Archive for the 'Head Nits' Category

Avoiding Frustration: Prevent Lice Re-Infestation (part 3 - conclusion)

headlice August 5th, 2008

Rachel had been conscientiously following the lice removal protocol, to rid the lice nits from her daughter Tammy's hair.

However, the real problem was external lice re-infestation. Although Tammy's play group had said that they were enforcing a no-nit policy in the group, one child apparently was not being treated for lice effectively. It only takes one. Three year olds play, cuddle, and tumble together all day. A lice epidemic can not be contained if lice are not treated effectively by every single parent in the group.

Rachel was doing the two week lice removal maintenance again and again. Apparently, another mother was using over the counter lice products, without an effective method for combing out nits. Her child kept re-infesting Tammy. LICENDERS uses a safe and effective method of lice treatment with natural lice products that really work. However, if a different child is reinfesting the group, the only way to end the lice nit cycle is enforcing an absolute nit-free policy in school, with frequent lice checking during the duration of a lice epidemic.

Families and communities are disrupted by a lice epidemic. To prevent re-infestation, all children must be treated for lice at the same time, and a no-nit policy must be enforced. The frustration of lice re-infestation can be prevented!

Frustrating Lice Re-Infestation (part 2)

headlice July 31st, 2008

Now that Rachel had been trained by professional lice removers, she felt in control of the lice problem. It was very obvious to Rachel within a few days that Tammy's hair was really lice and nit free. She relaxed, continuing the maintenance daily for two weeks, as we advised. At that point, Tammy's lice infestation was history.

At least is should have been.

Tammy was back to her regular pre-school routine. Rachel continued to check Tammy's head for nits anyway from time to time. Two weeks later, Rachel found about 5 nits in one area of Tammy's hair. Rachel's mom called us again. She was concerned. A few nits in one place, is a sign that a live louse is or has been laying eggs again. Lice tend to lay eggs in clusters. If a nit or two survived the initial lice treatment, the 2 week maintenance would absolutely have removed them. Perhaps Rachel had not really done the lice removal maintenance, wondered the grandmother. 

We treated Tammy again with a comprehensive lice nit comb-out, and found no sign of infestation. Rachel had already combed-out Tammy's hair, and there was no sign of lice or nits. This scenario continued on and off for months. Tammy's hair was tied back, in a bun or a ponytail every day. She was using the Licenders Lice Repellent. Rachel would do the lice combing for a  two weak period, and then about one week later, would notice a cluster or two of nits again in Tammy's hair. Rachel's mom was criticizing Rachel's care of her granddaughter. As far as we could tell, Rachel was in fact doing the nit combing properly. The lice problem was creating stress within the family.

And then the Summer began. One little member of Tammy's playgroup left to vacation with her family in the mountains for a month. And the cycle of lice and nits ended. Just like that. No more lice. No more nits!

to be continued

A Frustrating Lice Problem (part one)

headlice July 30th, 2008

Throughout the past 6 months, Rachel, a young mother, has been dealing with lice nits in her daughter's hair. Tammy, her adorable three year old likes to twirl her hair while she sleeps, or at other quiet times. Therefore, Rachel did suspect lice nits, when she  saw that Tammy was touching her head a lot. By the time Rachel realized that Tammy was actually scratching, she had a full blown case of head lice. Rachel did what any other good mother would do. She ran to the drugstore, and purchased the popular chemical lice shampoo off the shelf. Rachel followed the instructions on the box of the lice shampoo, and used the lice comb provided. A week later, as suggested, she used the product again. But Tammy was still scratching, and upon inspection, still had a head full of lice.

So Rachel started all over again. Back to the drugstore for a different lice shampoo, more chemicals on Tammy's head. More lice  nit combing with the plastic comb provided. By the time Rachel's mother called LICENDERS, this had been going on for a few months. The first thing we told Rachel was: Stop Using CHEMICAL LICE SHAMPOOS! If they aren't working, more of the same is not going to work either. Lice are resistant to the chemicals. By this time, Tammy's scalp was so irritated from all those chemicals, and she still had lice!

We demonstrated to Rachel how to identify and methodically comb nits with the LICENDERS method. We showed her, that baby lice (nymphs) can be difficult to see because they crawl so quickly. Proper lighting is important when treating lice nits. We also provided Rachel with gentle, natural lice shampoo - no more chemicals! Now that Rachel had been trained by professional lice removers, she felt in control of the lice problem. It was very obvious to Rachel within a few days that Tammy's hair was really lice and nit free.

But it didn't end there.

To Be Continued

Sports Headgear and Lice Prevention

headlice May 21st, 2008

Recently, more adults involved in activities for children are recognizing that they can make a difference in the prevention of head lice. On April 27, 2008, an article appeared in the New York Times health section addressing the likelihood of a head lice outbreak among healthy, active children. The author, Juli S. Charkes relates how a local litte league coach, in advising his team of the rules and regulations of the season, also advised them to purhase personal batting helmets. His reason: to prevent head lice!

Normally, a couple of helmets suffice for the group, as they are passed on to the team members when it is their turn at bat. The article quotes a number of child care professionals in and around the town of Dobbs Ferry who agreed with the concerns of coach Robert Birnbaum, regarding a head lice outbreak.

“ 'As a coach, I would not want to be responsible for the spread of lice,' [Mr. Robert Birnbaum] said outside his home," which in Westchester, New York. 

It turns out, that this advice was well received by other child care professionals in and around Dobbs Ferry, the town in Westchester that is home to this particular little league.

" 'I think individual helmets make sense not only for [human head lice], but also just in terms of basic hygiene,' said Ellen M. Whalen, a Yonkers pediatrician who watched her 6-year-old son Nico, clad in his own shiny red helmet, hit a ball off the tee."

The Times' continues, "As the Little League administrator for District 21, which includes Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham and New Rochelle, Michael Mattesi overseas about 400 teams. He said he had been contacted many times by schools in his district when there is an outbreak of head lice and has encouraged the use of individual helmets, as well as the use of baseball caps under any shared helmet."

" 'Absolutely, it just makes a lot of sense,' he said. 'These helmets are affordable — often less than $20 — and I encourage parents to invest in one.' ”

(to be continued)

No Nit Policies in Schools (part 2)

headlice May 5th, 2008

continued from No Nit Policy: School Lice Infestation (part 1)

Another problem with lice in school environments, is that kids bring jackets, hats, scarves, and other accessories to school, and remove them. Often, those items come in contact with each other, in a communal pile, or designated coat area. Children often try on their friends' accessories as part of their playful interaction. A human hair louse can rarely survive off of a human host for more than a day. However, when accessories are shared among kids, there is ample time for a live lice bug on a clothing item to transfer onto another head.

These situations arise multiple times with the same children. If one child has an active lice infestation, there are numerous opportunities for this child to infest the children with whom she interacts daily.

A no-nit policy should have parameters. A child being actively treated for lice should not be made to miss school unnecessarily. School nurses and administrations need to know the facts about head lice treatment to properly apply the no-nit policy.

to be continued

No Nit Policy: School Lice Infestation (part 1)

headlice April 14th, 2008

There is controversy about having a "no nit policy" in schools. Some feel that since human head lice are not dangerous, children should not miss school, or be socially isolated and ostracized due to a head lice problem. Head lice are not dangerous, but they are extremely uncomfortable. Lice bite the scalp to draw blood, leaving itchy patches. Scratching leads to further skin irritation. There is certainly no controversy about preventing this discomfort from spreading! As a general rule, a no-nit policy is a necessary and good thing, specifically with regard to children who have not yet been treated, or are not being treated properly.

As explained in our previous post, head lice spread incredibly quickly. Head lice crawl from one head to another. In a school environment, there are so many opportunities for this to happen. In school, children are in contact with many peers every day. All it takes is for a student to brush up against an infested child, and a louse can and will quickly crawl onto the second host. It doesn't take long after that, for a full blown lice infestation to evolve on the second child's head.

Children tend to lean close to each other when working on projects, or studying together. On school buses children sit close to each other, especially when sharing a seat. The more obvious opportunities for lice to spread are when kids tell secrets, wrestle playfuly, or fight. All these situations are common in school. 

to be continued

No Head Lice Tags

The Nature of Head Lice: How a Lice Infestation Spreads

headlice April 7th, 2008

continued from Do Head Lice Jump?

Biologically, Head Lice do not jump. Rather, they crawl very quickly from one head to another. Considering this fact about head lice, one may wonder how it is lice nits spread so quickly. Some people mistakenly think that one bug alone can not cause a head lice infestation. The truth is, it only takes one mature louse to begin a rapid lice infestation on the new host!

Like most live creatures, a louse egg must be fertilized in order to produce additional lice bugs.  Mature female lice only need one fertilization to produce fertilized eggs for the rest of their life - approximately 30 days. An adult male louse will mate several times in its lifetime, fertilizing numerous females. Therefore almost all mature female lice have mated, and are ready and able to start infesting the hair with nits, at an average of 6 nit eggs per day.

Chances are that a mature louse that crawls on to a new head is in fact fertilized and ready to lay more than 150 nits in the hair over the next few weeks. It doesn't take much to spread a lice infestation.

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!

Lice Combing Advice

headlice March 25th, 2008

There are many kinds of lice combs that are made of metal. As long as the nit comb has properly spaced teeth, a metal comb should work. Unfortunately, sometimes even a metal toothed lice comb will not NIX THE LICE problem. There may be a number of reasons for this.

One problem that is very common, is that the teeth of the metal lice comb are very short. While this may be fine for a very short haircut, most children have a few inches of hair, at least. Short toothed lice nit combs, are surprisingly common. Using shorter metal lice comb teeth can only work if you are combing a section of the scalp as wide as those teeth. For example, if the nit comb tines are 1/2 inch long, you can only comb through 1/2 inch of the scalp at a time! Combing out lice is time-consuming and tedious. Adding time to the process by struggling with a comb with short teeth, is a waste of time and energy. In addition, when trying to NIX a LICE PROBLEM in a child with thick or wavy hair, there is a lot more hair per inch on that child's head. A comb with long enough teeth is necessary to get through even a small section of such hair.

The correct way to ensure that you are using a lice comb properly, is to comb the hair with an effective nit combing method. In order for the nit comb to be get RID of NITS, the comb must move through a section of the hair from the scalp outward in one motion. Live lice crawl incredibly quickly. If the nit comb only gets partially through a layer of hair, the lice may crawl deeper into the layer that is not being combed. If all the hair is not combed through, hair nits will remain, and you will not RID LICE from the hair sufficiently.

Read our previous post where we have explained why a plastic lice nit comb should not be an option; even a "professional" lice removal kit comb is ineffective if it's not metal.

Lice Information: Overheard in the Pharmacy

headlice February 25th, 2008

Last week a friend of mine was in the pharmacy for some routine purchases. He noticed a gentleman looking at a display of lice removal shampoos. The customer picked up each lice product, examined the box, and put it back on the shelf. When he had looked at every available lice treatment product, he seemed quite perplexed. This is not surprising. These products promise all sorts of quick fixes, and it's hard to tell what the difference is between them.

Apparently confused, the gentleman approached the pharmacist for some help. This is the conversation my friend overheard:

Customer: I need to treat lice.
Pharmacist: There are many products for treating lice.
Customer: what is the difference between them?
Pharmacist: You need to read the active ingredients.
Customer: They seem to be full of chemicals.
Pharmacist: Yes, these products use strong chemicals to kill lice. Each product uses different chemicals, in different concentrations.
Customer: But they all kill lice?
Pharmacist: That's what they say on the box!
Customer: Are there other products? like soap? They all are called lice shampoo!?
Pharmacist: Well, you have to wash your hair with it, in order to kill the lice.
Customer: How do I kill the ones that aren't on my head?
Pharmacist: If they are not on your head, why do you think they are lice?
Customer: Well my whole body is itching. I have itchy red patches all over. It seems odd to wash my whole body with shampoo.
Pharmacist: You have body lice! These chemical lice shampoos are specifically made for human head lice (pediculus humanus capitis). If you have body lice, you need to go to a dermatologist right away and get a prescription for body lice (pediculus humanus).
Customer: Oh. I didn't know there was a difference.

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