Bob, of North Carolina actually had a bunch of questions. His mom had lice, and he unwittingly used her hair brush. She had cleaned out the hair before he used it, and washed it with boiling water.  Now, a month later, after using Rid, and a product called Lice-Free, he is still itching. He apparently itches a lot due to allergies, and has dandruff to boot. Bob wants to know how to tell the difference between dandruff and lice!

This is the response I posted:

The short answer: You probably have a very irritated head right now from all of the chemicals you used. Based on your original post, it is unlikely that you got lice after using a brush that was clean of hairs, and had boiling water poured over it.

The good news: Experience has shown us here at LICENDERS, that once someone is thinking about lice, they will feel itchy. This is NOT an indication that you have head lice!

The not so good news: If your mom treated her own head lice infestation with a chemical product like Rid, she may still have lice, and you could have caught it from her in a number of ways in the days or weeks that followed. The lice may have survived the treatment. They crawl from head to head very quickly. If every nit was not methodically combed out with an effective lice comb, those nits could have (even 7-10 days later) hatched into nymphs (baby lice), matured into lice, and continued the cycle on her head… and yours.

We have a lice removal service, in the New York Tri-State area. We sell the products that our clinicians use… because they do work. Lice become resistant to the chemicals in the products you used. Our products are 100% natural, safe, enzyme based, and chemical-free. We have a blog that has articles on lice facts, fiction etc. The link to the blog is on the bottom of the home page of our LICENDERS website.

Good Luck to you!

"Art is no longer just a painting on the wall," Milana Gitzin-Adiram, chief curator of the Museum of Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, told Reuters. "Art is life, life is art." What that has to do with head lice? It's not really clear at all!

The group of Berliners were living at the  Museum of Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, as part of an unusual art exhibit. They ate, slept, and bathed in a gallery, while maintaining active lice infestations in their hair. "The idea is that we live in the museum as their guests, and at the same time we are hosting lice on our heads," said artist Vincent Grunwald, aged 23. He was wearing a plastic shower cap to prevent the lice from spreading.

From a professional lice removal perspective… this is just plain silly. Head lice are parasites that live off human blood. Lice cause terrible itching, from the irritation that results when a louse bites its host to suck blood. Lice can not live off of a human head. Lice can not fly. Lice do not jump. Lice aren't interested in living any place other than a human head.  The only way that lice spread — which they do quickly — is by crawling from one head to another. Since these folks are apparently all lice infested already, they aren't preventing anything with that shower cap! Lice are small enough to crawl easily crawl under the edges of a shower cap, anyway. Actually, lice nits they are so tiny, that they aren't visible without very close and careful inspection. Which would make head lice irrelevant as hosts on human heads in an art gallery. The only thing a visitor would be able to see, are men in shower caps, possibly scratching their heads.

With all the stress that surrounds a head lice infestation, the absurd idea that there is an artistic element to lice could invite a much-needed momentary lightness!

When your kids come home from Summer camp, they may bring home more than dirty laundry and memories that last a lifetime. Head lice are so common these days, that the chance that your child was exposed in summer camp is quite high. Many camps do check for lice at the beginning of the Summer. However, in many situations, the treatment applied is a chemical lice shampoo.

Chemical lice products have a number of problems. Lice have become resistant to chemicals. Therefore, many lice treatments are not working. In addition, the chemicals have been known to actually harden the nits (lice eggs). This makes nit removal even more difficult than it already is. In order to completely get rid of lice every single nit has to be removed. Nits are tiny… the size of a grain of sand! If all the nits are not removed, a nit will continue to grow on the hair shaft, for a period of 7-10 days. At that point, a nymph (baby louse) will hatch, and within 7-10 days will be mature enough to lay additional nits! At this point, a child who was treated for lice in fact  be completely reinfested — and even worse infesting his friends and bunkmates.

Head lice is not a cleanliness issue. But lice are hearty, persistent bugs, and they will continue to live on human hosts unless they are treated effectively. Lice feed by biting the head, leaving irritation which causes terrible itching.

When your child comes home from camp, do yourself a favor, and take the time to do a lice nits check - before there is a possibility of his sharing lice or nits with his siblings — or parents! Yes, adults do get head lice. Lice prevention is the best way to stay in control.

Here are a few quotes straight off just one blog where people give home advice about Lice:

"I have battled head lice with my five year old off and on for the past two years. Here's what I learned: DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY ON RID OR OVIDE."
posted by Mary in July '08

"…douse your head with WHITE VINEGAR for TWO HOURS. This dissolves the glue that causes the nits to attach to the hair shaft. It makes combing out sooooo much easier. It smells awful though, but if you can stand it you will soon be lice free. Rinse the vinegar out with shampoo….
….*TRY THIS METHOD BEFORE YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY ON PRICEY RID, NIX OR OVIDE."
posted by Amber, somewhere in the USA

"We bought the expensive stuff first and now we wished we hadn't wasted our money."
posted by Anje K. on April 15 '08

"I found out later that commercial lice treatments actually harden the cement that binds the nit to the hair shaft."
posted by Molly in March '08

"After using NIX three times, and Mayonnaise twice…"
posted by Katie January 25, 2008

The facts are, these chemical lice shampoos really are not working! LICENDERS products work! LICENDERS uses NATURAL LICE TREATMENT. No chemicals! The lice die from the lice shampoo, the essential oils repel the lice, the combing solution loosens the glue, and the lice comb catches every single nit.

When choosing a head lice treatment, one needs to consider the options. Although a doctor can prescribe Ovide for lice, we wonder how people can be so complacent about using this chemical! Ovide is malathion, a pesticide! It does have FDA approval, but it remains a chemical.

The reality is, malathion poisoning can happen. The symptoms can be "abdominal or stomach cramps; anxiety or restlessness; clumsiness or unsteadiness; confusion or mental depression; convulsions (seizures); diarrhea; difficult or labored breathing; dizziness; drowsiness; increased sweating; increased watering of mouth or eyes; loss of bowel or bladder control; muscle twitching of eyelids, face, and neck; pinpoint pupils; slow heartbeat; trembling; unusual weakness." This is in addition to that other detail: malathion is actually flammable! It is recommended not to use it with heat - to prevent getting burned!! 

Those sound like pretty serious risks, for treatment of an uncomfortable nuisance such as head lice. At times there really are no options, and chemicals must be used for various needs in modern life. When it comes to treating lice, however, are chemicals really justified? Not when there are natural, chemical-free lice options!

Pharmaceutical companies target physicians and medical professionals to promote lice killing drugs. Most people treat head lice without the intervention of a physician. Is the physician aware that lice have developed resistance to chemicals? Does your doctor know that there are safe, successful natural lice treatments - with none of the risks? Lice drug manufacturers have a financial agenda, just like the rest of us. When it comes to your children, you need to be your own advocate. Ask your doctor if it is better to use a chemical, than a natural, enzyme lice product that is known to work! You do have a choice when treating head lice.

Although Ovide is approved by the FDA for treating head lice and nits eggs, serious questions remain. Ovide it a brand name for malathion. The bottom line is this is a strong chemical, that you are putting on your child's head - because he has lice! Malathion is not considered safe for treating children under six years old who have head lice. It is a prescription drug, for head lice. But head lice is not an illness. Lice is not a disease! Lice is an uncomfortable nuisance, but it isn't dangerous! You do not even need a pediatrician to treat head lice!

to be continued.

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!

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

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

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.