A quite few years ago, we had an experience with lice and I did SO MUCH research and “experimental” treatments, that I now refer to myself as an expert!
I’ve shared my knowledge a few times in the past… each time typing it all out for one friend or another. Today, it’s time to place it in an easy to access place for all to learn. 🙂
Never growing up did I experience lice. At some point when my kids were little, someone gave me a little card with pictures and information that I filed away hoping to never need…
Then it happened.
Our daughter had long, thick, beautiful hair … loaded with lice.
By the time I found them, her hair was FULL of lice… my son and I also had some in our hair but not nearly as many.
The first thing I did was pull that card out and sure enough – I was able to identify those little critters right away as lice. We tried MANY products, spent LOTS of money and come to find out the best thing was vegetable shortening, a shower cap and a plastic nit comb. Out of all the stuff we tried, this was the only remedy that resulted in dead bugs and smothered nits.
The chemical stuff, the health food store stuff and all the home remedies that we tried always resulted in us finding live bugs after each treatment. Very discouraging!
This is our safe lice treatment: At night we smothered the hair and scalp with vegetable shortening so the hair is matted right to the head. Then put a shower cap on to sleep in it. There is some oil loss onto pillow cases but it washes out with grease cutting soap or ammonia in the wash water. In the morning, we combed out the hair with the nit comb. Do small strands at a time and comb through from the scalp to ends. Make sure to use a paper towel to wipe what comes out of the hair with each combing. Do the whole head (we put a movie in while we did it). You can do this as often as you want but most people say once a week because that is how long it takes them to hatch if there are any viable nits left. After combing through the hair (in which lots of vegetable shortening comes off the hair this way), we washed the hair with dish soap and then a shampoo. My daughter’s hair was VERY nice and soft – not greasy.
Good things to know: Lice are clear when hatched and haven’t fed yet but then become reddish-brown once they have fed. The have 6 legs to grasp the hair and they will stay on during a normal hair wash. They ONLY crawl (although they can crawl fast) – They do NOT jumping, hop or fly. They survive up to 24 hrs without feeding and live about 30 days with females laying up to 100 nits during that time. Nits are small, yellowish or grayish white and kind of oval shaped that are glued to the hair so they can’t be washed off in a normal wash. It takes 7-10 days for a nit to hatch and another 7-10 days before a female can lay eggs. Nits are always the same size and are usually around 1/4″ away from the head – not much farther away because they like the heat of the head…. so they generally won’t be at the ends of the hair (My daughter had 3 sizes of lice and many nits – we always found them close to the scalp, never further away towards the ends of the hair). I used my finger nails to remove nits because they sometimes will be too small for the nit comb (but bugs are the right size for a nit comb and will comb out). They like warmer spots… so really check the nap of the neck and around the ears but they will go anywhere in the hair.
Lice do not like dirty hair so braiding girls hair and spraying with hairspray is a deterrent.
Lice will not be in pets… they don’t pass human to animal.
Anything of a cloth material (not hard plastics or metal) needs to go into a hot dyer for 30 minutes or be in a black plastic bag for 30 days (minimum)… that includes throw pillows, hair ties and all accessories, stuffed animals, jackets, clothes put back into a closet or dresser to wear again….. anything that is suspected for being exposed needs to be cleaned. Rugs (if clothes are laid on them). Don’t forget your brushes and combs. We tossed them and purchased more and I put anything that could not go in a dryer in a plastic bag. Don’t forget dolls (including barbies) with hair. Vacuum mattresses while sheets are being washed and dried. It’s the dryer that kills the bugs – so no air drying.
If you are fighting them now – hang in there! You can do it! They are completely possible to get rid of quickly with some work.
Here is a copy of the card (front and back) that I received years ago:
Leave me a message if you find another safe remedy or have other advice! I always love to learn more!
As We Journey Along... 