Practice Prevention - Lice Away

With kids getting out of school this week and camp season fast approaching.  It is time to give consideration to head lice prevention.  The following tips will help you avoid head lice this summer and if you happen to get head lice there is help readily available.

Educate Yourself and Your Children about Lice Prevention

• Pre-camp registration forms explain your camp’s policy on head lice. They may include some identification and treatment tips so parents can pre-screen children and treat children before putting them on the bus to camp.   Let your children know the things that they can do to avoid getting head lice and how to recognize the symptoms.  Use tools such as educational coloring books, a reputable website, pictures and educational hands outs.

• Get a quality head lice comb so you can check the hot spots once a week.  If you check ahead, you avoid the spread.  Take a peek once a week is a great preventative measure that parents can take.  Don’t be fooled by knock off and copy cat combs with short tines, plastic or poor tolerances.  You can expect to pay $15 to $20 for a quality lice comb, but these will last you a lifetime and can be sanitized between uses for multiple family members.  Finally a quality lice comb has the proper tolerances with long tines that go through the thickest of hair and do not break or tear the hair.

• Keeping hair up and away from other people’s heads is the best thing that you can do to avoid getting head lice.  Sharing hats, combs, brushes, towels, and other hair items are not advised.  Also avoid sleeping on someone else’s pillow or using their blanket.  Pay special attention to sharing sport wear and head gear.  If you need to share headgear such as a helmet, use a hair bonnet under the helmet.  Keep in mind that you may also get head lice from car and bus seats and couches.   Do a visual inspection of the head rest and wipe or blow off the surface before use.  There are some cleaning products available and hair sprays that will leave a scent on the hair and these can help repel lice.

• Ask Camp Directors about the Screening, catching a head lice infestation early is key and it helps to avoid spreading it to others in the camp and creating a severe infestation.   Ask your camp director if they provide help and if they are screening campers and staff as they arrive to camp.  Screening is the best method of keeping lice outbreaks to a minimum.  Keep in mind that all campers and staff need to be checked and that checking must be done on dry hair and within at least the first week of arriving at camp.  – Check-A-Head and avoid the spread.
• Report, Re-check and Treat, Don’t send your child to camp with lice and report it if you do find head lice.  Others need to be told so the campers in the cabin or at home can be checked.  Follow the camp policy on head lice.  If your camp treats campers on site, ask if they use pesticide and make sure follow up is being done.  Most head lice treatments are pesticide based.  Some children are sensitive to this and may not be good candidates for its use.  Speak with the camp about the treatment options.  There are many natural treatment options available and the best tools a camp could have on hand are high quality lice combs.   Treat the camper and then re-check the others in close proximity or in the same cabin.  Keep checking for a two week period and always follow up.
• The Environment, Head lice will die within 24 to 48 hours without a blood meal.  It is best to tell your children to keep their sleeping environment to themselves.  Sharing pillows, blankets, towels and any head gear may result in lice transmission.  There is no need to spray pesticide or to wash pillows and mattresses.  Focus on items that have had close head to item proximity such as pillow cases, sheets, hats, brushed, coats, etc.  Never spray an insecticide on bedding in cabins as the toxic residue will linger for several days and may cause some campers have breathing issues or other reactions. Remember the most important thing about head lice is to practice prevention and to catch it early so it can be treated in a timely and effective manner.  Most camps will experience head lice, but the severity of it can be reduced when everyone works together.