Archive for the 'Nit Comb' Category

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

How did my child get lice?

headlice June 26th, 2008

The following is a response Licenders offered to an inquiry on the Topix Website. The questioner felt that her child got head lice while working at her garage sale. Since none of the other children presented with a lice infestation, the mom was wondering a child could catch lice from old clothing.

This is our response:

I assume you mean head lice, as opposed to body lice. The following only applies to head lice, which live only in human hair:

It is very easy, to catch lice. It is common among all children, regardless of race, class, or hygiene. The child may have caught lice a day or even a week before you became aware of it. The important thing is to treat the head lice right away, with a proper method, in order to get control right away:

1. You need a good, NON-Chemical Lice Shampoo. We can recommend Licenders Professional Shampoo (www.licenders.com). Over-the-counter products contain dangerous chemicals, and the bugs have become resistant to them.

2. You need a proper metal comb with very narrow teeth to remove every single nit. Without removing nits through combing, the infestation is still present, and will continue. This takes time, but is absolutely necessary. Licenders Lice Removal Comb works well, and is used daily by profession lice removal services (www.licenders.com)

Plastic combs do not catch every nit (lice egg). Short teeth will not get through enough of the hair to do a reasonable job. The comb should be made specifically for this purpose, with an ergonomic shape intended to support repetitious combing movements.

Proper Lice treatment involves maintenance for about 2 weeks after the initial treatment, to insure that the infestation is gone, and will not resurface. There are a few other worthwhile products that can support the combing and maintenance process.

In answer to your original inquiry:

The only way to get head lice from clothing, is if there is a live louse on the clothing which crawls onto a human head. Head Lice are parasites, and can only survive off of a human head for 1 - 2 days MAXIMUM. Likewise, stray hairs with mature nits on them can theoretically hatch off the head for 1 or 2 days, but the lice that hatch will die within a few hours unless they can feed on a human head.

Both of these scenarios is unlikely in a bag of old clothing, unless the clothing was worn by someone with an active lice infestation in the last 2 days.

I hope this information is helpful,
Good Luck!

Adie H

Lice Information from a Pediatrician (continued)

headlice June 5th, 2008

"Dr. Hook" a.k.a Dr. John Hong of Charlottesville, Virginia is a reknowned pediatrician who writes medical articles for THE HOOK, a local newspaper. Here is the continuation of his article about head lice, published on 5/15/08, and posted with permission from the author.

 

Continued from yesterday's LICENDERS post, Lice Information from a Pediatrician

 

Adult [female lice] are about 3-4mm in length, live about a month, and lay 10 eggs (nits) a day that stick to the bases of hair shafts. The eggs hatch in eight days, and the nymphs mature in eight days. (The crazy ones are called nymphomaniacs– or not.)

 

These creepy crawlers suck blood from the scalp, eyebrows, and other hairy places on the head and neck. The bites can cause an allergic reaction, like a mosquito bite, leading to itchy bumps. Scratching the bumps can lead to bacterial infections.

 

The white nits are easier to spot than the mobile lice. If you catch a louse, you might put it in a ziplock bag for the doctor to view under a microscope.

 

Nits are truly nit-wits because they stick to the hair even after hatching or treatment for lice. So a fine-toothed nit comb is used to wipe them away. Topical medicines like permethrin (Nix), pyrethrin (Rid, A-200, Pronto, Clear), and malathion can be used. A second treatment might be needed a week or two later.

 

to be continued

 

© Dr. John Hong, Inc

 

 

Nits, Lice and School (part 3)

headlice May 7th, 2008

continued from No Nit Policies in Schools (part 2)

A child who is actively being treated for head lice, using an effective method should not be kept out of school. Live lice bugs will have already been killed. At this point, the chances of nits and nymphs in the hair is greatly reduced. Even if there are stray nits, lice eggs can not crawl from one head to another.

Active treatment should include a 2 week maintenance period, with daily comb-outs to remove any possible stray nits as well as nymphs that may have just hatched. Until 2 weeks are past, there may still remain a few stray nits in the hair, which can hatch into tiny nymphs. By using a lice comb daily, even this small risk is being addressed. A tiny nit or nymph that is missed at first will grow, and certainly be caught in a subsequent comb-out. By the time 10 days have passed, the lice incubation period is over. Any nits that may still be on the head can not be viable: in other words, they will never hatch into live lice. The lice nit treatment can be considered complete since there was no opportunity for a louse to survive to maturity.

The lice infested child who has been treated, should have her hair tied back during this 2 week maintenance period. She should have strict instructions about not sharing any head gear, and should keep her accessories in a contained place, apart from any other children. Children can understand that by doing their part, and acting responsibly, they can prevent another child from getting head lice, and transfering it back to themself! No child wants to have a reinfestation, and undergo a full lice treatment all over again. When a child understands that these cautions will benefit themselves in the long run, they are more likely to cooperate.

School nurses should be aware of the lice nit treatment process, so that they do not over-react to finding a few stray nits on a child who is actively undergoing a proper 2 week treatment protocol. Other parents should also understand the head lice treatment process for the same reason. A no-nit policy allows for the school administration to ensure that children found to have lice or nits will undergo a proper comprehensive treatment to remove the lice and nits, without spreading the lice problem and creating a widespread lice epidemic.

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 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.

Lice Nit Removal: Combs

headlice February 18th, 2008

Lice combs made of plastic are available in stores, and through mail-order. Some have obviously been manufactured with intent to catch nits. They have teeth spaced very closely together. There are plastic nit combs with very short teeth, as well as lice combs with much longer teeth. A plastic lice comb can be made of strong plastic, and be considered "unbreakable". Some of these lice removal combs come with a long handle, meant to be used the same way one would hold a disposable razor. Others have an extended handle, shaped for a comfortable grip. Unfortunately, no matter how well planned the design, plastic teeth will not catch the nits. 

Louse nits are attached to the hair with a very, very strong biological glue. This glue is naturally created to keep that nit attached to the hair. The survival of the nit depends on that nit staying attached to the hair shaft. This is so that the nymph inside the louse egg can grow and thrive on the human host. To the naked eye, the teeth of the plastic lice comb appear to be rigid. However, the plastic teeth will spread apart, just enough to get around many nits. Plastic teeth on a lice comb do bend microscopically and slide past the tightly glued nits. Remember that nits can be tinier than a poppy seed!

It doesn't matter if the plastic lice nit comb is especially made and marketed for this purpose by "experts". A plastic comb passes over too many nits to be considered worthwhile. This has been proven by the thousands of frustrated parents who have attempted to use such a plastic lice nit comb. The amount of time needed to properly comb out lice and nits is long enough. It is a shame to invest all that effort using an ineffective lice removal tool.

Why use Head Lice Shampoo AND a Lice Comb?

headlice February 4th, 2008

In an active lice infestation, the number of live bugs may vary widely, depending on the length of time that the hair has been infested.

The first step of lice treatment in an active infestation, is obviously aimed at killing the live bugs, to prevent them from laying more nits. Use of a safe, non-chemical lice shampoo is recommended. An enzyme-based lice killing shampoo kills lice on contact, and avoids the use of poison on your child's scalp. Enzyme-based lice shampoo works, and lice can not become resistant to it, the way they have become resistent to chemical shampoos, such as RIDLICE, NIX, and even prescription products such as LINDANE. Once the mature lice are gone, you need to proceed to step two.

The second step in treatment of head lice is combing out the lice. There is no short-cut. If you do not manually comb out nits, they will continue to hatch. You will be faced with a complete re-infestation if live head lice. The baby lice, called nymphs will mature within 7-10 days, and the head lice shampoo treatment will have been a waste of your time and money. This cycle can continue indefinitely unless you remove every nit.

To be continued