head lice”.
@Richard — thanks for your comment. it should be pointed out that the list is simply what worked for us. if there are indeed myths on this list, i’m unaware that they qualify as such. it was several hours of research (much of it done on some of the very sites that the “identifyUS and head lice” search pulled up) that yielded many (if not all) of those suggestions. that said, i’m in no way a louse authority. just an average guy who lived the nightmare. again, thanks for your comment!
I think you did a pretty good job of capturing the scope and severity of a lice infestation. One of my kids brought it home a couple years ago and MY head turned out to be the hold out – my hair type made it hard to check and my husband had a hard time understanding that it didn’t matter how many fancy cremes & medications we used, the thing that was going to get rid of these buggers was combing through my long, thick, curly multicolored hair strand by strand and picking them out. It took us about 6 weeks too.
Two years later and I still can’t talk about this w/o having massive head itchies! And the word “nitpick” is NEVER used metaphorically in our house anymore!
We had lice about 6 weeks ago, though we’d obviously had it for much longer, considering the size of our infestation (though it was mostly me and my 4 y/o). My husband was working long hours and we have a 4, 3 and 1 y/o. There was no way that I could get thru everyone’s hair, and, while I love my husband, there was no way that I trusted him to go thru my thick, curly hair. He doesn’t have the patience (I wouldn’t have!). My long-haired 4 y/o boy and I did not have the patience to comb thru his hair hours at a time. After the shampoo being completely ineffective on him, and not being able to tell about its degree of success on me, I buzzed my head and my 4 y/o’s. Best. decision. ever! Dramatic, maybe, but necessary. I could handle going thru my husband’s hair and the little boys’, so I did what I could live with. I love my new haircut, my son wasn’t traumatized by his cut — win-win. It was horrible, but the end was okay.
And re: the myths: In my research, I read plenty of articles that said that powders are a waste of time & money, and that high heat is what kills the lice, so 20 mins in the dryer on high heat is sufficient. Obviously, do what you feel comfortable with, but, depending on the degree of infestation, the minimum might be sufficient.
great stuff, ChiLaura. i recommended that we shave heads. it was met w/ an eye-roll. i did my best w/ the hair, but like your husband, i just didn’t have what it took to do it time and time again. (plus i wasn’t very good at it.) still, i did everything else. virtually every day i would come home for an hour or two in the middle of work just to help deal. that’s why i think it’s important to get the support of someone who has been through it before. b/c i can tell you this — knowing what i nightmare it is? i’d help ANYONE out in a second just b/c it’s that lame of a situation.
I had a foster daughter who returned from every visit with her father with lice. Finally, I got permission to coat her hair with colestrol before she left and the little buggers never returned. I feel for anyone that goes through this. It was every weekend for 6 weeks before the okay came through for us. Good luck to anyone who has to deal with it!
Just a correction. While Homeopathy is definitely BS, and covering your head with olice oil and mayo is probably also BS, it doesn’t mean they’re the same thing. Homeopathy is magic water. It never, ever works for anything, ever, except as a placebo. Or dehydration (as homeopathy is just water dripped on sugar tablets).
duly noted. i used the wrong word there. i suppose i really meant “home remedies.”
Ugh John- perhaps the method I used had more steps? It was a pain- and I can’t imagine it for 5 people becuase it involved using that darned nit comb at 4 points during each session, every 3 days for 3 weeks.
But I’m determined to utilize a company here local ( http://bernadettesliceremovalcenter.com/ ) should we ever need it again. Comes with a guarantee.
Nope Gib, olive oil is not BS. However, it must be done correctly and for 6 hours at a stretch., combined with nitpicking at the end of the 6 hours with oil still in, THEN a shampoo and hot blow dry and ANOTHER complete nit-picking, every 3 days for 3 weeks. Lived it and it DID work. IT smothers the insects, but it takes hours to do so. The reason for repeating it is to catch them at each stage odf a louse’s life cycle.
Here’s some advice to prevent lice before they hit you…. Everything I hear is that lice do not like “product.” As soon as you hear of an infestation at school, etc, start putting lots of mousse, gel and/or hairspray in your kids hair. Also, keep them un-bathed and dirty as lice don’t like dirty hair! Of course, remind your kids no hugging friends, sharing hats, scarves, combs, brushes, etc.
There is controversy over whether tea tree oil really works and I will say that it does help in preventing it, as long as you use it correctly. Most people use a shampoo that contains tea tree oil. The problem is that you wash it off pretty much, immediately! You should actually get the tea tree OIL and dab it on the nape of the neck and behind the ears. Put on a shower cap and keep it on as long as you (or your child) will tolerate. There is concern over tea tree oil disrupting hormones, but occasional use to prevent lice during an outbreak is not red flag raiser usage.
@logialmama — great tips. and glad you brought that up about lice liking clean hair. it’s true! the misconception is that it’s a disease of filth. well, i can tell everyone this — i’ll put our household (the house itself as well as the occupants) up with ANYONE’S when it comes to cleanliness. this is not about being dirty or unkempt.
Instead of Olive Oil I used Hawaiian Tropic dark tanning oil – a whole bunch of the minerals in it are listed in the expensive lice remedies as well as coconut oil. After coating my waist length hair, I braided it and slept in it on a towel. Then yes combing combing combing. But I was pregnant and not on board for the big pesticides, so it was that or shaving it all off for me.
ach! my family is going through this right now – although, thankfully (for now at least) its just my 8 y/o. But man these suckers are evil. When she first got them, I did actually call a friend who had been there and she sent me to the Brooklyn “LiceLady” – literally a professional nit-picker! She charges and arm and a leg (and I tell you she must be making a fortune b.c. her place was full the day we were there)
Unfortunately, despite the hours in her chair, the huge amounts of money, the washing we did, and her guarantee…..the damn things are back.
Ugh!
@Elendy — UGH, indeed. hang in there. we live in knoxville, tn and we searched and searched for “professionals” to help us, but there are none in our area. though given your experience, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. GOOD LUCK! (check out lice killers, for real).
“And if you miss even one tiny nit, it could hatch and the whole problem will start over again.”
Can a female louse reproduce by it’s self? What I’m getting from this article is that one (female) louse hatching can reproduce solely on it’s own, without a male louse.
Is that correct?
@fraizerbaz — here’s my understanding on that — an adult louse female can lay about 3 or 4 nits per day. it takes about 10 days for that nit to hatch, then another 10 days for the little bug to become an adult louse, the female version of which lays eggs. but reproduction is required. so i suppose i didn’t do the greatest job when writing that particular sentence. the sentiment behind it is essentially this — it’s extremely easy to miss an egg or two. doing so could mean your exposure is far from over. so check, check, and re-check. even if you’re convinced they’re gone — keep checking for quite sometime. thanks for clearing that up.
I hate the word “LICE!” My daughter had a severe case this year. I too was naive! I picked her head throughly every day, washed every thing I could get in the washer every day that wasn’t bagged, and literally bagged the rest of our apartment. To keep them at bay, I only shampoo/conditioner her head once a week and I put vinegar in the coconut oil conditioner. For some reason the lice don’t like the vinegar and the coconut oil conditioner makes her roots slick enough that the nits don’t stick as bad.
I never had lice as a child, and my children haven’t had them yet either, so I’ve never been in a house with lice. I had no idea it how difficult they are to get rid of! Our cat had fleas once, and I thought that was a nightmare (it took 3 days to get rid of them). I just assumed head lice would be sort of like that. I’m going to be living in fear now that I know better.
The best advice I ever got was from a school nurse. That combined with my strong dislike for bugs and commitment to cleanliness I usually have an infestation (even a horrible one) in two to three days. I lay a towel across my lap and sit her in front of me. I go through her hair with a metal lice comb first and wipe as many bugs as I can get and then toss the towel in the washer on soak. Then I cover her hair in vo5 conditioner for 10 to 15 minutes. I rinse it out and then go through with the lice comb again, with a new towel the same way. I fold it over so the bug side is together. Then instead of using a nit comb, I section the hair and actually scan the hair for nits. Also pay special attention to the scalp where newly hatch little ones usually orange or brown on the scalp. I remove them with my nails and put them on the towel until I think I got all or most of them. I do this again the next day. Then usually by the third day inspection they are gone. I keep checking everyday for a week just in case. I wash and spray and bag up everything I can possibly think of. Then either throw away the comb if I can’t get all nits out of comb or soak all combs and brushes in hot bleach water. Yes it is very timely but it has worked wonders for me. No harsh chemicals to hurt or cause asthma or hair loss from treating too often.
@kelly wright — WOW. that was fantastic advice. time-consuming? sure, but nailing it in three days is huge. i think things might have gone easier for us if it weren’t for how late it was before the case was discovered coupled with the fact that we have three toddlers. great comment, kelly. thanks for reading.
I’m sorry, but this article gives very poor (and expensive) advice. Lice live on people’s heads. Period. While it’s sensible to bag stuffed animals and extra soft bedding, there is no need to use expensive powders or sprays or to do excessive amounts of laundry every day. And, yes, those Lice Killer products are a complete waste of money. What a joke. We had head lice last spring and after using several home and over the counter remidies, we discovered that the most effective cure was alcohol based hand sanitizer. Just saturate the scalp completely, cover with a palstic cap for 30 minutes, then apply cheap conditioner and carfully comb through the hair with a metal lice comb, tiny sections at a time. Repeat every 5 days or so, but lice comb every.single.day. And don’t stop until you haven’t seen a bug or nit for a full week. Also, washing doean’t kill lice on pillows or bedding. It’s the heat from the dryer. Rather than washing things, we just threw coats, hats, pillows, and comforters in to the dryer daily on high heat for about 15 minutes. Having lice is a PITA, but there’s no need to be hysterical and it’s certainly not appropriate or responsible to tell people to spend vast amounts of money on some product. I’m terribly disapointed that Babble thinks this is okay. This post is really just full of misinformation.
@linda — this is what worked for us. thank you for reading, though. next time we’ll try the hand sanitizer trick. thanks for sharing.
Also, all Lice Killer actually IS is tea tree oil. You can buy enough to treat your entire family (a teeny, tiny bottle) at the beauty supply store for $6.99. When we had lice I coated the lice comb with tea tree oil before combing each section of hair. It’s actually more of a repellent than anything else. You can add a teaspoon or two to any shampoo. We still use it.
Our school is in the middle of a lice outbreak, and I am dreading the day that one of my 3 comes home with it. I itch every day I drop them off!
Sounds to me like great advice…from a great dad that was so willng to help attack the problem…I find it funny that people could be so worked up about this. I can promise you if they ever show up at my house I will bomb the place and call John for some help!!!! love the post you always make me laugh
I don’t think it’s right to shill a $250 product that contains under $10 worth of active ingredients and isn’t necessary.
@linda — i wasn’t shilling anything. i have no connection to lice killers whatsoever. i was giving a list that worked for us. thank you for reading, as well as for your comments.
Three investations (inner city school; now we use teatree oil to prevent). Treatment: Olive oil really works well. Even fifteen minutes with a thick dose and the silicon swimcap will drown most of them. But it also works by immobilizing them so you can comb everything out really well. Recomb regularly. One professional was quoted in a newspaper article saying redundancy is key: think redundancy over and over as you comb. Avoid those horrible shampoos: low doses cause parkinsons in mice (google it!)and everyone I’ve talked to agrees that the bugs are largely immune. We also had great results with a product called Resultz that is insecticide-free and acts a lot like olive oil except it also does kill them.
John: If you google Richard Pollack, you’ll find that he’s the Harvard School of Public Health’s resident expert on head lice, and he’s right–you’ve got a few myths in here. Usually it’s not the product that gets rid of lice, but rather the combing and the vigilance that you recommend that does the trick.
Every day we battle the myth that lice live in carpets, as there are products and “services” that claim to rid your home of lice, but lice can’t breed in carpets or bedding–they require a head.
Hope you never have this problem again, but if you do, skip the insecticides and buy a professional-grade metal nit comb.
amy — i’m really glad you and richard chimed in. i certainly wasn’t trying to be irresponsible — just passing on a list of 10 things that (finally) worked for us. perhaps, after some time, a new post is in order, and if so, perhaps, you’ll let me contact you.
thanks for reading, and for commenting!
There’s a new product out there available at Walgreens only at the moment. LiceFreee Spray. Spray it on the hair and let it dry. No rinsing necessary. It starts killing 100% of the lice and nits on contact. Nothing is easier. Done. http://www.licefreee.com
As ‘Lice Happens’ says – get yourself a professional-grade metal nit comb and your troubles will be over. And it’s called a Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb which you can get from the http://www.nIttygritty.co.uk website and they ship really quickly to the USA. Nitty Gritty is run by 3 mums who were literally tearing their hair out with the problem of head lice in their own children, so they started their own company with products that actually work!
It’s England’s fastest growing family head lice treatment and there has been a lot in their Press about it and loads of school nurses are now recommending it above everything else. I cannot tell you how absolutely brilliant it is – it has these special mircro-grooves on the teeth which get all the eggs our as well as the live lice. Also it works with ordinary hair conditioner so you don’t have to keep buying expensive treatments and you only ever need to buy one comb for the whole family.
UGH! My youngest has lice! I have 11 kids (oldest is 13). I am trying the olive oil for 6 hours every three days, lot of not picking and shaving the 7 boys’ heads. I need lots of prayers! 5 loads of laundry is my regular load….UGH! I may end up with at least ten today….probably more.