Head Lice

[Tavar]

Okay, right now I've been kicked out of my room because my sister needs a place to sleep, and she can't sleep in her room because she has head lice. We need to wait something like 2 weeks so that all of the eggs hatch and die, and she needs somewhere to sleep. Due to the fact that I'm a former scout, I gave up my room and will probably be sleeping on the couch downstairs(it's pretty comfortable, though, its from lazyboy and reclines). Still, from what certain family members say the next 4 weeks or so are going to involve daily vacuuming +washing of sheets. Is this really necessary? Keep in mind, out of four of us, only my sister has any lice, and yes we have checked. While precautions aren't bad, this seems to be going overboard. Any one else have stories about this?

[Starscream]

My little brother once got it from a classmate. We all used the special shampoo as a preventative, and that worked fine because no one else ever got it.

[BizzaroStormy]

I'm guessing shaving her head was out of the question then?

Seriously though I've had the little buggers before and after i finally got rid of them, i was crawling with them again in about a week since we neglected to wash out my pillow. Perhaps not daily washing of sheets but 2-3 washes a week definitely, aw well as the pillow itself.

[Tavar]

No, unfortunately my sister is attached to her hair, and would rather not shave it off.

As for the washing, yeah, I thought it sounded excessive, but once my Stepdad gets an idea that you need to do something, no really isn't an answer. Well, I guess I'll get better at folding sheets...

[Solaris]

Honestly? I'd say daily washing of everything in the house is a much better idea than having another infestation. Just be glad I'm not running that show - I'd be busting out with the toxic fumes and gas masks.

[Don Julio Anejo]

I heard kerosene helps. If it doesn't work after three weeks, pair it with a lighter.

[Khanderas]

Meh. my quips about shaving her instead / anything fire has already been taken.

Well bed mites die if you put the sheets in the freezer. perhaps the same is true of headlice (they do afterall not survive two days outside an animals hair, so cold cannot be good for them).

As for washing the whole house, alittle too much, the pillow perhaps every 3 days or so, but that is about it, since head lice dont "hang around" anywhere but on the head, pillow for a day involontary, or hats.

The schamoo you use is farily good at killing lice, but the eggs are resilient. that is why its not done after one good shower. Eggs however dont really run around much so all you do is wait for them to hatch, kill em all with the shampoo before they mature enough to lay new eggs.

[toasty]

You have carpets? I guess vaccuming a lot couldn't be a bad thing...

When a boy gets lice: shave his head and take his bedsheets/towels/combs and put them somewhere for three weeks; then wash 'em all. This goes for stuffed animals too.

When a girl gets lice: Same as above, minus the shaving but with the addition of: Lice Shampoo (though my parent's used scabies medicine once; NOTE: this will burn quite a bit. It did work though).

My family and many of my friends have had to deal with lice a lot. Living in a third world country will do that to you. It sucks though.

[Lioness]

Time consuming, but effective method mum used on us.

Wash hair with anti-lice shampoo. Then put LOTS of conditioner in childs hair, sit them down with a lice comb, and comb their hair from scalp to tip. It hopefully gets both the bugs and the eggs.

After doing that, we made up a tea tree oil + something else concoction and lathered it all over the heads. Glad wrap the hair, or put a shower cap on, or something, and then send them to sleep. Wash it out in the morning.

Lice hate tea tree oil with a passion.

After that's done, wash the sheets and pillows and hairbrushes.

Repeat first bit in about a week and a half, and if any bugs are found, repeat the whole process again. If not, she's probably clean.

[toasty]

Lice hate tea tree oil with a passion.

Coconut oil also works. They use that here (bangladesh).

Oh, and so does Elmer's glue. When lice hit the international school all my friends go went to the only guy who didn't get lice didn't get lice because he put elmer's glue in his hair every day in place of hair gel.

In that regard, hair gel would probably work as well... but since this is a girl, that probably wouldn't do you much good.

[SoD]

Meh. my quips about shaving her instead / anything fire has already been taken.

Well bed mites die if you put the sheets in the freezer. perhaps the same is true of headlice (they do afterall not survive two days outside an animals hair, so cold cannot be good for them).

As for washing the whole house, alittle too much, the pillow perhaps every 3 days or so, but that is about it, since head lice dont "hang around" anywhere but on the head, pillow for a day involontary, or hats.

The schamoo you use is farily good at killing lice, but the eggs are resilient. that is why its not done after one good shower. Eggs however dont really run around much so all you do is wait for them to hatch, kill em all with the shampoo before they mature enough to lay new eggs.

I know it's a typo, but...what a brilliant word! I must find a use for it in casual conversation...

[daggaz]

Of course she can (and should) sleep in her own bed.. Anywhere she sleeps is going to get lice on it after all. But you do need to take steps to stop the spread, starting of course with the shampoo and using the little comb very carefully.

For sterilizing bedding, dont bother washing or freezing it, neither kills lice eggs. Just use a iron, and put it on the steam setting, and steam the crap out of her bedding. It will kill anything, but make sure its plenty hot and you dont miss any spots.

[TheBibliophile]

I've got lice at the moment and the only thing we're doing is combing my hair with a fine-toothed comb and conditioner every night in front of the TV. Seems to have worked so far.

[Sipex]

I had lice once for two years as an adult, first and only time I ever caught it.

We thought we tried everything, the special shampoo, several combings with the pick comb. Constant washing of sheets/etc but they stuck around (and on that note no barber would touch my hair, I looked like a hippie at the end of it). In the end? Tea tree oil. We added it to our shampoo. haven't seen the little blighters since.

Also, does anyone have a way of getting rid of bedbugs? Our friends apartment is infested and they don't have $300-$1000 to shell out for an exterminator. I did some researching and the little bugs are pretty much half-cockroach what with their survivability rate.

I don't want "well I heard this works" either, I can get that off the net. I want "we had bedbugs and did this and it worked". Not to be an arse but the first point is generally useless as half the fact you hear are false.

[SensFan]

When a boy gets lice: shave his head and take his bedsheets/towels/combs and put them somewhere for three weeks; then wash 'em all. This goes for stuffed animals too.

Why do you assume guys will be willing to shave their head, and not girls?

I know there's no way I would ever shave mine.

[Helanna]

Wow, I wish I'd heard of this forum back when my family got lice. It took us MONTHS to get rid of the infestation. We tried everything we could think of - washed everything, used the lice shampoo regularly, and went through our hair with that little comb for HOURS every night. At one point it was so bad that running the comb through my hair just one time would come up with five or six huge lice.

And now you people tell me that all I needed was an iron and tea tree oil. Why didn't any of my internet searches bring that up?!

[toasty]

Why do you assume guys will be willing to shave their head, and not girls?

I know there's no way I would ever shave mine.

It was never an issue with my friends. I mean, unless you are trying to grow your hair out or something, it shouldn't be an issue with guys. And "shave" might be a bit excessive even... just really short will probably work.

[toasty]

And now you people tell me that all I needed was an iron and tea tree oil. Why didn't any of my internet searches bring that up?!

I've been told that mayo and vinegar also work. My sister did that one once. Though it will stink up your hair, for obvious reasons.

[Groundhog]

Okay, if all of you are clean except for your sister, wash everything once, and then keep washing your sister's stuff every couple days. And if you keep her hair constantly covered in conditioner and wrapped up on top of that, then the adult lice will die eventually, and the newly hatched ones will smother in the conditioner. So then all you have to do is comb out and rinse her hair every evening and apply more conditioner after that. Keep doing this for two weeks, which should cure it. If you end up with a relapse, check out all the possible ways that she could have caught the lice and cut them off.

[_Zoot_]

Wow, every one seems to have had really bad lice problem compared to me, I got it once or twice when i was in primary school (of the other kids) and all we did was use some smelly eucalyptus stuff (read: eucalyptus conditioner) and a lice comb.

[Stormthorn]

Lice hate tea tree oil with a passion

Heh, i have a tee tree out shampoo. For reasons of wanting to sound healthy and posh tho they dont advertise it as anti-lice.

Wow, every one seems to have had really bad lice problem compared to me, I got it once or twice when i was in primary school (of the other kids) and all we did was use some smelly eucalyptus stuff (read: eucalyptus conditioner) and a lice comb.

Second year in college and no lice ever. I win!
Did get a leech on me once, tho.

[Groundhog]

Second year in college and no lice ever. I win!
Did get a leech on me once, tho.

Second year in college and no lice or leeches ever. I win!