Archive for the 'Head Lice Removal Tips' Category

Parents, Children and Head Lice (part 2)

headlice June 19th, 2008

continued from Parents, Children, and Head Lice

When a clinician on a job encounters a problem, LICENDERS support staff is always there to help resolve it. Sarah, a LICENDERS representative was contacted by Angela, as explained in our previous post. Her client, Sharon, was resistant to being treated for the active lice infestation on her head. This was after she had spent time and money to treat her son, David*. 
 
Sarah patiently explained to Sharon why it was so important that she herself be treated for the lice. She pointed out that the reason that Sharon brought in David in the first place, was to ensure that his head lice problem was resolved professionally. Sharon* recognized that Angela did a thorough job methodically combing nits from David's head. The truth is that if Sharon's lice and nits are not properly removed, the lice problem is still active in her home! If Mom has an active case of lice, there is a 99.9% chance that the David* will be reinfested. After all, surely Mom loves him, and is going to hug him, and spend time with him! What exactly is the point of removing head lice from a child, and knowingly giving it back to him a few hours later?? Lice treatment kills lice, and removes lice and nits. But no lice treatment can honestly claim to make a child "safe" from catching it again. The only way to properly treat head lice and nits is to make sure that everyone in that child's immediate environment is thoroughly clean as well. As a caring mother, Sharon* understood that the right thing to do for David* was to be properly treated for the head lice herself.
 
*names changed to protect privacy

Head Lice: Is it a crime?

headlice April 3rd, 2008

There is actually a woman sitting in a Pennsylvania jail because she refused to come get her lice infested kids from school!

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported yesterday, that Nicole Lynn Holmes was dealing with the head lice infestations since February. The Belle Vernon Area School District has a "no nit policy", and Ms. Holmes was instructed to keep her children at home until the lice problem was resolved. When the kids showed up in school a few weeks later, they were still infested with headlice.

The school called the police, who arrested the mother and charged her with child endangerment. She is in custody, until a hearing on Friday.

The responsible thing to do when there is a lice infestation, is to get control of the lice and nits immediately, before the child has an opportunity to spread it to their schoolmates and friends. Lice spread very quickly. When head lice is treated properly, the lice infestation can be contained within the affected children and their immediate family. Left untreated, a short term inconvenience can become a community wide lice infestation.

The lesson here is clear: Do the right thing. Find out how to effectively remove lice and nits. If the job is too big or tedious for you, call the professionals. Ignoring a lice and nit infestation is selfish. And according to the police in Belle Vernon, PA, failure to treat head lice is a crime!

Nitpickers and Lice Removal Services

headlice March 10th, 2008

Recently, a human interest news item was devoted to lice removal services. The article, appeared in the New York Daily News on January 29th 2008. In her article, titled They're In the Lice-Removal Business, Rachel Monahan, discusses a supposed cultural trend in head lice treatment services. Her focus is on some women who have become lice removal experts in Brooklyn, New York. The tone of the article about lice removal warrants some comment.

One of these women describes herself as an "Orthodox Jewish nitpicker", and even goes so far, as to make a connection to the area of a nitpicking housewife. "They say Jewish men make good husbands; Jewish women are known to be nitpickers." Even in jest, such a statement is demeaning - and less than professional. Even a self-directed insult can result in uninformed, negative stereotyping. The fact is, human head lice are an international problem. The lice problem is prevalent in every culture, race and nationality. Religion is certainly not a factor. Any person who invests time and researches solutions, can become quite knowledgeable about lice nits and the best method of removing a lice infestation.

Furthermore, we take issue with the term "nitpickers" altogether!

to be continued

 

Lice Removal Kits: What about the nit comb?

headlice February 20th, 2008

A final word on plastic lice nit combs:

Some Lice Shampoos come bundled with a plastic lice comb. A lice removal product may provide clear instructions about how to divide the hair to effectively comb out the nits, using the comb provided. These plastic lice combs also come in many shapes.  Some brand-name lice killing products even seem to provide different lice combs with their different lice removal products.

Although these combs are coming bundled with a very expensive, or popular lice product, the fact is that a plastic nit comb will not do the job. In a previous article, we have explained the problem with plastic lice combs, and why they often do not work. We continue to be amazed at the poorly made, and highly ineffective nit combs that are being included in professional lice removal kits.

No matter how well planned the design, plastic teeth will not catch all the nits! Large, mature nits may possibly be removed using such a comb. However, the tiny nits must also be removed in order to prevent re-infestation. Use only a metal lice comb if you don't want your efforts to be in vain.

Professional Head Lice Removal Service

headlice January 28th, 2008

LICENDERS provides lice home removal services in the New York City area, including Long Island and Westhchester, Connecticut, and parts of New Jersey. One of the benefits of using a head lice removal professional is that you are not alone in dealing with the lice problem.

A part of the LICENDERS protocol is a routine follow-up phone call to our clients.  This is typically done 1 or 2 days following the original lice removal treatment and it is a priority to our staff here at LICENDERS.  The purpose of this phone call is to review the maintenance process after the initial headlice treatment session. Often, when a household is dealing with a headlice problem, there is a general feeling of being overwhelmed. Our clinicians take the time to patiently explain in detail the lice and nit combing-out process that needs to be followed.

Due to the natural stressfulness of a lice infestation in the family, it may be difficult for a client to fully focus. LICENDERS understands this, and makes sure to stay in touch with our clients after they have experienced the professionalism and reassurance of our home or salon lice treatment services. Clients are understandably a lot calmer once we have provided the home head lice removal, and we want to make sure that they remain in control. LICENDERS staff  help our clients to follow the instructions they were given at the time that the clinician was combing out the lice and nits. We clarify the details of the lice removal process, and answer any questions that may have been formulated after the lice treatment was completed.

LICENDERS takes our relationships with our clients seriously. Once our lice removal service is contacted, we are there for our clients until both of us are confident that the lice are history!

To be continued

Lice in Your Home? Quick and Easy Solutions

headlice November 29th, 2007

If a member of your family has gotten a lice diagnosis, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the prospect of cleaning your home. The truth is, to get rid of head lice in your house, you really only need a vacuum cleaner, and access to a washer and dryer. No special cleansers, chemicals or professional lice removing services are necessary! If you know which areas of the house to be concerned with, you can methodically clean only those places, and then consider your house free of lice.

Here is a quick reference list of previous posts with advice for cleaning your home when your child has lice:

Treating Lice and Nits in the Home - Finishing the Job

headlice November 22nd, 2007

In the past few weeks, we have presented helpful information about cleaning your house when your child has been diagnosed with lice or nits.

We have explained that when dealing with human head lice in the main living areas of your home, you need to be concerned with places where a person is likely to rest their head. When dealing with the bedrooms, linens, toys, and closets need to be addressed as well, because it is more likely that there are stray hairs around with viable nits on them.

To finish up the job of cleaning your house of hair lice and nits, do a quick review of your bathrooms. Remove any used towels and wash them in hot water in the washing machine. Dry them on high heat for at least 30 minutes. Remove visible stray hairs that may contain nits, from bathtubs, sinks and showers by collecting them with a paper towel. Dispose of these hairs by placing them in a knotted plastic bag and toss them in your trash.

You have removed hairs from the head rests of chairs and couches, and treated the relevant items in your bedrooms and bathrooms. The same procedure applies to recently used coats and jackets. If you have a closet with such outerwear, it is only significant if the clothing has been used in the past 2-3 days before the lice diagnosis. In such a case, refer to our previous post on cleaning clothing during a lice infestation.  

Remember that head lice treatment for your house is mostly a matter of removing stray hairs that may contain nits. Human head lice will not survive on floors, or on chairs, or in closets - because they need to feed on human blood a few times a day. As we have stated many times before, a human head louse will die within 24-48 hours off of a human head.

The way to preserve the job you have done ridding your house of lice and nits, is to maintain the lice-free status of your child's head. Once you have used an effective lice shampoo, and methodically combed out all of the nits, you must continue the combing out process every night for about two weeks, to ensure that there are no remaining nits. If this maintenance is not done, having clean linens, sofas, and towels, will not prevent remaining nits from hatching and starting the process all over again!

 

Treating the Toys When Your Child Has Head Lice

headlice November 7th, 2007

During a Lice infestation, most toys do not present a problem at all. Only toys on which a child has likely laid his head are a concern. The main guilty parties are stuffed animals. As we have said previously, lice do not burrow into furry toys by nature. The only concern is a surviving louse that may have strayed off the child’s head directly on to the toy or a stray hair stuck to the toy with a viable nit on it. This only applies to a louse that has had the opportunity to feed on a human head within the past 24 – 48 hours, or a nit that has grown for a few days while on the head, and is likely to hatch soon.

Stuffed toys can often be put into the dryer on high heat. Such toys should be put into the dryer for ½ hour. If the toys have delicate parts, or cannot withstand high heat for any other reason, they should be placed into large garbage type bags, and sealed for 48 hours.

Additional items to pay attention to are headphones from play stations or personal music gadgets, bicycle and sports helmets, and any other toy that is used on your child’s head.  Seal the bags securely with a knot or a tight twist-tie.  As we have explained, in our professional experience treating thousands of families with head lice, 48 hours is a sufficient amount of time to assure that there will be no re-infestation resulting from the toys and protective headgear.

Removing Lice Nits from Clothing

headlice November 5th, 2007

After a child has been treated with a Lice Shampoo, and had the nits properly combed out, attention must be given to the home. Removing the possibility of a re-infestation of headlice is crucial, and not very difficult. We have addressed treating bed linens in Lice Information and Remedies for the Bedroom

The same lice treatment instructions that apply to bed linens apply to clothing and outerwear.  Any item of clothing that has been worn by a child in the last few days prior to being diagnosed with lice or nits, could potentially contain a hair with a viable nit on it. If it was worn in the previous 24-48 hours the clothing could theoretically even contain a surviving hair louse. This includes sweaters, sweatshirts, and outerwear such as coats and jackets. When dealing with nits or head lice, it is wise to be extra cautious about items worn directly on the head – hats, scarves, baseball caps, earmuffs, etc. You do not have to fumigate your closets and drawers! Only items that have been in direct recent contact are cause for concern.

In a closet where clothing is pushed tightly up against each other, you should also treat those garments that were pressed directly against the items that we have described above. You do not need to be concerned beyond those secondary items. Remember, lice are human parasites. They need human blood to survive. Lice do not embed themselves in clothing. The only concern is a louse that came off the head within the last 24 hours, or a lice egg ("nit") on a hair, that was transferred by friction on to an adjacent item.

Any items that can tolerate it should be washed in hot water. If they cannot be washed, they should be put into the dryer for ½ hour on high heat. If neither of these is possible, these items should be bagged for 48 hours.

Tie the top of the bag with a knot or a twist-tie. In the case that there is a live lice bug on any garment, it will die within 24-48 hours because it has no access to human blood. In the case of stray hairs with nits, the fact that they are in a sealed bag is equally beneficial. Any newly hatched nymph will die right away without a human head on which to feed.

Upcoming topics:

  • Cleaning toys when a Child has Nits.
  • Hair Accessories from a Lice Infested Child.
  • Bathroom advice for treating Lice.
  • Lice or Nits and Your Car.

Lice Information and Remedies for the Bedroom

headlice October 31st, 2007

continued from Lice Help - Removing Lice from Bedroom Furniture

Human hair lice could find their way onto bedding, and survive a few hours – long enough to climb back onto a child’s head. Because of this information about head lice, linens from the bed of the infected person must be washed in boiling water. This would include the pillows, quilts and blankets used by the infected child as well. You do not have to ruin your linens in order to remedy head lice problems.  If the linen cannot be washed, then it should be put into the dryer on high heat for at least 20 minutes. The reason this will help, is because of the factual lice and nits information:  lice and nits cannot survive in heat that is too hot for a human being.
 
If the linen absolutely cannot be put into the dryer, there is another option. The linen should be placed into large garbage type bags, and sealed. Tying the top of the bag with a knot or a twist-tie is a sufficient method for this home lice remedy. The purpose of this, is that in the case that there is a live lice bug on those linens, it will die within 24-48 hours because it has no access to human blood.
 
In the case of stray hairs that may have a nit on them, the fact that they are in a sealed bag is an equally beneficial home remedy for headlice.
 
Normally, on the head, once a nit is laid, it will hatch 7-10 days later. This is the reason that some people recommend bagging the linen for 2 weeks. As discussed in a previous post, lice lay their nits near the scalp because they need human warmth to grow. A newly laid nit will likely not grow and remain viable once the hair is off of the head. A nit that is already close to hatching, can theoretically still hatch. Sealed inside a plastic bag, the nymph, or new baby louse is doomed, since it needs to eat blood right away in order to survive. At Licenders, we have professionally treated thousands of families and been to thousands of homes. Our experience at Licenders, is that bagging these items for 48 hours is sufficient. Specially formulated remedies for home removal of head lice are superfluous.
 
Exaggerating the information about home head lice removal, will not remedy the lice problem! Look for information in future blogs about equally simple remedies for removing lice from articles as clothing, accessories and toys.

- Next »