<p>Yes, actually, if you shave the head there will be no more lice or nits. Just be VERY careful about disposing of the hair clippings–put in sealed plastic bag immediately or burn, etc. I suggest doing the shaving outside to avoid any lice frantically searching for a new host in your house. Parents of boys sometimes go this route because boys can get away with a shaved head.</p>
<p>My opinion is that short hair makes it easier to avoid lice, there’s just not that hair hanging down and commingling. Not surefire of course but I believe long hair is part of why girls get lice more than boys.</p>
<p>You can use a lice comb and have a miserable 2 hours a day with your child for 2 weeks or maybe 2 months or you can use the shampoo and have a miserable 30 minutes now and 30 minutes in 7 to 10 days (or whatever the instructions say).</p>
<p>Personally I think it is nearly impossible for an amateur to detect and remove every nit from a head of hair. If you miss just ONE nit (and they are tiny) the infestation begins all over again. In big cities there are people who specialize in nit removal and that would be another option for a cure.</p>
<p>Hopefully your daughter will be spared! I had to deal with lice in one of my kids about a year ago. I was in denial for about a week that the white specks that wouldn’t brush out weren’t dandruff. </p>
<p>I agree about going straight for the shampoo. The kit from the drugstore came with a comb and some gel stuff that was supposed to help release the nits and nymphs after using the shampoo. I didn’t like the way the gel worked, so I did something different, based on some info I read online. After using the shampoo, I shook together olive oil and a little vinegar and poured it all over her hair. I covered the hair with plastic wrap and a bandana and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Then I let her watch unlimited movies while I combed it all out. It took over 3 hours to do the whole head. I found so many nymphs it was astounding. Some were still alive when I combed them out, so it’s important to realize that the RID shampoo doesn’t automatically kill them all. The nurse at school checked her hair the next day and only found one dead nit. I did the whole rigamarole again the following weekend just in case I had missed any, and didn’t find a single thing during the comb out.</p>
The shampoo is actually not THAT bad. S came home from camp two years in a row badly infested. I learned a lot the first time with various useless remedies before trying the below.<br>
Second time, I checked his head before he entered the house and promptly headed him to the back patio and went to get the shampoo and the metal teeny comb. After following the shampoo procedure (using a pool bathroom so as not to infest the house), I sat him outside in strong sunlight and picked nits while listening to an IPod. I then put all his luggage and bedding in a huge plastic sealed bag and left it for two weeks. (I later washed his bedding and clothes just to get rid of the dead buggies.) I also got the car cleaned in case any nits had made it to the upholstery or rug. Repeated the shampoo process according to the directions, I think a week later. No one else in the house caught them.
Look on the bright side, it could be worse. When my older two were toddlers, we had three rounds of pinworms, not THAT is gross and a lot more cleaning work to eradicate.</p>
<p>As in an above post–no need to bag everything and go through so much rigamarole. Wash pillowcases. Lice get transmitted from head to head contact which is why preschoolers (who love to hug up close) get them. Use the RID shampoo and a METAL comb. And have some patience with the combing.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we have had experience with this several times with one of our kids. The elementary school had multiple infestations. And it cropped up in more than one play that she was in that featured group of young girls (think <em>Annie</em> and the like). I found it interesting that even though she was on swim team and in the water every day during one outbreak, that did not stop the lice. I don’t like to use any of the harsh chemical shampoos, so the last couple of times we went to a lice removal place, where they washed the hair with some sort of herbal concoction and painstakingly combed out every last nit. It was pricey, but worked. I have also done it on my own – sitting outside and combing through the kid’s hair, and if you are thorough, it works. But it is time consuming! We have used a special shampoo with rosemary extract – I don’t know if it really helped that much, but it smells nice. I learned that if you bag the stuffed animals, pillows, hairbrushes, etc. and put them away for a few days, that the lice will all be dead, so it is not that complicated after all, dealing with suspect bedding, etc. I think this particular child was simply careless about sharing brushes, hats, etc. and also very lovey dovey with her friends, always hugging (hair touching), also did lots of sleepovers, plays (young girls in plays are super affectionate, LOL). So, I suspect, based on our experience, the more social, touchy feeley types (with lovely long locks) are more likely to get it.</p>
<p>mstee–it wasn’t the herbal stuff–it was the combing. I do believe you can comb nits and get rid of lice with no shampoo at all. But the shampoo does kill live lice and makes it a bit less gross. Shampoos, water, dunking your head in magic potion won’t kill lice–they can hold their breath forever.</p>
<p>Gouf78 – Yes, apparently lice don’t need to breathe much. And they don’t mind chlorine, either. Ah, the things we learn just from having children! I have heard, don’t know if it is true, that washing the hair with the herbal stuff, then using a creme rinse doesn’t kill them, but it slows them down, making it easier to comb them out. Anyway, apparently California is a hotbed for lice outbreaks these days. We’ve just moved to Minnesota. I don’t know if the problem is as prevalent here. Hope not!</p>
<p>If she does come home infected or any other parents have to go through this, I agree with the comments about it making our own heads itch–I’d call it psychosomatic lice. Truly, picking those nits off S made my head feel all creepy crawly even though there is no way I could have been infested that quickly. Turned out I was never even infected, so it was all IN my head, not ON my head!</p>
<p>Dealing with this now…AGAIN. Thank goodness D1 is away in college and I only have one to nit pick thru. I did the shampoo and am now picking every day. I found a lot the past two days, but almost nothing today. Maybe it’s working. I will do the shampoo again in a week or so and I have an appointment with a professional nit picker after that so maybe that will be it.</p>
<p>I’m a school nurse and have seen my share of head lice…and then some. My biggest issue is when parents do not tell other close contacts (ie, sleep over buddies) that their child has lice and the cycle never breaks…and the sleepovers continue!</p>
<p>When we lived in London for a couple of years, my D was infested. Permethrin (sp?) was (is?) illegal over there, so I asked my sister to Fedex me some!
I find the combs to be useless on curly hair and on fine hair. D has fine hair. I sat her down on the edge of the tub one Sunday afternoon and ran each nit-plugged hair through my fingernails to remove the nit. We were there for about 4 hours but it did the trick.</p>
<p>I tell the parents of infested kids that story…It helps to get them a little more pro-active about removal. But in the end, aside form the HUGE ick factor, headlice are little more than a nuisance.</p>
<p>My 15 year old daughter has head lice ! She just was told last night at the final performance of her school play that is was going around the cast. She stayed at a friends last night and was feeling paranoid so I stopped by CVS to pick up treatment…didn’t even get the chance to look thru her hair before I actually SAW one crawling on her hair…ewwww
I can’t imagine how bad the potential is here since all of the costumes and their own clothing was crammed together. Not happy :(</p>
<p>I’m a school nurse, too, and currently dealing with lice in three different classrooms. There is one girl who has them on a frequent basis. I have trouble with some parents who keep telling me about these products they are using on their children’s heads but don’t want to take the time to nit-pick which is extremely important. I preach about not sharing combs, brushes, hats, etc. Some parents are very good about calling and letting me know when their children have lice; others are very secretive. When I am informed of a case, or when I suspect a case and confirm with a head check, I also check the heads of every other student in that classroom as well as the siblings of the affected child. I send letters home to keep parents informed when there is a case of lice and I beg parents to help by checking their child’s head on a frequent basis. We have a no-nit, no-bug policy and, after sending children home for treatment, their parents must bring them back through the clinic for me to do a head-check before they can be admitted back to class. There are actually two lice management businesses within 45 minutes of our area and some parents will actually pay money to have someone else pick through their child’s head. As usual, this particular topic has me scratching my head.</p>
<p>Woody, you’re right in that those lice combs don’t work for everyone. I have had more than a couple parents tell me it combed right over the small nits. I also suggest the fingernail method.</p>
<p>
It’s true that they do not jump, but the bugs absolutely do move around on the head. I’ve seen way too many of them crawling around on the heads of children at school.</p>
<p>I use a magnifier headband when doing lice checks; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to see a thing.</p>
<p>Splashmom, I was planning on calling school in the morning to alert them. I treated my daughter with Nix and combed through. The nits are hard to see because her hair is light blonde. I think I got them all , but I know that I may not have…I plan to put some vinegar in her hair and do another comb thru in a couple of days , and then again a couple more days.
Should I not send her back without seeing the nurse first ?</p>
I’m sure every district has different guidelines and policies, but I think it’s a good idea to have another set of eyes take a look. Continue to search well for the next couple of weeks. I would also encourage you to use baby shampoo for a while since the chemicals can be harsh on the scalp. Good luck!</p>