Recognizing misunderstandings about Lice; how to find them, treat them, and keep your wits
I was sitting on the couch with my children at 9:30pm on a Friday night with my children watching a family movie when I noticed my daughter scratching at her head. Then she did it again. And again. As you all know, I am a hairstylist by trade, so I went right into investigative mode. I asked, ‘has your head been itching a lot?’ ‘Yes!!!! Mom it’s been so itchy,’ she answered. ‘Neat,’ I muttered as I flipped my cell phone flashlight on and began parting her hair. Yep. I just what I was worried about: LICE.
If you’ve walked this path as a parent, you know it can be incredibly frustrating. I think the frustration is in large part due to all the misinformation people share in the name of solidarity. “Lice can jump up to 4 feet” – That’s a nice thing to say to help people feel better about having gotten them, but it’s absolutely false. They cannot jump at all. At all. They crawl. That’s it. Or, “Lice like clean hair, not dirty hair.” Lies. Lice like hair. Or, maybe you’ve heard you need to bag up everything for 2 weeks and banish anything that cannot be washed either to the trash or a corner of the attic. Well, what if I told you that you don’t have to? I’d like to give you all some steps from the professional, how to walk through it, and the tools I have found that make it easiest.
First of all, how do you look for lice? Ideally, you buy one of these nit combs to keep in your cabinet. You can use it to check your kiddos hair by just combing through with it. If your child has anything, it will find it. If your child is in any sort of communal environment, (school, dance, gymnastics, church…etc), it would be ideal to check your child’s head about once a week. Do I always check? Now that my child does her own hair, I don’t check every week, but that is my goal. If you’ve never been graced with these tiny, blood-thirsty friends, count yourself blessed. You’ll look around the hairline, near the nape of the neck and ears. Look for bite marks (they’ll resemble a flat mosquito bite), this will be where they typically are as they like the added warmth provided by the longer and fuller hair here – this is not always where they will be, but it’s a good place to start. If you don’t find them here, you’ll move further up the head to continue looking. You are looking for small, tan or nearly transparent (scalp colored) bugs, if you see anything moving like that – its time to treat. If you don’t see bugs, don’t quit. The nymphs are often hard to spot and they are quick little buggers. You’ll now need to look near the scalp, on the hair shafts – within about a half inch of the scalp – for eggs, called nits. Don’t worry about looking farther down the strand. If there are nits that far down, they’re typically dead because they are too far from their food source (blood at the scalp). Nits look like tiny (nearly the size of a ground of coffee) little eggs that are attached to the side of a hair strand. If you’re using the terminator comb to check, place it in at the base of the hair, flat and parallel to the scalp and pull through the entire length of the hair. The patented grooves on the pins will pull nits and bugs away and you will have your answer on the comb. Sometimes scalp debris (dandruff) can be mistaken for nits, but the sure fire difference is that a nit is attached to the strand with a glue-y substance and will not move off the strand until you peel it off with your fingernails or a very, very fine toothed comb. If it brushes away by ruffling the hair, you do not have a nit. Carry on.
Okay, so you’ve found nits or even bugs. What now? Treat the hair. I went to the store that night at 10pm and treated her that night. It did make for a long, late night, but it was the weekend and hey, we certainly made some memoires. If you get the option, I like Vamousse and Lycelle for treatments. These products are pesticide free and kill the bugs and nits using a pediculicide that essentially contains sodium that kills the insects and the eggs by dehydration. Follow the instructions on the box. The most important thing is saturation. Get two boxes if your child has longer than shoulder length hair. In this case: more is more and will give you peace of mind. Get whatever they have and if they don’t have what I have recommended, don’t worry.
While your child’s head is treating, the next step is DON’T STRESS – strip the bed, vacuum the couch and all around the beds. If your kit came with home spray, use it on the things you can’t throw in the washer. If it didn’t, don’t worry. Wash everything that can be on hot and dry it. Pull off the stuffed animals and other items that can’t go in the washer and place them in the garage or even a corner of the room for 24 hours. A correction to the oft repeated ‘lice can live for 2 weeks on surfaces’ is actually the fact that they cannot live off a host for more than 24 hours. They’re not a parasite that moves toward your head like you are a beacon. If they fall off the head, they pretty much die unless they land on your head. There is no need to bag up beloved items for 2 weeks. Give it a day or two to be safe and live your life.
The most important thing, in my opinion, is nit picking. This is where it falls off the wheels for most people because its long and tedious work. Once your child has been treated, while their hair is wet, you will need to go through every quarter inch of their hair and remove every nit on the off chance that one survived. Using the comb that I mentioned above (not the one that came in your kit – it is junk, I’m sorry to say), you’ll need to go through their hair. The things I have found most helpful are a headlamp (like one you use for camping), hair sectioning clips, and a rat tail comb, so that I can take small partings. Comb everything out, and clip all the hair into 3 sections so that you don’t get overwhelmed. I like to do top, middle, and nape – but find what works for you. Then, using your rat tail comb, part out only the bottom quarter to half inch of hair depending on the density of your child’s hair and clip the rest back up. First look for anything with your eye to see anything that need to be removed, then even if you think its clear, use your lice terminator comb and comb it in at the base of the section flat against the scalp. Then, comb down and all the way through the ends and wipe the comb on a whiter paper towel. I usually keep a bowl of warm water with a little lice medicine in it that I can swish my comb around in as I finish a section. I am telling you, that comb will do the work for you. You’ll just need to be patient enough to go through tiny sections (it typically takes about an hour on my daughter) patiently. The headlamp will help anything stand out to you. The proper comb and the headlamp ae game changers.
Once you’re done, breathe. You are done. For today. I always say to go through with the comb about every other night for about 2 weeks just to be sure you don’t miss anything. Don’t forget to re treat with lice treatment on day 7-10. The reason being, if somehow one nit gets past the treatment and misses you and somehow didn’t die (typically a lack of saturation at treatment, but could also just be that these crazy creatures are evolving and our meds aren’t always strong enough for them), you’ll be right back where you started if it hatches and is allowed to lay eggs. The good news is that they aren’t mature enough to lay eggs until about day 16 – so treating again will take care of anything that may have slipped through. Don’t forget to check every person I your home’s head. Momma, you can check your own with that comb (when its clean) by combing around your hairline and seeing if it pulls anything out with it. For the life of me, I cannot make my husband see what I see though he tries so hard so I have had Heather check my head for me more than once. Here’s a fun friendship picture for you from one of those hilarious memories.
For what it’s worth, my daughter has had multiple infestations of lice, quite frankly because public schools don’t handle it appropriately anymore, and I never have gotten it from her. It is harder to get than you think. I have found that having a few of these practices in place might not have helped us to avoid it, but they most certainly have helped us to catch it early and be able to get on top of it quickly.
There are lice repellant shampoos, conditioners, and sprays. I think they’re helpful, but not foolproof. If it gives you peace of mind, these are some good ones. If you decide you only want one product, get the spray and spray it on their hair and around their neckline daily. I used to do this but don’t anymore. I typically just check a few times a month. If you make one change based on what I have said here, I might suggest it be purchasing one of those Lice Terminator combs NOW, and just have it on hand. They are hard to find in town and you typically have to order them. You don’t want to wait for amazon if you are trying to treat your child effectively. And, like I said, it’s an effective tool to help you check. Another practice we have changed is that I require my daughter to wear her hair up at school. She’s a hugger and has very long hair so when she was wearing it down all the time, it would often be over someone else’s shoulder. Not the best way to avoid buggy friends. Honestly the bottom line is this: Don’t panic, just breathe, be patient. Let the visions of super lice jumping from person to person and living on your kiddos teddy bear for 2 weeks leave you, and remember they aren’t as terrifying as they sound. Count the extra moments as opportunities to watch a new movie together or have talks and make memories. Let them stay up and pop them some popcorn and throw some M&Ms in it and get to work. You’ve got this, momma (or daddy).
