Lice Prevention

[Cat]

I have my 4 year old in day camp 2 mornings a week. Apparently there is a lice outbreak in town, and some kids have come to camp with lice (and been sent home when discovered).

Does anyone know a preventative? Something I can shampoo her with, maybe, to keep them off?

[Lylian]

I don't know about prevention but a few years ago my daughter got a bad case of them. She had such think beautiful long hair and I just couldn't get rid of them and refused to keep using pesticides on her head. I finally had a friend that told me to use olive oil on her head. It has to be olive oil because of the thickness it will smother them. I had her sleep in it with a shower cap. I am not going to say it is an easy way to go but I wasn't ruining her hair or her health. For a week everyday I put olive oil in her hair and used the nit comb. Hours and Hours I spent on her but in the end we won. Let me tell you how shiney her hair was after the treatments. Also regular shampoo works to take out the oil.

[SSanf]

Mayonnaise works the same and is a a bit easier to wash out.

This is a bit dangerous so you must take great care especially near the eyes and ears. Kerosene kills lice instantly. It must be applied with care and washed out at once. Use it as a last resort but it will give immediate results and kill every single louse including the eggs. It was all there was in days gone past and pretty much was the universal cure.

I used to do it to my son with him lying on his back with his head hanging off the end of the picnic table so the kerosene would run away from his eyes and face. I had him hold a wash cloth over his eyes to protect them. With one so young, I recommend two adults help just to be on the safe side. Then, I dried the kerosene from his hair as fast as I could with lots of towels. I followed that with repeated latherings of shampoo and rinsings. It left his hair soft and shiny.

This method takes about 15 minutes to get rid of every louse and nit and the cost advantage to the old fashioned method is obvious. Even the poorest families can usually afford a single buck for enough kerosene to delouse the whole family several times. That is something the manufactures of those expensive shampoos would rather that you not know, I am sure.

No one likes the procedure much but it is way better than taking food off the table to buy the expensive products when money is tight and I think it works better, too. It is no more poisonous than spilling some gas on yourself and washing it off right away.

You need to do this again every 10 days to kill off any new lice that are being picked up until they are all gone. Try to find and eliminate contact with the source. If the outbreak continues beyond three or four weeks, I would severely restrict associations! Insist that the day camp send the offenders home and not let them come back until the problem is cleared up!

DO NOT USE KEROSENE IF THERE ARE OPEN SORES ON THE SCALP!
It will burn like hell!

No smoking when you do this!!
No candles!
No incense!
No fire!

DUH!

Had to add that. There is an idiot born every minute! You can give people information but giving them common sense is a different matter.

(Not directed at the original poster, just at the world in general. Goddess knows what nincompoop might read this some day!)

So, what will become of the world when all the old timers who know this stuff are gone? I guess, you will be at the tender mercies of the pharmaceutical companies, at last.

[Xentor]

It is said that a low-heat blow-dryer (for hair) can dry out the lice eggs and kill off the lice when applied for about half an hour straight.

[Willow Rosette]

I spray a tea tree oil spray in Toria's hair in the morning before school. It will keep the bugs out and you can use it to treat them if you already have them. We have gone through 2 outbreaks at school and never gotten them.

[Cat]

Thank you all! I'll invest in some tea tree oil and hope I never have to use the cures.

[vulfsung]

I put tea tree oil right into our everyday shampoo-I believe it was Starlight Rains here at MW that shared that tip-and we all use it everyday. I use roughly 20 drops in a full bottle of shampoo.

Last year my DD K class went through 4 infestations, adn she was the only one who didn't get them, which made me happy, since everyone in my house has long hair!!

[Autumn]

back when we went through this Sol did the chemical treatment once and then we followed up with the olive oil in the hair all the time, washing it out twice a day, before we would wash we would go through the hair with a nit comb, buy the nice metal ones though, you'll be using it a lot!

Also I wore a head scarf and Sol a baseball cap throughout this ordeal. I had the girls with bandanas over the conditioning caps. We were headed for Fl and boy oh boy did we get some funny looks in western virginia!!!

I'm sure you could use the kerosene instead of the nix if you wanted too but I'd still do olive oil until you were no longer finding nits for at least two come throughs. Both my girls have long hair, I'll remember about the tea tree oil if I hear of anymore outbreaks. We got it from a common supply of winter hats at kindergarten! Had no idea it was happening!

[Lylian]

Tea tree oil I will have to remember that.

[SilverClaw]

(not so much as prevention but ways to get rid of them)I have used canloa oil and tea tree oil, Hair Conditioner helps as well you rub it in and then put a towel or bag around the head for 30 minutes to an hour then you take the comb and clean them out. They cannot hang on to the hair or scalp if it is to oily or whatever the conditioner does :)

Also there is a hair Zapper that is said to reduce the cleaning time by half, unfortunately I could not get one except through the school so I am still looking for one.



I put tea tree oil right into our everyday shampoo-I believe it was Starlight Rains here at MW that shared that tip-and we all use it everyday. Yep I remember that :D

[Brónach Druid]

I don't know of a preventive but just in case your daughter gets them, when my one daughter had them our pharmacist told me to buy dog flea and tick shampoo. As long as she is old enough that you can wash her hair without getting it in her eyes. Apparently it has the same ingredients as the OTC brands for lice such as nix and is WAY cheaper! Hope you daughter is enjoying camp and avoids the outbreak!

[SilverClaw]

I don't know of a preventive but just in case your daughter gets them, when my one daughter had them our pharmacist told me to buy dog flea and tick shampoo. As long as she is old enough that you can wash her hair without getting it in her eyes. Apparently it has the same ingredients as the OTC brands for lice such as nix and is WAY cheaper! Wow I never thought of that before.

[brymble]

please DO NOT use pet shampoo on your children! they contain pesticides too, and may be even more dangerous than the chemical tratments for humans!

I have a lot of friends who used to travel with the Rainbows. They all swear by tea tree. I use lavender in my dreads.

A couple of years ago the kids picked up headlice from useing the headphones on the public library computers. I have dreadlocks, and at the time we were all sleeping in one big bed at my cousin's house, so you'd better believe I was paranoid! I treated my own hair with lavender and tea tree, just rubbed it neat into my locks, and kept my dreads covered, and I never caught them.

To treat the kids, I used olive oil and an essential oil blend I mixed up myself. Best to kill them in several ways, smother them with the olive oil, and the essential oils will poison them, and still be safe for humans, depending on the oils you use and how much you dilute them. I wish I remembered the proportions. The blend I used was lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, and peppermint, and maybe geranium too. Those oils are all safe for humans when diluted (don't use the menthol oils neat!) The olive oil should be very strongly scented. I think I used something like 20 drops or more of the blend to a quarter cup. The different oils kill the lice in different ways, primarily they are nerve toxins for bugs, though. I know camphor is among the constituents in the lavender, and of course eucalyptol and menthol in the eucalyptus and peppermint.

Make sure you SATURATE the hair with the oil. Put on a shower cap or tie a plastic bag around the scalp and leave it on at least overnight, maybe as long as 24 hours. Then use a fine-tooth comb to comb out the dead lice and the nits, and wash the oil out with something like Bronner's and a cider vinegar rinse. Use tea tree and lavender in the hair daily for about a week, and then repeat the process. You might want to repeat again in another week, just to be sure. The life cycle from nit to adult, egg-laying louse is about 7 days, so make sure you repeat it in a week. Repeating every 2 or 3 days will not do the trick.

I got my information online from the Center for Better Pest Control and the National Pedicula Association.

[Nitefalle]

My stepson's cousins (at his other house) got lice and I used a blend of olive oil and tea tree oil on his head while he was with us, and then sent him back with it on his head. SO made sure to tell the mom about it, too. He never got it and I was so glad that I had just read this thread. Thanks everyone!!

[charlinr17@sympatico]

olive oil in a wrap leave on hair overnight. hard to get out but worth it in the end. good luck:thumbsup:

[aranarose]

Try to use the more natural remedies as much as possible. I read an article last week that said the lice in the U.S. are beginning to evolve immunity to the pesticides, and they're having to come out with new ways to kill the lice. Smothering them is so far the only sure-fire way to kill them. That's with olive oil or mayonnaise. As Ssanf said, careful Kerosene treatment also works.

[cyndianna]

Wal Mart has it in the lice treament section. It's called a "robi comb" and it really works. They are about thirty dollars and worth every penny. We use ours about once a week during the school year, whether or not there are outbreaks.
I can't wait to try the tea tree oil! Thanks!

[ObsessedFae86]

Robi-Comb works good. Its an electric comb that zaps 'em dead. :) and the nits get stuck on the teeth of the comb. I don't think its fairly expensive. We used it when we had lice and couldn't get rid of it with anything else..

[SilverClaw]

Try to use the more natural remedies as much as possible. I read an article last week that said the lice in the U.S. are beginning to evolve immunity to the pesticides, and they're having to come out with new ways to kill the lice. Smothering them is so far the only sure-fire way to kill them. That's with olive oil or mayonnaise. As Ssanf said, careful Kerosene treatment also works.
yep that is the same up here in Canada and has been for sometime that is why it is recommended that people only use the hair treatments when it is necessary.( From my understanding people were using the hair treatments such as Nix and that even when a child did not have lice).



Robi-Comb works good. Its an electric comb that zaps 'em dead. :) and the nits get stuck on the teeth of the comb. I don't think its fairly expensive. We used it when we had lice and couldn't get rid of it with anything else.. About three years ago when I first heard about those type of combs it was about 60 dollers. How much did it cost for you?

[Silverfire Darkmoon]

Clearly you need a visit from the Countess von Verminstraße.

http://images.wikia.com/scratchpad/images/2/27/Countess_Von_Verminstrasser.jpg

[Am3thyst3R4yn3]

everyone has such great ideas. I happen to be prone to these little buggers so i will give you what i know works. i eat alot of garlic to ward them off they don't like it too much but sometimes you get stubborn bugs... also blowdrying helps when they are only a few but a full blown infestation it doesn't do much for. your daughter is too young for this right now but hair dye will kill them all. ( i am allergic to the pesticides, so had to figure something out) i have heard the mayonaise thing but it failed for me. have never tried tea tree oil so ill be rushing out to buy that soon as a preventative measure.

[Azzariah]

Not sure about preventing but I always used tea tree oil and vodka on my children when they were young if they came home with lice. I read it in a magazine somewhere. It worked :drinking:

[merria381]

My daughter just started kindergarden this fall and I was told by my hairdresser and also my mothers friend whose a director over a free clinic to spray their hair with a little bit of hair spray before they go to school and it will keep lice away. I'm not sure if it works though but I've been doing it and so far so good.