How do I get rid of and prevent lice? ?

Question

My 6 year old daughter recently got lice for the first time about a month and a half ago. We treated 6 times over that time period and thought we were rid of it. I did everything that I was told and then some. Never did I even think about prevention for the next time. She got it again this weekend at a sleep over we had at our house. So I trated, washed, vaccummed, sprayed all that. Yesterday I found nits again. I have heard tea tree, baby oil and tea tree shampoo. Do these really work and how do you use them? Las night I mixed 1/2 cup baby oit to 20 drops ta tree and soaked for 30 minutes. Then washed with tea tree shampoo and conditioner. Then put gel in with 20 drops tea tree oil mixed it. Then braided her hair as tight as I could, then sprayes hair spray real heavy. Do you thin this will work. And how can I dilute/mix oils to use daily without leaving her hair so oily??? HELP !! I am at my wit's end with these pesky little bugs!!! She is starting to get kind depressed about all this too, like it is her fault some how. I keep telling her it is not her fault. But the bugs are taking a toll on her and me!! and my pocketbook ;{ Please help!!

Answer 1

Dogs are much more prone to fleas/ lice than children are. I have never used chemicals on my dogs, I make my own solution and they have never had fleas. The following was recommend for humans and dogs. I found the info in books and the Internet.

Use a few drops of Citricidal and essential oils of Citronella, Tea Tree and Lavender. Add this to half a pint of vinegar or water and sponge or spray this unto your little girls hair every night.

Most of these items are available at a health shop or a chemists. You may have problems finding Citricidal, its extracted from grapefruit seeds. You could ask for another brand of "grapefruit seed extract" or phone [phone] its a UK number.

Answer 2

Ok, here's what to do.  My neighbor has 6 girls who all got nits at school and her problem was neverending.  This is what I learned from her after trying all those store bought things.

First, put your daughter in the shower and pour white vinegar on her head. Vinegar will kill the nits. Rinse and comb through in the shower. When her hair is dry, apply lots of mayonnaise and cover head with foil. Leave it for an hour, take her to the shower and comb through again. This will kill alll the eggs.

Another thing that will kill nits for sure is Listerine.  Just leave it in for 1 or 2 hours and comb through in the shower.  If she has stuffed animals, put them in plastic bags and put in the freezer.  

Answer 3

We suffered for 3 months last summer, got them at summer bible school. Same thing thought they were gone but they weren't. Kept coming back. Did any of the children at the sleepover have or get lice? We had to get prescription medicine from the doc's office and still sit every night for 1-2 hours combing the nits out of her hair. You have to get them out or you will continue to have them. It's tedious work, but it finally worked. We bagged and threw out and everything. Even vacated the house for 3 days (supposed life cycle of the critters) to get rid of them. We did the home remedies with the oils, etc. But it still took the 3 months and approx. $1000 to get rid of them. Good Luck - You Need It!!

Answer 4

what worked when I was a kid was the rid shampoo. It doesn't do its job completely unless you treat all the bedding and furniture and u MUST use the comb that comes with it. I had hair that was so long it reached my butt. Rather than cut it my mother decided to comb thru it with the lice comb after washing. We went outside so any live ones will not come back. She separated and combed thru every strand of hair in very small sections. It took hours but it did the job.

The only way to be sure to get rid of it is to take your time and make sure you get it all.

And of course make sure she never shares hair brushes, clothing, hair ties and you might want to cancel the sleepovers until you find out where the source is. Some parents don't wanna be bothered and will leave the bugs in their kids' heads. Yeah it's sad but I've seen it before. These kids I know had lice for years.

Answer 5

Hi Jenny,

You should know you are doing everything possible to treat your family for lice.  

1.  Shampoo with the medicated shampoos/comb out loosened nits.

2.  Wash all bedding.  Put pillows in the dryer.  

3. Make sure all hats are thrown out.

4. Spray the inside of the car, on sofas and highback chairs.

When I was a teacher I took it as my responsibility to check my first graders for lice and nits, as the principal and nurse took a lackadaisical

view about lice in the classroom (a Texas elementary school).  However,  at one point, half of my class was itching with the bugs.   I did find a way to remedy the problem but that is another story.  My point is that your daughter is most likely bringing them back home from someone she is in close contact with.   A friend or classmate must have lice and is reinfecting her.   As far as prevention,  you can stop your daugher from playing with these kids or you can check out everyone that comes to your house and find the culprit or culprits.   As far as any other way of prevention, there is none.   If you daughter is in school or goes to a daycare or is around kids in Sunday School or whereever, you might talk to the teacher or whoever is in charge of the class.   If you are indeed getting rid of the lice, it is clear to me me that another child is passing them back to your child and this will continue to happen as long as that family does nothing about it.

I know that these treatments are not cheap as you have to treat your entire family AND repeated exposure to the treatment is not recommended either.   Make sure the guys in your household get short haircuts and give your daughter and yourself as short a haircut as you see reasonable (in other words make it easy on yourself).  

Just talk to teachers and make sure they understand this is no picnic.  You need to find who is infecting your daugher so that family gets treatment.

Hope that was helpful

Thanks for reading!  :)

Answer 6

You have wasted your time and money with those remedies you're using...go to your local drugstore, walmart, etc and buy the actual treatment and comb for this problem: one brand is NIX...there are others....you are not actually killing all of the eggs and are being re infected...Make sure you boil her combs and brushes (or better yet, get rid of them, and get new) You have to garbage bag all of the stuff (pillows, blankets, stuffed animals) in her room for 10 days; wash anything that comes in contact with her head in hot water and detergent and dry on full hot....anything that can't hold up to that: bag for 10 days....Not a bad idea to treat everyone in the household at least once...it may get expensive at first, but you will be able to get rid of them....

Answer 7

You just have to persiver and keep applying the treament. To prevent them alwasy plate and tie up hair. Try searching google for answer. Search treatment and preventing headlice. x.x.x

Answer 8

Jennylea,

As you mentioned, you are nitfree right now so I will only answer that part of yoru question.  Tea tree oil can act as a preventative measure although most people find the smell to be too strong and it can be harsh on yoru hair if used too much.

Another scent that lice do not like is peppermint and there are a few companies that market lice prevention sprays that are peppermint scented.  One that we use is made by NitFree and we have been lice free for a year now with regular use.

They also sell a shampoo called Ginesis Natural Products that has a peppermint extract in it as well.

They have Canadian and US divisions so I will give you both and you can contact them for more info.  I hope this has helped.