Lice!!!!

[goofyintoronto]

Believe it or not, I had lice RECENTLY, yep, me! An adult! And guess what? My DS didnt have it. So where the heck did I get it from? I got it shortly after our disney cruise trip, so who knows where i picked it up.

Anyway, they are a pain to get rid of!!!! I had to use 6 treatments before they were all gone. Put the bedding/pillows in the dryer for at least 30 min each day. put stuffed animals etc in a bag for 2 weeks, ditto for the stuff too big to wash/dry.

Also, DO NOT use conditioner when using a lice shampoo/treatment. This prevents the product from working properly!

 

[AnAmericanInDisney]

I have nothing scientific to base this on, but I think Selsun Blue kills them. After a quick Google, there are others who agree. Just lather and hang out for awhile in the shower.

 

[Lolsmum]

We've only had one case of lice with my kids and all I did was spend a good couple of hours combing with a very fine toothed metal comb and conditioner one evening, a quick check through every night after that for a week and of course washing the bedding. I didn't bag up pillows or stuffed animals, though I did banish all but the most special (and conveniently machine washable) to the top of the wardrobe for a week. Lice can't live for all that long off of a host and don't lay eggs on pillows.

 

[tiff211]

Ok as you can see from my signature pic, I have all girls and we all have heads full of thick hair. One of my girls got it and spread it through the house. I googled and spent $$$ and lots of time and tears trying to get rid of the little buggers. Some products will kill the adult lice but if you leave just 1 unhatched egg behind, you are setting yourself up for another infestation problem. Most of the home remedies and otc products will not kill the eggs.

Here's what I did to get rid of them. Adult lice can not live without a host for more than 24-48 hours. So I bagged all stuffed animals, pillows, hair stuff, blankets and sheets, that had been used in the past 2 days. After 2 days I just threw the bedding into the laundry for extra measure and washed the hair stuff with hot hot water. For us, I bought this: http://www.walgreens.com/search/results.jsp?Ntt=Licefreee!

I wish I had known about it sooner. Something in the product dries out the skeletal system of the adults, babies AND eggs. You spray on the hair until it is saturated and just let it sit. you don't even have to comb it out. The products dries the glue that keeps the egg attached to the glue. Once the product dried, I washed the hair. You can see the critters rinse out dead. Gross but relieving. I repeated the process 10 days later just in case I missed any eggs so they would have hatched by then but not able to lay eggs yet. Its been 3 years since that nightmare that lasted 2 months! I wish I had found out about the product FIRST!!! Oh, and it smells like licorice.

 

[shortbun]

Look, you need a really good light, a magnifying glass and a couple of nit combs. Get some clips so you can go over all the hair separately. Then Olive oil loaded in the hair wrapped in saran wrap for at least 6 hours. This conditions the hair quite nicely. Tea tree oil in the shampoo is important. I cut the hair pretty short when it happened here. Not shockingly short but short enough that it made the nit picking easier. long hair is horrible! We treated for 5 days and it was over. The oil smothers the lice and you just have to get every single nit. We combed those out twice a day until we found none for 2 days straight.