Lice: My journey to freedom

[Dria El]

I have this daughter. Boy, is she a daughter! Since she's started school, she's come home with lice NUMEROUS times. I found that Rid and Nix doesn't work and that it damages the hair and scalp. Besides, chemicals... ick! Throughout my searchings, trials and errors I found a remedy AND preventative. It's herbal (thank the God/dess!) and has been working for me for over a year. Must work if I stick with it! :) Let me give you a brief overview of what I found. I tried all sorts of stuff... mayonnaise, vinegar, several kinds of oils (most prominently, olive oil), etc., etc., etc. As I was searching for something NON-chemical to use I discovered that it was widely accepted that Melaleuca (sp?) worked. Checking it out, I found that you had to be a member or 'in' with one and that for a small bottle (probably 8 oz. roughly) it was going to set you back $15 US. Yikes! I'm a single mother of 3 on an EXTREMELY tight budget. No way I could afford that on a regular basis, even if I could afford to become a member/distributor! Besides, there just HAD to be a way to prevent this from happening, even if it was just to lessen it. A friend of mine (who was having the same problem) and I got ahold of a bottle of it and you'll never guess what THE ingredient is that those little buggers don't like! Tea tree oil! Yep, that's right! Tea tree oil! So... we did some searching and lots of reading and came up with a treatment...

Tea Tree Oil Lice Treatment
Rub into the scalp and conjoining 2 inches of hair with the tea tree oil. [I use it full strength but I don't see why equal mixtures of tea tree oil and a carrier wouldn't work] Wrap the head in a towel for half an hour. Then pick through as usual.

The treatment worked great! And still does. Now that got me thinking... There's GOT to be a way to help prevent this. I mean, it's still a huge pain in the @$$ to have to go through this. And I didn't see my daughter finding a new best friend in the near future (that's where she kept getting it). So... it occured to me that if the Melaleuca company could put it in a shampoo... and if those little nasties hated it so... Why couldn't I do something like that to give them an added incentive to find someone else next time? So, I tried it. And by the God/dess it worked! I got several notices from her school saying there was lice going around. But she didn't get it!!!

Tea Tree Oil Preventative Treatment
Add 1/4 oz. Tea Tree Oil to one regular size bottle of shampoo (approximately 16 oz.) Shake well before each use. Shampoo as usual.

Now, keep in mind, she's gotten it since I started using it. I believe that it's because she came from her father's house (ie. 3 days of using regular shampoo, washing out all my hard work!!!) on the day she got infected. You be the judge.

[Emerald Sky]

Thanks Dria El! My oldest isn't in school yet, but from what I hear, lice is a big problem in schools. I'll have to write this one down for the future! :D

[Earth Walker]

Kerosene works very well to get rid of lice and nits...and
crotch crickets too!
Just work it very well into the hair and scalp...leave sit for
about 4 hours, then thoroughly shampoo and condition the
hair.
My grandmother used this on me a time or two.
Avoid using mustard plasters for colds, etc. :eek: :eek: :eek:


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Emerald Sky
Thanks Dria El! My oldest isn't in school yet, but from what I hear, lice is a big problem in schools. I'll have to write this one down for the future! :D

Very welcome! You know, my oldest son has never gotten it from school. And I isolate my daughter when she gets it so the rest of us don't. So, maybe you'll be lucky! :)

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Mystique
Kerosene works very well to get rid of lice and nits...and
crotch crickets too!
Just work it very well into the hair and scalp...leave sit for
about 4 hours, then thoroughly shampoo and condition the
hair.
My grandmother used this on me a time or two.
Avoid using mustard plasters for colds, etc. :eek: :eek: :eek:


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

Does the kerosene dry out the scalp? My daughter has a real bad problem with dry patches on her scalp (which the tea tree is also good for). It was so bad for awhile that she's got almost bald patches on the top of her head.

Mustard plasters?

[Earth Walker]

It never dried out my scalp. I suppose it would be best to
try a small area first, and if everything is okay, just do it to it.

Mustard plaster. It was placed on the chest when we were
beset with a cold/flu/pneumonia.
I would rather be sick. Oy Vay!


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Mystique
It never dried out my scalp. I suppose it would be best to
try a small area first, and if everything is okay, just do it to it.

Mustard plaster. It was placed on the chest when we were
beset with a cold/flu/pneumonia.
I would rather be sick. Oy Vay!


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

Cool, thanks!

[Lavender]

Prevention is the best thing...I make my own soaps & shampoos & I make a rosemary & tea tree shampoo for my son. I also use the same combination of essential oils in a spray to spray his jacket & hats...especially in the winter time! I can't say for absolute certainty that this works but he has never gotten lice in his 6 years of school. I'm hoping to keep it that way.

[reanna]

Another thing that is very helpful in reducing the chance of a girl coming in contact with lice.... keeping thier hair tied back at school. My daughter doesn't like it ,but the health nurse told us years ago that it greatly reduces their chances. My personal fave is braids, or multiple braids. All those little hairs all tucked nealty away so none can fly around. :)
So far this year, there have been several cases in her kindergarten class and (keeping my fingers crossed****) she has never come in contact with it.

My son has really short hair,so he is low risk to begin with.(he's 10)
I have him fairly well trianed though.
*don't share hats, combs, helmets etc...
*don't put your head too close to someone else's
*Keep your coat in the plastic bag.(school has requested this at some points)

It has been a very large problem at our school at some points this year. Really bad.

I love the tea tree mix though. I have heard about it before, but never seen any actual measurements to mix it in.
Thanks for sharing :):):)

[Dria El]

Originally posted by reanna
Another thing that is very helpful in reducing the chance of a girl coming in contact with lice.... keeping thier hair tied back at school. My daughter doesn't like it ,but the health nurse told us years ago that it greatly reduces their chances. My personal fave is braids, or multiple braids. All those little hairs all tucked nealty away so none can fly around. :)
So far this year, there have been several cases in her kindergarten class and (keeping my fingers crossed****) she has never come in contact with it.

My son has really short hair,so he is low risk to begin with.(he's 10)
I have him fairly well trianed though.
*don't share hats, combs, helmets etc...
*don't put your head too close to someone else's
*Keep your coat in the plastic bag.(school has requested this at some points)

It has been a very large problem at our school at some points this year. Really bad.

I love the tea tree mix though. I have heard about it before, but never seen any actual measurements to mix it in.
Thanks for sharing :):):)


I tried with the tying the hair back thing but like I said... She's SUCH a girl! I think she would keel over dead if she couldn't play with her hair! Fixing it and refixing it! It drives me crazy! lol I've taken to cutting her hair just a little bit shorter every time she gets it (she used to have really long hair <sigh>). Pretty soon she'll be bald! lol And after this last bout though, she's not so adverse to the idea (and neither am I!). hehe Oh well. They don't do any of the other things though. They/she at least gave me that much.

The reason my daughter keeps getting it is that she gets it from her best friend who lives in the same complex with us, she shares a classroom with, and sits next to in that classroom. I hate to tell her who she can and can not be friends with (I hated it when my parents did it) but sheesh!

I guess for the most part I don't mind. Don't get me wrong. I hate bugs in my house and on my children. The cleaning up and getting rid of them stuff really sucks and I'm usually in pain for days afterwards. And tired... Oh man, am I tired. But she's my daughter... and that's her friend (she always gets it from this girl)... and it really isn't her friends fault that she gets it. I don't know... I'm so torn about this whole thing. Oh well... just another one of the beautiful things about parenthood. Deciding whether you want to be your parents or not. :rolleyes:

[Yvonne Belisle]

Is there a way you could bring up the prevenitive method in conversation with the other childs parents? One that won't offend them? Maybe even give them the first bottle of essential oil and say that there has been such a problem at school and you found this and it works so well you wanted to share?

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Yvonne Thomas
Is there a way you could bring up the prevenitive method in conversation with the other childs parents? One that won't offend them? Maybe even give them the first bottle of essential oil and say that there has been such a problem at school and you found this and it works so well you wanted to share?

They're part of the problem. The initial problem is her mother. That's where she keeps getting it. Just to give you a little insight into what kind of mother she is, she got upset this last time because she got it, not because her 1 year old got it or that she couldn't be bothered to tell anyone so the daughter spent a whole day at school infecting kids (including my daughter). It's a reoccurring problem with her. She recently got married (to a man that has regularly beat the crap out of her) and her other 2 kids belong to the father. Her attention and caring for this daughter has been on a downslide for awhile now. She only sees her on the weekends now and I feel that it's a matter of time before she gives up custody of her altogether. Needless to say, it's a seriously dysfunctional family. Her father lives in denial. I could go on and on about that whole situation but at least I believe he loves her. His gf is the one that helped me figure out the tea tree oil treament. It's the one they use too. Dealing with them is nothing but frustrating.

[Mariposa De La Luna]

Thank you so much for this!

I'm sorry for your situation. Its so hard being a parent. At least you can take heart that your daughter is spreading happiness.

[CrimsonCat]

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I had lice for SOOOO long! I'm not quite sure if I've gotten rid of it completely, but my Mom and I got so sick of buying junk, that always contained enormous amounts of chemicals, to fight the nasty little buggers, then it didn't work!!!! I have very long hair (probably around 2 and 1/2 feet long- maybe 3), which didn't help. But ha ha! I'm very lucky I ran into you! Thanks again! ^_~

[Mistress_Ravenshadow]

I invested in a robi comb for my kids it kills lice and eggs on contact.. the instructions say it doesnt kill the eggs i found that it did.. its a once off perchase of $30 but its well worth it.. the only thing you need to buy after that is the batteries to run it.. mind you i have had mine for a year now and havent had to change the batteries yet and i go through my boys hair once a week with it just to make sure they havent got them.. the other thing is that lice cant become resistant to it like they can the other treatments..

[Mindflayer]

Also, another thing about lice... and this seems kind of counter-intuitive.

but, the more they wash their hair (i.e. the cleaner it is) the MORE likely they are to get lice :wth:

Lice don't like oily hair, they can't stick to it :p


I got lice once, we tried 3 times with Rid... didn't work. Nix did though in one shot *shrug*

Never got them again :p

[Jenne]

I've heard covering the head with mayonnaise and putting a plastic cap on it kills them too.

Nice to know about tea tree oil! Thanks y'all! :wave:

[omar]

For killing lice & nits(eggs) wash hair in kerosene & then with hair soap.

[Yvonne Belisle]

When we were in Allentown the schools are infested with them not just the kids so my kids were getting them all the time. We bought an inexpensive flea comb and went through the kids hair daily when they came home. We found that worked best on keeping them off my kids.

[Élistariel]

Darn empathy. I wish I could help, but just looking at the thread title is making me cringe and scratch my head. I don't even have lice and I'm clawin' at my head.

[halfwaynowhere]

i remember when i was in 6th grade, and i got lice... we tried everything! the tea tree oil is a new idea though, i'll have to remember that just in case... but back then, we did everything. we did the vinegar, the mayonnaise, several over the counter treatments, a few prescription treatments, and more, and the little buggers didn't go away. finally we gave up, and i enjoyed being off of school for a few weeks, and they went away on their own (i'm not sure how this worked). anyways, by the time they were gone, my hair was incredibly short (my dad thought that if her cut all of my hair off, the lice would leave), incredibly damaged, and i was seriously behind in my schoolwork.

[Gwyndara]

I have never had lice. I thank my God for that.

I am a Cosmetologist, and I am so greatful for the Tea Tree Oil mix, My clinets also Thank you.
It's nice to have a non chemical way to deal with such little buggers.

Oh and for the "record" we do send anyone with lice away from the shop, I simply give them the tea tree oil recepie as they go out the door. ( State Law, or I would treat them myself )

[Madjek]

I'm going mad here! I never go head lice while I was a kid or while I was in school. Now that I'm an adult I get it. Its been a week since I found it out. My 4year old son and 1 year old daughter both had it as well. I shaved my sons head and gave my daughter a vinegar wash and picked out all the nits with a nit comb and by hand. I took 4 hours but I got all of them out.
My head is another story, I had my partner look through it and apparently I'm the one who gave it to my kids. My head was full of them! The only way I can think of that I could have contracted them is at a hat booth at a street festival. NEVER TRY ON HATS!!! I've sure learned my lesson!
Anyways, I washed my hair wih the special lice shampoo and my parnter looked throught it...he's not very thorough and surely 5 days later I was itching more than I've ever itched in my life. I had been combing my hair everyday with the nit comb and kept getting a nit here and there but after 5 days I knew they were worse than before. I started combing viciously and sure enough I picked out about 6 HUGE bugs!! It was so disgusting!! I was freaking out....crying and about ready to shave my head! My partner talked me out of it and mentioned he read on the net about olive oil. I coated my hair with the olive oilr and wrapped it in a plastic bag for three hours and then washed out and rinsed it with white vinegar. That was yesterday...I combed today and I didn't find anything yet...I'm going to go put some tee tree oil in my shampoo and hope it works because I'm at my wits end...On a brigther note I haven't found anything on my daughters head yet....I guess we'll see what happens...wish me luck please!!!!!

[Sun_and_Saturn]

good luck madjek!

ick! I'm itching just reading this thread.

[Yvonne Belisle]

When we were in allentown the kids got them all the time. I started using a flea comb on them dailly because the metal tines were stronger and they stopped getting infested.

[Iseult]

I never got nits as a kid, my hair was so long and frizzy that I think any that did get on died before they reached my scalp. I've caught them a couple of times when I was working in a nursery though. I got lavender and eucaliptus shampoo from a herbalist who said it made a good preventative. It seemed to keep them away because after the first time I got them, I didn't get them again until my shampoo ran out, and the child who was passing them on was always lousy.

The way I got rid of the ones I did have was to put lots of conditioner on and comb through really thoroughly. I found that if I put enough conditioner on (it slows them down), I could actually feel them (they were quite big) and so I could grab them with the comb. I do have a really sensitive scalp though, which might also be why I felt them.

Eugh. Have to stop thinking about this now.

[atropa]

Oh god! The thought!! My brother got them really badly in middle school and gave them to all of us. It was so awful! I'll remember the tea tree thing for when Gage gets old enough to go to school. Kinda makes me want to home school. At least I've picked up some preventative measures on this thread. In this day and age, in a so called "civilized" country...shameful that it's so rampant. Just another complaint with the school systems.

[Autumn]

When I fought this battle a couple years ago this is what we did.

bought Nix and a metal comb per the pharmacist. used it on the kids and it killed all the adult lice. then coated and combed mayonaise through the hair and put on a conditioning cap for the night. in the morning we combed through with the nit comb, washed and, having been stunk out by the smell of the mayo, reacoated the hair with olive oil. again we put on the conditioning caps. at the end of the day we once again did the comb through, re-oiling after. 3 days we did this. we were about to drive to florida so we kept this proformance up on the trip. the second night on the road my husband remarked that he had seen no nits on the last 3 comb throughs. we left the oil on one more night and washed it out in the morning and styled the girls hair as normal.

All through the ordeal I kept my hair under a scarf and my husband wore a baseball cap. We haven't had a repeat praise Goddess! I think keeping the hair and the nits smothered in oil did the trick and it made the comb throughs easier to bear.:nonono:

[soilsigh aingeal]

I had it once when I was 10. I remember my mom throwing all the sheets and pillows away in mine and my sister's room and her going crazy cleaning the couch, everything, etc. I had a headful and my sister had one egg and one nit that my mom found in her head. I remember the repeats of the Nix and Rid and mayo and oils. I wish that she'd known about this method!! I hope to remember it when my kids are school aged so I don't have to go through 10k methods! Thank you!

[fairielove]

thank you for the measurements. I have copied and pasted so that I don't forget this time.lol.

[doohamleigh]

my kids range from 23 yrs to 6 and i've fought this particular battle too many times. a few years ago my favorite holistic pedatrician recommended a product called[hair clean 123,carried at health food stores. i was dissapointed to find that it ran 26.99 for 2 oz! not to be deterred i looked at the ingeredients in the bottle and found ....coconut oil, anise oil, ylang ylang oil ,and isoproyl alcohol. i found that i could purchace 16oz of coconut oil for around $5, 4 oz of anise for $5, 1 oz of ylang ylang oil for $11 and the alcohol for 59 cents. i mixed them in a ratio of 10: 2 : 1:1 and for $22 i had plenty to treat my 5 kids. i mixed it in a spray bottle, thouroughly soaked their hair and left on for 1 hour. shampoo with a little Dawn mixed in works well to wash out. of course i followed with a thourough combing and house cleaning, followed up with a second and third treatment at 5 day intervals and washed and dried their hair each day inbetween. a hot hair drier really puts a hutin on those little creeps, too. Do this and your kids will smell like licorice for a a day of two, but it's better than the alternatives!

[Madjek]

Update - They're gone....It took about two weeks for me to get rid of them. I managed to rid the kids of them with the first try but it was much harder for me. My partner ordered this product called "Lice RX" which is basically olive oil, eucalyptus, tea tree and something else I can't remember. It took a few days to get to us so in the mean time I soaked my head with Olive oil and left it for about 3.5 hours. I then combed my hair and washed it a few times. and rubbed some tea tree oil on my scalp. Right after doing that I immediately felt a relief, the itching stopped and by the time the oil we bought had arrived I think I had it under control. Not exactly sure which approach got rid of them. I'm just glad its over!!!

[LisaT4P]

Just wanted to add a little something to this older thread. We've just had a bout (and are still perhaps going through it, we'll see...) with head lice. My daughter came home with it. I have since purchased about 4 boxes, the complete kits, of Rid or store brand products and spent probably around $100 or more. None of the store brand stuff worked.

If you have school aged children I hope they never come home with this nuisance, but if they do, don't waste your money on Rid or anything else. Try the cheaper and much more effective methods listed in this thread and some of my suggestions below first.

:idea: I have now purchased a bottle of Theraputic T-gel (this is dandruff shampoo that has the active ingredient of coal tar, also sold as Medicated Denorex) for about $4 and a large bottle of Suave conditioner for about $.99. We are washing with the shampoo that kills the adult lice and stunts or kills the eggs.

I have also used a spray of watered down white vinegar (about 1/2 & 1/2), this is supposed to loosen the "glue" that the eggs are held to the hair with. I let that sit and dry on their heads. After that mix has dried I slather them down with the hair conditioner and pop on a shower cap for an hour or so. The conditioner not only slows down & smothers some of the bugs, but also makes it much easier to comb through their hair with that little nit comb.

We've been dealing with this nasty little problem for about 3 weeks now. *sigh* After the first round of treatments with the store bought stuff, we had a reoccurance on Xmas eve! :santasmil Ho friggin' ho! Then another week of store bought treatments until I got fed up and switched over to the cheap stuff. This week I've only found 3 bugs on my youngest son's head and none on anyone else's. I'll keep checking for another few days, we're combing every other day to catch any bugs that may have freshly hatched, and hopefully they'll be gone.

I do plan on investing in the tea tree oil shampoo as a preventative measure in the hopes that we never get these loathsome little creatures again!

[MysticWitch]

crotch crickets too!


:eek:

[Marcasite]

I got a horrible case of headlice when I was 10. It took months to get rid of and reocurred for about a year. What eventually worked was olive oil in a shower cap overnight and teatree oil shampoo. None of the OTC stuff did anything which is why I think it took so long to get rid of (also the fact that I got it at camp and had it for about 2 months before anyone believed that my itchy scalp wasn't due to dandruff. Denial's a bitch) I got it again when I was around 14, recognized the itchiness right away, used the olive oil & tea-trea oil treatment and it was gone within the week. Darn lice is awful though. It was a nightmare. In fact, I still have nightmares where I scratch my head and find a louse crawling under my fingernail *shudder*

[~*Ginger*~]

Tea Tree oil seems to help.
(this is what I've used the last go round, I'd checked out the link below, and then went to the cabinet and found a therapy cold bath that had tea tree oil in it, added it to a spritzer bottle, and spray it on the hair/head, leave 30 minutes and comb out.)

I've read that Coconut oil works as well.

conditioning the hair, can cause the nits to be conditioned as well, and they slip through the teeth of the combs.

Using a flea comb with tighter teeth does a better job than the nit combs.
(what's up with that? Make friggen flea combs to go with the shampoo, rather than the nit combs, if they work better!)

headlice.org (http://headlice.org/)

The thing is, that you have to make sure to do the extra stuff.
Either washing and drying everything, or taking and placing material things in a garbage bag, for 2 weeks.
Vaccumming, everything you can.

The nits have to be gotten out, so that the lice don't hatch out a new batch in the mean time.

You can't just do this one time, one thing and then think that your safe.
it's an upkeep kinda thing, especially when the schools seem to always have one out break or another...

Off the hair, and out of your home.

They do get on your pets, and they do get on your kids toys/pillows/bookbags... ect.

Some places tell you that this does not happen, but they most certainly do.
They may not be able to suck blood from material things, but they do hitch rides, and they lay in wait for a nice warm, clean head to infest.

[Thunder]

Scanning through this thread I spotted the advice to use kerosene to get rid of lice. I know it has been a while since that post but... for the love of God do not put kerosene on your childs head!! Kerosene defats the skin and prolonged exposure causes HAIR LOSS. Not to mention the pletora of hazards to the rest of the child. Tea... great, Kerosene... never!

Thunder
Biologist

[LisaT4P]

The thing is, that you have to make sure to do the extra stuff.
Either washing and drying everything, or taking and placing material things in a garbage bag, for 2 weeks.
Vaccumming, everything you can.

The nits have to be gotten out, so that the lice don't hatch out a new batch in the mean time.

You can't just do this one time, one thing and then think that your safe.
it's an upkeep kinda thing, Absolutely. I have washed everything in the whole damn house, sprayed all the furniture, mattresses, etc. Bagged up all the stuffed animals and things.

I'd also add that you need to remember to change your vacuum bags or dump out the little dust collectors. They can just crawl right out of there to re-infest. That's what my sister had a problem with when her cats got fleas, they didn't change the bags and the fleas just crawled right back out.
Oy. It's a friggin' nightmare.:collapse:

But if you don't do all of that, and continue with the upkeep, then you'll be doing this: :awilly: "Get 'em off! Get 'em off!"

:lol: Also, remember to keep your sense of humor. It's nasty and gross and disgusting, but it's NOT the end of the world.

[Mistress_Ravenshadow]

because of kids who's parents wont treat their kids for lice my boys kept getting them so I bought a robi comb.. no chemicals no mess it zaps the little suckers and it also kills the eggs although the instructions say it doesn't.. the only on going cost is the cost of replacing the batteries and I haven't had to do it yet and I've had it for over 2 years.. I found it got them all the first go but I kept doing it each day for a week after just to be certain..
hair straighteners work pretty well for long hair you need to use a nit comb to get all the dead bugs and fried nit eggs out but the heat kills them

[zede]

i'm curious if any one knows if this would work on fleas and if it is safe for animals?

[zede]

i'm curious if any one knows if this would work on fleas and if it is safe for animals?

[~*Ginger*~]

zede, what do you mean?
Will what work on fleas, and safe for animals?



Also, while doing all that cleaning, always remember to do the car (vehicle) and car seats!

[stella01904]

MM ~ Back to the lice, anything greasy will work. They can't live in grease, gums 'em up where they can't move.

My kids used to get them at the afterschool program. After wasting tons of money on Rid, Nix, and other useless nostrums and pesticides, I finally listened to a friend of mine and bought some black people's hair grease. It smelled nice, and the lice died. When the nits hatched, they died too. When more lice got on the kids at the program, they also died.

You don't want a light oil, you want real grease, with petrolatum and everything so it doesn't wear off during the day. My daughters hair was long so I put it in a bun and it just looked like gel. You don't get a big clean fluffy head of hair but you don't get bugs, either.

You can get a monster jar of this stuff for about three bucks.
BB, Stella

[zede]

will tee tree oil work for fleas and is it safe to use on pets?

[Palantari]

Zede, tee tree is natural and there is a flea shampoo you can get for pets (it worked well for mine) that has tea tree in it, the normal tea tree shampoo for people has a different ph balance and will dry out pet skin...so check with your vet or pet store for the right one. failing that i can't imagine tea tree oil added to normal pet shampoo will have any ill affects. all the best.