Archive for the '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

Summer Camp Lice Prevention

headlice July 29th, 2008

There is a widespread lice problem in summer camps this Summer. Licenders has provided screenings to prevent lice in overnight camps in the mountains of New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. When a child arrives at camp with head lice, the result can be a massive lice epidemic. Lice are notoriously catchy. The camp environment, with kids and adults interacting so closely, increases the opportunities for the lice nits to transfer from one head to another. Lice can easily spread to hundreds of campers in such conditions. For camp staff and administrators, a lice epidemic is a nightmare!

The way to approach this headlice threat correctly, is lice prevention. Licenders recommends that everyone who comes up to camp be screened for lice nits right away. If the lice checking can be done before the kids participate in any activities, this is ideal. The idea is, to find anyone with a lice problem, and treat the lice before they have a chance to spread to anyone else. Effective lice treatment, including proper lice combing can be provided to individual head lice cases immediately. Passing up this intial time for lice checking can result in a significant interruption of camp. Hundreds of kids could ultimately need to be treated because of a few isolated cases of untreated head lice.

In addition, licenders provides a lice nits re-check after a change in camp session, as new campers may again introduce lice into the summer camp population. If there is a significant opportunity for campers to interact closely with outsiders, another lice check is highly advised. This would apply after a camp visiting day, when parents and siblings come in contact with their loved ones, possibly bringing undetected lice bugs and nit eggs along with them.

Lice in Summer Camp

headlice July 28th, 2008

Head Lice love summer camp as much as kids do!

The camp season always brings an increase in head lice problems. The gathering of children from different geographical areas exposes them to a new group of friends - some of whom may be carrying lice and nits. In a camp situation, the ability for the lice to crawl from one head to another multiplies. The shared living environment is very conducive to the spread of head lice.  Sharing of hair brushes and accessories is certainly common. This is an ideal way for head lice to travel. During an active lice infestation, the friendly interchange of personal items can transfer viable nits - lice eggs - between children.

Children in summer camp are involved in many activities that give lice opportunities to move from head to head. Classic camp fun, from organized sports to pillow fights, allow for children to be in close physical contact. Sitting arm-in-arm at a campfire, and trying on hats for a dramatic performance are likely to spread lice.

It is crucial to get control of a lice problem in a summer camp, before the children have an opportunity to interact. The best way to do this is to have a Professional Lice Removal Service, such as LICENDERS, do a lice screening at the earliest opportunity.  A widespread lice infestation can be avoided by checking everyone at the beginning of the camp session. Lice Nits treatment can be provided right away, preventing further lice problems at camp.

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.

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

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 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.

Cleaning Lice and Nits in Brushes, Combs and Hair Accessories (conclusion)

headlice November 15th, 2007

continued from Cleaning Lice from Hair Accessories - Bedroom, Bathroom and Beyond

Once you have treated your child with a lice shampoo and comb, it is imperative to do all that is possible to prevent re-infestation. Although it is tempting to throw out many items, this is impractical, unnecessary, and can be very upsetting to your children who are already distressed!

Hair accessories can have live lice bugs on them, or hair with nits. Use a comb to remove ALL the hair that you possibly can from the brushes, combs and hair ornaments such as barrettes, ponytail holders, clips, and headbands. Pour boiling water liberally over these items. If the water is too hot for a human being, it will also be too hot for the survival of head lice and nits.

Some people immerse hair accessories in boiling water for a few minutes. However, most of these items have plastic or rubber parts, and they will get ruined. Therefore, Licenders is hesitant to recommend this. Although boiling water can kill live lice, it can also melt the glue on some hair ornaments, so be careful.

Items made entirely from fabric can be washed and/or dried on high heat for at least 30 minutes. The dryer must be hot enough that it could not be tolerated safely by a human being. A hair dryer is generally not hot enough to destroy hair nits. 

Any hair accessories that still have hair on them, or could not be properly cleaned using boiling water, or the clothes dryer, should be put into a plastic bag, and sealed inside for 48 hours. In this amount of time, lice will die without access to the blood of a human scalp.

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