Howdy folks! Yes, it’s
been a while (a LONG while), No, I really have no excuses (well, maybe a few,
but those are for another time, another post)!
Recently, we’ve learned of a very unfortunate, annoying,
just down right irritating (both literal and figurative) outbreak. If you live in Northern Colorado, you’ve probably already
heard through the grapevine that your child’s friend’s neighbor’s cousin has
been affected by the dreaded head lice.
Dun, dun, DUN!!!!!!!!!! Having
dealt with this a time or two with my own children, here’s a few tips:
- DON’T PANIC! As awful as these might seem, they don’t carry diseases, they’re just annoying. They’re not hard to get rid of, but you do need to be consistent.
- If you’re in the store to buy the head lice shampoo and are in a hurry, the fastest way to clear the isle, is to send your freshly shaved child down it and tell them to hunt for the word ‘lice’. Nothing scares people away faster, I’ve found. It’s true! However, your child doesn’t need to be shaved bald, it just adds to the effect!
- You should treat everyone in your house, even if only one person has been found to have lice.
- Do NOT feel, or let others make you feel, like this is a lack of cleanliness issue. Lice prefer clean, warm atmospheres to live. They can’t get their eggs to stick if it’s not clean, so they won’t want to live in that unclean environment. So, GREAT JOB on keeping your kid’s head clean!
- Tea Tree oil (or Melaleuca oil, depending on where you buy it from) will become your best friend for a while! Shampoo, conditioner, oil infused spray bottle…all of it! It aids in getting rid of the lice around your house. Cats don’t particularly like the smell of it, so beware, they might “act out” a little until the smell dissipates. Spray it on bedding, couches, closets, drawers, everything. That way, if one of the little beggars falls off one person, it won’t survive long enough to “latch on” to another person (lice need a blood supply to live on, so they can't survive very long without one anyway). You can use this as a daily leave-in treatment to help prevent a re-occurrence.
- Wash ALL clothing and bedding on the hottest cycle possible, without shrinking your clothes. Laundromats work wonders for this! Get it all done at once with industrial washers and hotter water than you have at home!
- Boil ALL hair items. Brushes, combs, elastics, headbands, bows, ribbons, all of it! It will kill off any live, or hatching critters that have gotten onto those items!
- Hot oil treatments (or cold oil, coconut oil and olive oil work great too) in your hair…not JUST for healthier looking tresses! I did this every other day on my oldest when she had them! No more bugs in her hair! YAY! Smear the oil on the scalp and down the hair shaft, wrap the hair in a shower cap, leave in for ½ hour, wash out. I never washed it out thoroughly, remember, the greasier the hair (as nasty looking/feeling as that is), the less likely they’ll want to stick around – they can’t make their eggs stay put! (*note – I’ve also used Listerine as a leave in treatment because I ran out of oil…it killed them off too {if you’re looking for more natural ways of ridding your family of these pesky things})
- After a few days of dealing with greasy hair pulled back in a pony tail, I’d do a thorough rinse with a mixture of ½ Apple Cider Vinegar and ½ Water. Then I washed their hair out like normal. Sometimes it took a couple times of doing this, but it always cleaned it out really good!
- Lice hate garlic, so eat a lot of it during the treatment process. This makes them less likely to reattach. (NOTE: This will not help to get rid of them and is only a preventative measure against re-infestation).
- ABOVE ALL use the lice comb that comes with the treatment shampoo at the store to comb through their hair at LEAST once a week for the next few weeks to be sure you’ve gotten rid of them all. No sense putting yourself through it all again!
Good luck, everyone!
Happy hair treatments to all!! :)
