<p>My whole family is invited to visit my aunt Mothers Day. We really want to go but the two kids and both parents found out they have lice two days ago. They had someone come in and apply olive oil and they did RID but I am paranoid that we will all catch lice from being with them in their house.</p>
<p>Can you catch lice from sitting on furniture, using bathroom towels in a house where there is lice?</p>
<p>Any ways to avoid getting it?</p>
<p>dye the hair</p>
<p>hair spray</p>
<p>mayo the hair</p>
<p>Yes you can get it that way, that is why when you get an outbreak you are supposed to clean everything even though the lice themselves don’t go far from their host body.</p>
<p>They dislike really dirty hair.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would not go. D got it years ago in 3rd grade from her BFF, whose mom sent her back to school before they were truly gone. It.Was.A.Nightmare.</p>
<p>I would go!!!</p>
<p>Heavily condition your hair and spray with hairspray.
Tea tree oil has been reported to help. When their was an outbreak in school I would sprinkle a few drops on the girls hair brush. </p>
<p>If you have long hair wear in a pony tail. Don’t hug or if you do keep your hair apart.</p>
<p>I had a family that came to stay with me invested with lice - all 3 boys. We realized on the 2 night they were here. No one in my house got them! Though I did treat us all. </p>
<p>D1 had lice in first grade- I agree with Suzy that it is a nightmare. I was exhausted doing laundry, vacuuming and constantly combing her hair.</p>
<p>Also if you have animals (like poodles), they can get them as well so you have to treat them too.</p>
<p>The majority of 4th grade for me was spent with lice. It had gotten into the school buses (which they went to three schools a day) and it was months before they discovered it. -shiver- We had to treat both the dog and cat (a linx-simease) because accourding to the vet, they could get it as well.</p>
<p>We spent a family vacation with 20 family members in one house, and discovered one kid had a raging case of head lice several days into the vacation. We bought out the local supply of RID and a few other treatments available OTC. Had a family spa night where everyone’s head was treated, while we washed every item of clothing, linens, and towels in the house in hot water. The lice had only traveled to the head of the kid who was sharing a bed with the source. Everyone also retreated the moment they got home from the vacation, and washed everything again before bringing it back into their own homes. None of the rest of us got lice.</p>
<p>We’ve known a few friends who have had stubborn cases of lice that they just could not get rid of until they bagged every toy and stored them in plastic for a month, and washed every item of clothing and bedding in hot water. </p>
<p>Another friend swears lice will avoid hair dye, and she dyed her daughter’s hair after her 4th case of lice in a year. She has not had lice since. I have no idea if that is coincidence.</p>
<p>^The hair dye kills the nits.</p>
<p>As a school nurse who is at this very time battling lice in one of our classrooms, don’t be fooled into thinking that Rid or Nix or any other lice treatment kills all the nits. One of our first-graders had a treatment on Monday and, on Thursday, I found live bugs on her. The only method to prevent infestation or re-infestation is to pick every single nit out of the hair. No nit left behind! </p>
<p>BTW, dog lice is a whole different species than human lice … you won’t get it from your dog and your dog won’t get it from you.</p>
<p>My head has been itching all week from checking so many heads at school. I’m praying it’s psychological. :)</p>
<p>-shrug-</p>
<p>Just what the vet told us.</p>
<p>I hate lice with a passion. >.></p>
<p>I already itch just reading this! Lice is usually spread from direct contact (head to head). that’s one reason elementary school kids seem to get it the most. (and their unsuspecting huggy parents).
You can go but no close hugging! And don’t rely on mayonnaise or hair dye.
If you do get it (and I speak from unfortunate experience and resultant research), use RID (not Nix). RID will kill the lice but not all the nits (eggs). Do NOT use the stupid plastic comb that comes in the package! It simply is not good enough. Get a steel nit comb from Walgreens (about 5 or 6 bucks awhile back) and thoroughly comb through the hair (rinsing after each swipe thru the hair). You’ll immediately see how much finer the steel comb is. It really does the job.
Nix claims to kill the nits also (so theory would say no need to comb), but does not do a 100% job (and you need to get them ALL). RID is a better killer of lice so just start with that (not to mention how much cheaper it is). and get the expensive comb!</p>
<p>My sister’s second & third grade classes passed it around all year. After she got it the second time by October of the first year, my mom used the following tip: put ten drops of tea tree oil in a new (normal size) bottle of shampoo. Shake well, and make sure they shampoo with it daily. My sister didn’t catch it again until five years later when she went away to camp with trial size shampoos and caught it there. Nix did not work on her almost waist-length thick hair. Tea tree oil prevents new nits from being able to “stick” to the hair, but my mom still had to remove all the ones already in her hair with that comb thing. Good luck . . .</p>
<p>Caution. tea tree oil has been linked to breast development in young boys. use with caution!!! lice are not to be created; bedbugs are!!! Lice can be treated by breaking the cycle… use sensitive skin cetaphil cleaner, pour it in hair, blow dry, wash out the next morning. repeat once a week, for a total of three times. try googling it… it has been approved by Harvard med doctors, or some reliable authority,</p>
<p>Lice MD worked quicker than any other product we used. The twins got it 3 times in pre-k because one of the kids mom didn’t speak english at all and didn’t treat properly. The nurse was really no help and thought it was only my girls after the 3rd infestation. I always caught it early and got them out. It was months between catching them but I was one worn out mother that year. I even got them by treating my kids and the darn doctor told me I didn’t have them. I had complained to another mother about the problem and she was not all the compassionate about the situation. I am sure she thought we did not clean our hair enough. We shampoo everyday because of our hair type. Funny thing is her twins had come over for a playdate right after school letting out. She called me a week later to tell me her twins had gotten lice. Of course she thought it was us that had given her twins lice. I had her come over so I could tell her what to do. I checked my twins and they didn’t have them at all this time. I even showed her they didn’t have any. It was her older dd that give her twins lice. </p>
<p>Lice are a pain you do not want to deal with. I believe there is a spray you can get that helps prevent them.</p>
<p>apple cider viniger rinses can loosen the nits before combing.</p>
<p>Also is spread if a kid lets another try on a piece of clothing.</p>
<p>[The</a> Alternative Medicine Cabinet: Cetaphil for Lice - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/the-alternative-medicine-cabinet-cetaphil-for-lice/]The”>The Alternative Medicine Cabinet: Cetaphil for Lice - The New York Times). I meant to say that bed bugs are to be feared, lice no!</p>
<p>I have tried the cure above and it works. As for avoiding lice…don’t share hairbrushes, hair bands, hats, hug with heads apart, don’t share bed, pillows, towels and you will not get lice. The live lice don’t live off the head more than 24 hours, and the eggs die off if not kept at warm enough temperature. In 9 years of hugging my students who often had lice, I only caught them once.</p>
<p>You know those coat closet in elementary school where every coat touches another coat? Lice love going from coat to coat.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
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<p>suzy, Yes! Been there done that, not interested. I would pass. Sorry, but no. We had several rounds of this, and while you can’t 100% prevent it from happening again, I would definitely not subject myself again to a known lice problem. </p>
<p>I agree-It. Was. A. Nightmare.</p>
<p>I have very thick long hair. I shudder at the memory.</p>
<p>No hair dye doesn’t prevent lice. Mayo or oil suffocates them (or immobilizes them,) so you can comb them out. (After trying the OTC things, we used cooking oil; it makes the combing easier than the OTC stuff.) BUT, the eggs can still be missed, even one is an issue, so another treatment x days later lafter is needed, as they mature. Frankly, unless you are really lucky, same repeat needed for the OTC stuff. And, picking them out only resolves the problem if you get every one; it can still leave eggs behind. The OTC spray is for items like mattresses or cushions that can’t be washed/dried. We even sprayed the car. Since advice for bagging toys says keep it sealed for two weeks, I wouldn’t assume lice or eggs were no threat after a few days. After my kids changed schools, never had the problem again. </p>
<p>Is this grossing you out? I wouldn’t go to a known infected home. It’s one thing to stop by, drop something off. Another to endure this. Yes, you can get them from anything that came into contact with an infected person’s head or any infected item that then mingled with someting else made of some sort of fibers. Can you invite Auntie out instead?</p>
<p>ps. just read the info on Cetaphil/Nuvo and I have to say, the idea of 95-96% success still gives me shudders.</p>
<p>Hair dye kills the nits, thus making the cleanup much easier.</p>
<p>The OTC stuff was crap (though this was… 12 years ago… my god, has it been that long?). The metal comb was lovely for removing the nits especially after an apple cider viniger rinse.</p>
<p>Also, if you have any stuffed animals, put them in a trash bag, take a vaccuum hose and stick it in there to suck the air out, then seal up the airless bags for a few weeks.</p>