A couple of years ago, my daughter had the misfortune of getting lice. It was a terrible experience that I hope none of you have to go through, but if you do get it, I'd like give you three tips that helped me rid lice for good. When you buy the lice treatment, please follow the instructions included for treating lice and cleaning your home, then use my tips as additional measures to ensure you have rid them for good.
First off, I'd like to ad that this can be extremely hard to get rid of so don't feel like a failure if you have tried to get rid of them and it didn't work. I had an extremely hard time getting rid of them - so hard that I finally visited our doctor to find out how to get rid of it for good.
TIP #1: His first recommendation was to get a metal, fine-toothed comb to comb the lice out rather than using the comb provided in the lice shampoo package. It is imperative to get every single egg out of the hair so you have to be meticulous. The metal combs are sturdier and the teeth are spaced closer together so you will have a better chance of getting them all. If you don't see these combs in the lice section, ask the pharmacist. They are expensive, but worth it. Don't think like I did... The lice box says it kills lice and their eggs so I thought if I didn't get every one, they would be dead anyway... WRONG... you need to get them all out just in case one survives. It may take a long time to do this especially if your daughter has long hair as mine did, but it will save you hours of time later by ridding it for good.
TIP #2: My doctor then told me the most helpful thing anyone could ever learn about lice, and for this reason, I can't understand why this isn't told to us parents! (maybe because the lice product companies want to sell as much as they can). What he told me was that full-strength vinegar dissolves lice eggs! I took this to heart and knowing that vinegar can actually be good for your hair, I had my daughter and the rest of my family (even though the rest of the family didn't get lice) rinse their hair with it after every shampoo. I still have my daughter do it as a precaution. I figure if one lice bug were to get in her hair and lay eggs in a day, the vinegar she uses to rinse her hair should dissolve them out before they can hatch! So far, so good!
TIP #3: Lastly, I had heard that blow-drying hair will help; I think because they don't like heat or styling products (probably why I didn't get it). So, we began blow-drying my daughter's hair every morning after her shower.
By following the cleaning regimen like the lice shampoo instructions tell and following the tips above, we finally got rid of lice for good. Remember to have your children keep their hair up in ponytails or braided if it is long and tell them to never share combs, brushes, barrettes (or other hair things), hats, coats or other clothing when they go to school, daycare or other place with lots of children. Please spread these tips in an effort to help battle this epidemic! Thank-you!
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RE: Three Tips that will Help you Rid Lice for Good!
By jenimcc55 (Guest Post)
if your children are around the teenage years, and get lice from school or wherever, i have found the coloring their hair works great. my girls color their hair all the time and it got rid of the lice. the lice are not immune to the chemicals is hair coloring. and then you could use the petroleum jelly or other stuff to get them out of the hair. it also makes it to where it doesn't come back just a thought
RE: Three Tips that will Help you Rid Lice for Good!
By icufodu (Guest Post)
Add six drops of tea tree oil to the family shampoo for familial use before a lice outbreak will prevent any of the users from becoming infected. The only downside to this is that excema and psoriasis can become irritated by the tea tree oil.
RE: Three Tips that will Help you Rid Lice for Good!
By (Guest Post)
These are great tips that I have known about for years and I would like to add the following to your list which I do on a daily basis since I work at a school. It has helped me. My sister was told to put baby oil on my niece's hair every day and that would prevent the lice from "hanging" on. My sister would braid my niece's hair and put the baby oil all over the braid or pony tail.
Our daughter has had only 2 episodes of lice in the last couple of years (we think she got them from the same source). The first time was a very trying experience with trying to get rid of them. We finally found what worked for us. When she had her 2nd episode of lice, we just went straight to what we discovered and it worked great (and faster). Here's what we finally did:
1. We combed out her hair with a "lice" comb (this is probably the most labor intensive part, and yes, get the good quality one)
2. We covered her hair throughly (to the roots) with petroleum jelly, massaging it in as to coat every strand. Then covered her hair with a large/oversized stocking hat (like you would wear in the winter) so as to completely cover her hair.
3. We waited 48 hours before taking the hat off, then washed her hair as usual, but had to repeat it several times, squeezing the excess petroleum jelly out. It will take days before the hair loses the petroleum jelly shine and return to normal, but guess what? No lice! (inspect after first washing, pick out anything you find)
Note: We didn't use vinegar only because our daughter complained about it burning. We got the idea for the petroleum jelly by watching an infomercial about a product that you put in your hair that smothers the lice. We also maintain/prevent future attacks by putting styling gel or hairspray in her hair if we think she will be around "the source" ;) it acts as a barrier... for the lice, not her friend. :)
My hair dresser also told us that lice don't like coconut and some other fruit so our daughter uses the coconut shampoo and conditioner during the school year. I let her pick somthing else during the summer.
RE: Three Tips that will Help you Rid Lice for Good!
By fawnmarie (Guest Post)
Mine kept picking them up from school - or a kid down the block and I ended up treating them over an over again! I've even given them buzz cuts!!! (They're boys)
I finally found two products that actually got rid of them for good with one application. "Not Nice to Lice" is an enzyme based product that dissolves the egg shells, egg glue and the exoskeleton of the lice. It just dissolves them alive. It doesn't burn and it doesn't cause allergic reactions (I'm allergic to the regular stuff).
Another was the LiceMeister comb which removes the dissolved eggs and bodies of the lice and doesn't pull or hurt to use.
Neither of these products are cheap, but they actually work.
Lice are killed by high heat, so wash all bedding, towels and clothes in the hottest water it can take. If it can't be washed, either tumble it in a hot dryer for 30 minutes, or store in black plastic trash bag in the attic for three months (for stuffed toys).
I've had to deal with this problem REPEATEDLY and the only thing that worked was the Not Nice to Lice and the Licemeister comb.
RE: Three Tips that will Help you Rid Lice for Good!
By christi (Guest Post)
Another thing to remember is you have to wash and spray everything. And if it cant be washed put it in a bag after you spray it. Also you can get the stuff at your local health dept if you cant afford it.
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