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| The new school year means fresh cases of lice. Photo: flickr/l.i.l.l.i.a.n |
Finding out your child is infected with lice is a parent’s worst nightmare. The second is finding out someone in your child’s class has lice. After picking through your child’s hair with literally a fine tooth comb, hopefully no lice was found. Parents then usually go into prevention mode.
This happened when I was in grade school – someone in my class was a lice carrier, and my mom bought medicated lice shampoo just in case. Back then (decades ago), only the harsh chemical shampoos were available. Not only did it smell awful and burn my scalp, but for about a year afterward my hair’s texture turned coarse and dull.
Katie M., mother of two from Troy, MI, shared a story about how her daughter attended a birthday party with 20 kids and later discovered one of the children had lice. Since many of the kids attended the same school, the parent of the infected child contacted the school who then checked each student – and found 6 more cases of the dreaded bug.
Katie revealed, “A product was circulated around to the Moms - Fairytales Rosemary Repel shampoo and conditioner. I have no idea how well it works, but when you are afraid of getting lice, you'll try anything. The shampoo and conditioner were more expensive than some others, but cheaper than most salon products. They smelled good. It claimed to be organic. If it helped discourage lice bugs - great!”
According to Dr. Sears, parents can treat lice with medicated shampoos, pesticide-free shampoos, and non-medicated treatments.
Medicated shampoos include brands like RID, A-200, Clear, Pronto, R&C, NIX, Ovide, and Lindane (prescription).
Pesticide-Free Shampoos include Dimethicone (brand name LiceMD). Dr. Sears recommends first trying the pesticide-free route since over the years some lice have become resistant to the medicated shampoos.
Non-medicated treatments provide a harmless alternative, but are often messy. These work by suffocating lice and their eggs. Just massage into hair, cover with a shower cap, and let it all sit overnight.
Pesticide-Free Shampoos include Dimethicone (brand name LiceMD). Dr. Sears recommends first trying the pesticide-free route since over the years some lice have become resistant to the medicated shampoos.
Non-medicated treatments provide a harmless alternative, but are often messy. These work by suffocating lice and their eggs. Just massage into hair, cover with a shower cap, and let it all sit overnight.
- Olive oil
- Mayonnaise
- Petroleum jelly (Vaseline)
Do you have any recommendations on how to treat or prevent lice?
Always check your kid's hair.
ReplyDeleteCetaphil treatment. It is the suffocation treatment, not nearly as messy, and not oily. Here are great instructions: http://www.smsd.org/schools/belinder/news34181.htm
ReplyDeleteDimethicone is in the silicone family. The same stuff that makes you feel like you've given your skin hydration with the store brand lotions. This works great if they haven't taken hold because essentially they slide off the hair. If they've gotten into the scalp or eggs have been there for several days it won't do as well. Works sort of like Rain X for your hair. Completely safe but not foolproof.
ReplyDeleteNone of my four have had it yet *knock on wood* but when I did 20 years ago, it was straight to the NIX - I had it relentlessly for 3 years, every 2-3 months.
You brought back the wonderful memory of our last t-ball game last year. We receievd an email that someone had lice on our team, and this was after they were all sharing helmets! Figures, right?
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Every other month or so a note comes home from school, saying that "a case of lice has been found" and we need to check our kids' heads. We've been lucky so far. I hear it's really hard to get those things out. And if my boys ever do get lice, I'll probably just shave their heads!
ReplyDeleteI hate head lice, and I always caution my daughter against borrowing brushes and other things from her classmates. Such an ordeal to get rid of.
ReplyDeleteI use the Fairy Tale products you mentioned. They make a leave-in conditioner, so every morning when I brush my daugther's hair, I use it along the "hot spots" (hair line along back of head, etc.). It smells really good, and works like a detangler. I have their other products (shampoo and conditioner) in our bathroom cabinet to start using if their is ever an outbreak in her class.
ReplyDeleteThe kids salon where I bought the products had heard nothing but great things from moms who had used them during outbreaks to prevent lice spreading to their child. There was one child who never caught lice despite every other student in his class getting it.
@jennamp Great suggestion about using Cetaphil. I hadn't heard of that one.
ReplyDelete@Seola1Thanks for adding your personal experience using NIX. Good details to know!
ReplyDelete@Julie C. Thanks for sharing your experience using the Fairy Tale shampoo. Sounds like it's something to try that works and smells good!
ReplyDeleteYikes! I'm starting to feel itchy! :)
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, something to look forward to LOL
ReplyDelete