Our school has been infested with lice since September. Just
when we thought it was safe, news of more outbreaks came pouring home. My older
daughter has had a full-blown case once and tiny cases twice. My younger daughter
and I have each been infected once.
By tiny case I mean that a bug landed on her head and laid
eggs, also known as nits, but because I was checking her vigilantly I pulled
them off immediately. By
full-blown case, I mean she had upwards of 400 nits and 150 live bugs. I know
this may sound like a shockingly large number, but apparently it can be much
worse.
We got our full-blown case when I decided to be the laid
back mom who doesn’t drive her kids crazy with weekly neurotic check-ins like:
“Is anyone sick? Puking?” “You need to put your hair up!” “You know you can’t wear
fashion boots to gym?” It was during my calm mommy phase, “Sure, use the
cucumber smelling shampoo instead of the lice repelling tea tree if it makes
you happy,” that my daughter was infected. And then my other daughter was
infected … and then I was, too.
I decided to suck it up and pay an exorbitant amount of
money to have a nit-picker come to our house. It’s not that I wanted to flush a
short trip’s worth of cash down the toilet, it was more that I knew I had lice.
And I had no one to take care of my curly, coarse, thick hair. We learned a lot
in our seven-hour session, and I thought I would share our new found information
with you:
1) Your best protection against lice involve the following
steps:
- For
boys and girls: never share hats or sporting helmets.
- Girls
should have their hair up in a ponytail or braid, AND they should wear a wide
fabric headband. Lice apparently use wisps of hair, generally along the sides of
the head, as bridges.
- Check
your child’s head for lice every week or so.
- Run
a lint roller over the surface of any fabric, public seat, including airplanes
and movie theaters, before sitting down.
- Do
not rely on lice protection products. Our nit picker told us she recently
treated an entire infected family that used Fairy Tales hair products religiously. That
said, there is some anecdotal evidence that neem shampoos, tea tree shampoos,
and even some strong dandruff shampoos do kill live bugs. (Not the nits.) I
used Babo Botanicals tea tree shampoo on my younger daughter and actually found dead bugs
on her shoulders afterward. I now use the shampoo and the conditioning spray
regularly in addition to regular checking.
2) If there is a case of lice in your child’s classroom,
check your child vigilantly IN GOOD LIGHT. This was where I messed up during
our first outbreak. My daughter’s head was itchy. I kept checking her over and over
again, but I didn’t see anything. I was in the wrong light. Sit your child in a
chair near a window and/or with a lamp directly above their head. Look
carefully and take your time. I divide the head into four sections and check
section by section using metal clips and the back of a comb to lift small
amounts of hair.
2b) If you are checking regularly and find that these
sit-down searches are taking long periods of time, another option is to lather
your child up with white colored conditioner and comb through with a real nit
comb, I like “Nit Free”. Comb each chunk in four different directions. This is
how I found my second tiny outbreak. After each combing, I wiped my comb on a
white paper towel. When I saw tiny brown eggs, I knew we had to take action
immediately. (This conditioner method is also a great way for moms to check
themselves.) This check should take at least ten minutes.
3) Look for BROWN nits (or live eggs). Not the white ones. White
eggs are no longer living, they are just the shells of already hatched bugs.
Brown nits are incredibly hard to see and they actually blend in with most
shades of brown hair. (It is apparently easier to spot lice on blond or black
hair.) When working with a light, angle your lamp so that the light mimics
sunlight. Nits will glitter, like tiny jewels.
For tips on what to do if you actually find that your child
has an outbreak… stay tuned for part two.
