Lice Hell

[rere]

Well, my fears have come true, I am in lice hell. Dd saw a live bug. We checked her head again and saw a couple of nits. Took her to my hairdresser friend at 9:00 pm and she confirmed. I am currently not speaking to Dh because he said I was crazy and it was an outdoor bug and proceeds to continue to argue about I'm not sure what after the confirmation. He gets pissed that no one listens to him. Well duh, if you're going to he a dumbass.

Off to Walmart at 10. Stripped Dds room. Treated her and my hair with the medical shampoo and combed for nits until 2:00. Is it even possible not to miss one? She has a lot of hair.

I am missing a state meeting today. Dd is home not because of lice, but because she didn't get to bed until after 2.

What else do you do? I am washing all bedding and blankets in hot. I put all pillows in a bag for 2 weeks. I am about to vaccum couches and mattresses.

I'm freaking out because after I treated her hair, they said conditioner could affect it. She always conditions her hair.

Help!

[covergirl82]

I'm so sorry you're in lice hell!

I've never dealt with lice, but I've heard that a shampoo with rosemary and/or tea tree oil is good for lice. Maybe use olive oil as a conditioner in the meantime? I feel like my friend who is a hairstylist said that olive oil is good to use for lice situations.

ETA:  And now I'm worried about lice with school starting, so I just bought the Babo Botanicals rosemary & tea tree lice prevention spray to use on DD.  Amazon has a 20% off coupon if it's your first purchase of the product.

[cosmowife]

Don’t worry about all of the extra washing/stripping/bagging of toys, bedding, etc. Lice can’t live off of the head. We hired a professional and she told us all this info. She also said that you could maybe wash the pillowcase, but only if it makes you feel better (and is not even necessary). Get a good quality lice comb and comb the scalp each day for two weeks , then once a week after that. It should only take 10-15 minutes or less to do the combing (less if you have short hair). Look on YouTube for videos of the proper technique. I bet you can google lice myths and see that all of this extra work and freaking out is unnecessary! I was freaking out too when it first happened, but hiring the professional was the best money I’ve ever spent.

[librarychica]

I am sorry you are in lice hell. As y'all know, I am just emerging.

Buy this comb, especially if your school has a no nit policy. It works way better than even the good drugstore ones. www.amazon.com/Nit-Free-Terminator-Professional-Stainless/dp/B000HIBPV8/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1535545155&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=nit+terminator+comb&psc=1

We washed/vacuumed/etc but from what I've read most of the house stuff isn't super necessary. I figured it can't hurt. Replace hair brushes, of course.

After the shampoo, you should not wash hair for two days or go into a pool. Basically, don't put anything in the hair that can interfere with the residual chemicals. Comb, comb, comb and comb some more. It is easier to see the lice and nits outside so we did a lot of combing there. Lice don't like light so I combed hair in large sections to get the bugs and then separated it into tiny sections to nit hunt. For us this looked like the following:

Day 1: shampoo & comb. DD1 was the worse and took 2+ hours.
Days 2/3: DON'T WASH HAIR, comb in AM and PM
Days 4/5: Comb in AM and PM
Days 6-8: PM comb only (we were getting tired)
Day 9: Retreat with shampoo, comb
Days 10/11: DO NOT WASH, comb
Day 12: comb -- DD1 finally completely clear

DD1 was terrible. She had so many live ones. Even after she passed the school nurse test, I still found a handful of eggs and nymphs with each comb. We have been having her wear her thick, curly, crazy hair in braids or short ponies to reduce teh chance of transmission or reinfection.

Finally, you HAVE TO retreat at the 7-10 day mark. The shampoo kills the lice but most don't kill eggs (I think some of the prescription only ones for "super lice" may but the OTC do not) and even with all the combing in the world you might miss an egg. BY retreating you break the life cycle and catch any recent hatchers before they can lay more eggs. When we retreated, even with all the combing, DD1 and I had a few super-tiny nymphs but DD2 was all clear. Last nighy DD1 finally combed 100% clean , though of course I will be monitoring her for a few weeks.

Good luck. It sounds awful, but with diligence you can move on fairly quickly.

[ilovelucyvv]

There are special shampoos she can use for a week or so to deter lice. I usually recomb the hair again after a few days- a week depending on how bad the case is then continue with the special shampoo again. I don’t use conditioner despite how tangled it gets with the special shampoo.

Good luck!

[librarychica]

And try not to Internet too much or freak out. My H did that and hit the ceiling. Google will have you convinced that the plague has hit but, TBH, I had more trouble getting rid of the tiny water-seeking ants in my kitchen. My oldest had an intense infection -- like someone call social services, I pulled dozens of live bugs off --bad and the process was still not as awful as Google would have had me believe. I'm ashamed and have no idea how we missed THAT but am sharing to hopefully ease your worry a bit.

[2chatter]

The shampoos did almost nothing compared to treatment products. I tried for about an hour to be low chemical. 😂 What worked for us is Licefreee - it kills bugs AND nits. I found dead bugs on scalps after not combing for hours so it unequivocally works.

Here’s what we do - licefreee applied. Totally wet the head and scalp. I tie toilet paper around necks to prevent annoying drips. Let it mostly dry - apply overnight works. Wash - with you helping. Oldest wore a bikini in the shower. Comb relentlessly.

I hope it doesn’t come to that. The missing work because of bugs and sleep deprivation is the worst.

[librarychica]

Aug 29, 2018 7:53:29 GMT -5 2chatter said:

The shampoos did almost nothing compared to treatment products. I tried for about an hour to be low chemical. 😂 What worked for us is Licefreee - it kills bugs AND nits. I found dead bugs on scalps after not combing for hours so it unequivocally works.

Here’s what we do - licefreee applied. Totally wet the head and scalp. I tie toilet paper around necks to prevent annoying drips. Let it mostly dry - apply overnight works. Wash - with you helping. Oldest wore a bikini in the shower. Comb relentlessly.

I hope it doesn’t come to that. The missing work because of bugs and sleep deprivation is the worst.

*scribbles Licefreee down* We used Nix and it killed the bugs but it doesn't kill eggs. I'm writing this down for next time. 

[rere]

I've already used the shampoo. Can I use that and licefree? I don't want her hair to fall out.

[2chatter]

I think so? I mean, I absolutely did the first time. But maybe read the bottle - I could buy it on amazon and at Walmart and maybe cvs.

It really was a lifesaver. Weeks later I’d find one random (clear, dead) nit still hanging in there. The school nurse showed me that they are dead when they are clear.

And .... now I am back to worrying that I have mites from the puppies. I’m sure I don’t. But you know that itchy sensation from these convos??

[phdmomma]

Knock on wood* we haven't had lice yet. But last year it just kept circling all of the kids at DD's preschool. The teacher has a thing for oils, and had this big bottle of tea tree oil that you could put on the kids. I am firmly in the camp of can't hurt, might help with this stuff.

[rere]

Thanks everyone! I order the comb on Amazon and as soon as Dd wakes up, we are heading to the store for the Licefree. The reviews are great, plus I can treat my hair since she had been laying down with me at night. I would hope my flatiron would burn out anything in my hair

I still washed all bedding, replaced everyone's pillows, have 6 bags of stuff downstairs, vacuumed all the matresses, and couches. Threw out all ponytail holders, brush and combs. We have no throw pillows or blankets out. All on 2.5 hrs of sleep. I also promised her lunch for her trouble. I'm already out $100 in this nonsense.

[waverly]

Good luck rere!

[akafred]

Forget all that bagging shit. Not necessary. The only thing that REALLY works is combing relentlessly, but it takes WAY more than 15 minutes! Hours a day. LiceFreeeee didn’t help us. Only combing did. But it was torturous. Just when we thought we had it all, it popped back up again. For months.

[ilovelucyvv]

Licefreee has both a treatment and an “everyday” shampoo. Both worked great for us.

[callmekd]

I'm so sorry.

[mae0111]

rere - I’m sorry this is happening. It’s my worst nightmare.

So far, we have managed to avoid several outbreaks at both schools. The girls wear their hair up every day and I spray them with Fairy Tales. But they fight me on the spray - they hate the smell. Any recs for a better smelling spray that’s effective??

[sdlaura]

Ugh, worst day ever when you realize there are lice in your house and on your heads!!

We dealt with lice a few months ago and I totally flipped out - but now that I’ve been through it it isn’t as daunting for the next time (since I’m sure it will happen again).

We have the lice comb librarychica recommended. The night we figured out she had it, I called a service that comes to your house and combs everything out, and scheduled them for the next morning.

That night, I put her in the bath and used white conditioner and the comb and got out as much as I could. The next morning, the pro people came and did it and got every egg, and while they were there I washed the sheets, lint rolled the couch and car seats, and bagged up a few things I didn’t feel like washing for two days.

One benefit of having the pro is that she got every single tiny egg, and she was able to check the rest of us really well too. It was pricey, but it was nice to be confident it was gone in one swoop. Now that I watched the pro do it, I think I’ll be able to do it next time.

Of course while I was combing out in the bath, the baby stepped on dog poop in the backyard and tracked it all over the house. That was awesome too...

[waverly]

My head itches.

[keh2oblue]

Aug 29, 2018 10:08:22 GMT -5 akafred said:

Forget all that bagging shit. Not necessary. The only thing that REALLY works is combing relentlessly, but it takes WAY more than 15 minutes! Hours a day. LiceFreeeee didn’t help us. Only combing did. But it was torturous. Just when we thought we had it all, it popped back up again. For months.

Yep, just get a good comb and you’re set. They work just as good if not better than putting chemicals in your hair.