It Happened to Me - A Mom's Worst Nightmare

Combing Out Lice

This serene and beautiful painting certainly does not depict the tense feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach when you encounter head lice for the first time. Yes, lice. I bet you're feeling a little itchy right about now. I know I do, just typing the word. The only thing worse than finding "A case of head lice has been discovered in your child's class..." letter in your child's take home folder is when that letter is about your child. I know, because it happened to us.

We've been getting those letters since my son was in kindergarten. I've heard lots of advice: Lice like dirty hair, keep their hair a little greasy, lice hate tea tree oil, just mix with water & spray on hair, keep long hair up. We've always told our children not to share hats, headphones, combs or brushes with anyone! I've done all those things and I will admit, I felt pretty confident that lice would NEVER happen to us. We had one close call when a girl in my daughter's class, who was also her partner in dance class had lice. But we were immune.

Imagine my surprise two weeks ago when, before school, I parted my daughter's hair to put it up and saw a little bug. At first, it didn't even dawn on me. Hmm, she has a little fruit fly in her hair. I pulled it out and killed it on a napkin. My husband looked at me and asked, "what was that?" "A little fly?" I said. I looked up, saw the look he was giving me and realization hit. I pushed the napkin over to him and started looking through her hair again. He said, "I don't think this is a fly," as I spotted another one in her hair. Nooooo! "You can't go to school today," I said to my daughter, "You have lice." While I mentally began to freak out, my daughter sat silently crying at the table. Watching the tears roll down her face, put me in check. I could not let her see me upset. "It's ok honey, we're going to take care of this." 

Facts:
Having head lice does not mean you are dirty. Most people get head lice when they have head-to-head contact with someone who has lice. Head-to-head contact lets lice crawl from one head to another head. The lice do not care whether the person has squeaky-clean hair or dirty hair. The lice are looking for human blood, which they need to survive.

Millions of people get head lice each year. Head-lice infestations are especially common in schools. In the United States, it is believed that about 6 to 12 million children between 3 and 12 years of age get head lice each year.

So many thoughts and questions. Where did she get lice? Do I have lice? What do I have to do? Could the dog have it? How long has she had it? Do I have to throw her stuffed animals out? I felt itchier and itchier. My husband looked through my hair as I started Googling. He said he didn't see anything. I checked his hair and didn't see anything. Why was I so itchy? Did he miss something? I read a ton. Here is some advice in case you ever have to deal with lice. These are all things I learned from this experience.

1. Notify school ASAP - most schools have a no live lice policy and your child will have to stay home. As embarrassing as it is, your child got lice from someone. If you treat your child, you certainly do not want to send them to school and have them get it back again from a child who has it and does not realize. The students in your child's class will be checked by the nurse. 

2. Strip bedding for washing as well as any clothes or towels that your child has been in contact with, used, or worn within the last 48 hours. They must be washed on hot and dried on high heat for at least 20 minutes. Anything that cannot be washed or dried on hot/high heat should be stored in an airtight bag for two weeks. This is to ensure that nothing survives if there happen to be lice or nits (lice eggs) attached. The temperatures had been so chilly I had to also wash ALL hats, scarves, and gloves in our house, simply because they were stored in such close proximity.

3. Soak any brushes or combs in hot water for at least 10 minutes. (I dumped vinegar in for good measure)

4. Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where your child has sat or played.

I will note, I was told by a professional that lice cannot live more than 2 days off of a human head, so I shouldn't go crazy cleaning everything. The CDC says, the risk of getting infested by a louse that has fallen onto a rug or carpet or furniture is very small. Basically if they fall off a person and cannot feed, they die. Spending much time and money on housecleaning activities is not necessary. My daughter had laid on the couch the day before, so I vacuumed the furniture, as well as all the carpets in the house just in case. Especially since her hair is long. How many hairs do you shed in a day? Exactly.

To treat your child, you have a few options.

If you have a boy (or even a girl), one super easy solution is to shave his head. Ha, ha, unfortunately this was not an option for us. Here are a few other methods of treatment:

1. You can buy an over the counter, medicated shampoo. The active ingredient in the shampoo should kill the live lice (it may take more than a day) however it will not kill the nits. You will need to use a fine tooth, nit comb, section the hair, and comb out the dead lice and nits. It is recommended that hair is retreated in 7 days in case any nits were missed (as they stick to the hair like cement). Otherwise they can hatch and start the entire process again; laying eggs and re-infesting. It is also recommended that you nit comb hair daily.

2. There are a ton of natural suggestions and home remedies out there. Here are some popular suggestions:

a. Apple cider vinegar & oil: First rinse the hair with apple cider vinegar to loosen the glue that holds the nits in place. Allow the vinegar to sit until the hair is fully dry, then coat the scalp and hair completely with coconut or olive oil to suffocate the lice. Pull all the hair into a shower cap and let the oil sit for at least eight hours. Lice can hold their breath for a long time! When the time is up, either shampoo to remove the oil, or comb the hair with a nit comb and then wash.

b. Mayonnaise: Coat hair thoroughly with mayonnaise and cover it tightly with plastic or a shower cap. You can even wrap a towel over the plastic. Leave it on for a minimum of five to six hours. Wash hair well with regular shampoo and dry hair using a hair dryer as the hot air ensures the lice are dead. Use a nit comb to remove the lice and nits. Repeat once a week for about two months.

c. Listerine and white vinegar: Soak head with Listerine until all hair is completely wet. Gather hair and put it in a shower cap or plastic bag. Make sure the seal on the cap or around the bag is tight and all the wetness is kept at the scalp. Let it sit for an hour or more.

After the hour is up, remove the bag carefully. You may see dead lice inside the bag. Rinse the hair, so you get rid of all the Listerine and then douse the head with white vinegar. Massage into the scalp gently and apply the bags again. Leave on for another hour.

Rinse the vinegar and then shampoo the hair as normally. Use the lice comb to comb out dead lice and eggs. Vinegar loosens the glue the females use to attach their eggs, so you can easily comb the eggs out.

3. Naughty Nits! In WNY we are fortunate to have a business that specializes in the treatment and removal of lice. Let me first say that I will not receive any kind of compensation for this endorsement and review of Naughty Nits. I heard about the company from a fellow mom who had to deal with head lice in her family. When I called to schedule an appointment, they were able to take us the same day. They offer a treatment for lice with an exclusive FDA cleared device called the AirAllé. The AirAllé™ method of removal is 99.2% effective at killing lice AND nits. What is awesome is that our insurance benefits card covered the cost of treatment so it did not cost us anything out of pocket. However, Naughty Nits advertises that they offer solutions for any budget.

After the treatment with the AirAllé machine, the technician wet my daughter's hair with water. She then coated her hair with their special enzyme conditioner and sectioned it off. She started at the bottom and I was amazed at how precise she combed through her hair, the same section, in all directions, with a nit comb. I'm not sure I would have been as thorough doing this blindly on my own, at home. She went through all of her hair, told me the total number of lice and nits removed (I won't even share because it is disgusting) and then rinsed her hair out. After spraying an all natural repel spray on her head, her hair was put up into a ponytail. I also had my hair checked while we were there and thankfully was lice free. They kept saying that 90% of moms who have kids infected with lice, get it.

I am grateful our insurance covered this method of treatment as it helped put my mind at ease. Once she was cleared for no lice, I felt confident I could finish taking care of things at home. We scheduled a follow up appointment for one week later to make sure that there were no nits missed. Since all live lice were dead, my daughter was cleared to return to school the following day as well. My husband and other children went to Naughty Nits the following evening to be checked. They too were clear which meant that I didn't have to wash all of their bedding, clothing and towels.

While this whole ordeal was stressful (I liken it to the stomach bug - dread, rehabilitate, containment and laundry) it wasn't the end of the world. It took me an extra week to catch up on the laundry I missed while washing the potentially "infected" items and another two weeks to get over the itchy feeling on my own head but no one died or was injured in the process. The special shampoo, conditioner, and repel spray I bought to use as a preventative has forever ruined the scent of tea tree oil and rosemary for me but that's how it goes. My husband says it reminds him of pizza but I disagree. If you want to purchase these items to use as a preventative in your household (as it is now a staple in ours) the brand is Fairytales. You can buy it on Amazon. Their website is also super informative regarding lice, how to treat, and how to prevent.

And one last thing I learned through this whole ordeal: While the experience feels embarrassing and you might be too ashamed to talk about it with anyone, if you did, you'd probably be surprised by the number of people you know who have gone through the same thing. Hang in there!

Informational Sources: CDC, AAD, Mommypotamus, Top 10 Home Remedies, Healthy and Natural World

This is a real life account as told by one of our members. Did something happen to you? Would you like to share your experience mom to moms? E-mail us at admin at 716moms dot com. We'd love to publish your story on our blog.