Five Things You Should Never Do If You Have Lice

Most people shudder at the thought of having lice, and it’s easy to understand why. While we hope that you never have to deal with lice, it’s important to know what you should and shouldn’t do if you end up with them. In today’s post, we’ll cover five things you should never do if you have lead lice.

If you have lice…

• Don’t Panic

  Most people shudder at the thought of having lice, and it’s easy to understand why. While we hope that you never have to deal with lice, it’s important to know what you should and shouldn’t do if you end up with them. In today’s post, we’ll cover five things you should never do if you have lead lice.

• Don’t Use Over-The-Counter Treatments

  Over-the-counter lice removal products are some of the most harmful and toxic products available on today’s market. Many of the chemicals have been linked to serious problems such as cancer, uncontrollable shaking, wheezing, seizures, and more. At Larger Than Lice, we use safe and effective natural lice treatments that eliminate lice without putting your health and well-being at risk. 

• Don’t Throw Away Hats and Clothing

  Many of our clients tell us that they threw away everything they wore when they had lice, and while we understand the sentiment, it’s completely unnecessary to throw away your hats and clothing after a lice infestation. Lice cannot live for more than 48 hours without a human host, but their eggs can remain viable for up to seven days. Instead of throwing out your clothing, gather everything that could be contaminated and place it into a double-lined trash bag. Wait seven days before removing your clothing, and then immediately wash everything with hot water and soap.

• Don’t Tear Your Home Apart 

  As we noted above, it’s completely unnecessary to tear your home apart in the days following a lice infestation. You should vacuum carpeted areas and furniture thoroughly, mop hard surfaces with soap and water, and take your pets to the vet for a checkup. You should know that it’s unlikely that lice will make their way back into your hair if they have fallen into the carpet, so you don’t need to spend an inordinate amount of time scrubbing every inch of your home.

• Don’t Wait

  Seeking out professional lice treatment as soon as possible is the best way to get back to normalcy as soon as you suspect that you have lice. Do-it-yourself lice removal kits are difficult for the average person to use, and a prolonged battle with lice is the last thing you want to deal with. Here at Larger Than Lice, we are committed to helping you get back to lice-free living as soon as possible!

Are head lice the same as body lice?

The short answer is no, head lice and body lice have similar characteristics, but they are not the same. Here are some tips for distinguishing head lice from body lice:

Their Appearance

• Head Lice

Adults are about the size of a sesame seed, around 2-3 mm in length and brownish in color. You can see them attach to the hairs of the head near the base of the hair shaft and they go to the scalp to lay eggs.

• Body Lice

Adults are slightly longer than head lice, 2.3-3.6mm in length. Still, they’re very similar in appearance. They are also brownish in color and have two antennae on their heads. Body lice aren’t found in the same locations as head lice. In fact, they only go to the human body to feed.

How Do You Catch Them

• Head Lice

These are caught when you come into close contact with infected people, especially their hair. Head lice cannot jump or fly, instead, they crawl from one host to another. Even objects, such as clothes, hats, combs or brushes seldomly transmit lice as the lice die within a day without human blood.

• Body Lice

Body lice can spread via direct contact and through contact with items that are carrying the lice. As previously mentioned, body lice don’t stay on the body, they dwell in items such as clothing, bedding and towels, only making their way to the body to feed.

Who is at Risk of Catching Lice?

• Head Lice

Head lice occur primarily among children of preschool and elementary school age. Since direct, head-to-head contact is the main way the lice are transmitted, young kids at school are most likely to get infestations. According to the CDC, 6-12 million infestations occur each year in the U.S. to children. More girls get head lice than boys because of their long hair, which is easier for the critters to climb on to.

• Body Lice

While body lice usually require direct person-to-person contact, the creatures tend to thrive in crowded conditions, messy environments and on those with poor hygiene. People in places like homeless shelters and other crammed dwellings are susceptible to body lice infestations, which can spread quickly in such conditions.

Make lice checks a weekly habit

Catching head lice early is vital to helping stop the spread of these itchy pests. It can take 2-4 weeks for outbreak symptoms such as itching to show up, if they do at all. By making weekly lice checks a habit at home, you can help stop an infestation before it gets out of control.

How to perform head lice checks

Work under a bright light and use a nit comb to help remove anything you find. Part your child’s hair and watch for movement as lice will quickly travel away from the light.

Look for eggs stuck to the hair shaft near the scalp. About the size of a poppy seed, they often look like dandruff that can’t be easily removed

Pay particular attention to the nape of the neck, behind the ears and on your child’s bangs to the crown of their head. Recently laid eggs are nearly transparent so it’s helpful to examine hair from different angles.

6 easy steps to reduce infestation risk

1. No sharing. Remind kids to keep belongings that touch the head to themselves.

2. Give them space. Tell school kids and campers to not share cubbies or lockers with friends.

3. Go for an updo. When possible, have children wear long hair pulled back.

4. Play smarter. Encourage children to avoid games that involve head-to-head contact.

5. Keep alert. If you notice your child has symptoms of lice such as excessive head scratching, immediately do a thorough check so you can treat it right away.

6. Tea Tree Oil/Lavender Oil/Peppermint Oil

   A couple of drops of tea tree oil in your child’s shampoo or some lavender oil around their hair line is said to deter head lice. Research has investigated the effectiveness of these oils, and while they don’t completely repel, they do aid in deterring the head lice from habituating in a child’s hair.

Nine tips to avoid head lice

While the news may cover lots of articles about how to treat head lice, there just aren’t very many about how to prevent it. Other than, of course, the tired and true obligatory phrase: “don’t share combs or brushes.” I’m not sure about you, but I don’t see that many kindergartners fluffing and tossing a shampoo-commercial head of hair at school. The underground market for “pre-owned” brushes during recess just doesn’t seem that large. So what reasonable steps can you take to reduce your chances of bringing home head lice? Without being all paranoid and nit-picky, that is?

First, before we dive into this infested topic, brace yourself. The more you know about the wonders of head lice, the more likely you are to spend the next two weeks scratching your head from time to time and shuddering. Thinking about lice too much provokes that kind of reaction. It’s what we highly-skilled professionals in the world of homeless healthcare term, with diagnostic precision, a case of “the heebie-jeebies.”

Second, try to channel a bit of helpful fatalism. People don’t die from head lice. Sure, if you find a louse crawling on your teeny child’s scalp, you might end up flapping your hands and running around in circles while emitting an airless eeh-eeh-eeh scream. But unless you trip, fall and impale yourself on one of Urban Outfitters’ invisible toy sticks, no one’s going to get hurt. Or sick. Maybe nauseated. But not sick.

Even when it comes to changing your life to avoid head lice, it’s important to maintain perspective. As a doctor who works in a homeless clinic, I can tell you that we staff see it all – things that crawl and creep and slither across human skin. What you realize is that reasonable precautions are important. But staying happy, and productive and (frankly) sane means that you’ve just got to shrug and, after taking reasonable precautions, think that hey, what will be will be. Every living creature on this earth has its own version of lice (aphids are plant lice). But I’ve seen friendships and social events and classrooms literally destroyed by the emotional fallout of a head lice outbreak. Which makes you wonder if, really, should we let the little suckers have that much power over us? Instead, we can focus that energy into anti-louse action.

The first way to prevent head lice is to arm yourself with some knowledge. Here are a few important head lice facts to keep in mind:

1) People are infested, on average, four to six WEEKS before they discover they’ve got lice. That means it can be essentially impossible to know who got what, when, from whom. The blame game, in a world of lice, is meaningless. Take it out on the lice – those little creepers are sneaky beyond belief. How sneaky?

2) Lice, except in florid cases, can be harder to diagnose than you might think. Hey, theoretically, all you need for a self-sustaining infestation is one fertilized female louse. They’re tiny. And sometimes speedy (6-32 cm/min). On-going cases exist with as few as 10-15 live lice on a person’s entire head (average = 12).

3) Nit cases are how most diagnoses are made. The louse glues an egg to the base of a hair shaft and the heat of a person’s body incubates the egg. Lice (being nobody’s fool) lay eggs that are, generally, the color of the person’s hair. Only when the egg has hatched, and the hair has grown out, and the “husk” that’s still glued to the hair-shaft pales, can you reliably see the empty cases. But even that is sometimes difficult to be sure about. Telling the difference between normal scalp fluff or skin, and an old nit case, is a job for someone with experience.

4) Shampoo and conditioner won’t help. Keep in mind, getting head lice has nothing to do with hygiene. Trust me, lice don’t actually care how often you wash your hair. They like a nice invigorating shower as much as the next person. You get lice when lice from one head move to another head. That’s it. There’s nothing more to it. Lice has nothing to do with poverty either – they don’t know how much is in your bank account. Lice can be more common when people are living in crowded settings, though, purely because the lice can more easily spread to more heads. Our only saving grace is that they can’t live very long on another surface (max = hours, but not more than 2 days). Lice have to feed (urk – your blood) frequently. Five times a day. And lice can’t jump. They’re not fleas. High heat works to kill them, but we’re talking clothes dryers here. If you try to treat lice by blow-drying high heat on someone’s head, you can burn and/or kill the child (true – there are reported cases where treatment solutions on a head ignite), but the lice are fine – they just move to the other side of the head.

5) Use the star pattern for sleeping arrangements at sleepovers. First, make it a habit, if it’s not already, to have sleeping bags and sleeping-on-the-floor an expected part of sleepovers. No sharing pillows or beds. Second, when night-time comes, instead of putting kids side by side, or lying in a circle with their heads in the middle, try to get kids to lie in a circle with their feet in the middle. A good PR move for encouraging this arrangement is to tell kids that this way everyone gets enough room, and no one is left sleeping on the ends.

6) Beware performance culture! Adults who wouldn’t dream of letting their kids share a comb or a hat seem to forget all precautions when it’s time for a performance. Schools with strict lice policies will hang posters for a production of “Annie!” where 37 kids in two casts swap 6 wigs between 5 scenes. Make-up and hair volunteers will style all kids with the same implements, hair-bands, and hair-ties. And the hats! Don’t get me started on the hats! Make sure your kid’s joy of performing isn’t marred by a 4-6 week delayed mega-infestation. It’s important to have performance programs develop sensible anti-lice precautions. Cosmetic grade disinfectant should be mandatory for hair styling. If that’s not possible, at a minimum, each kid should have their own brush/comb with strict non-sharing supervision. Keep in mind that lice tend to be dead if left on a surface for more than a couple of days, so those elaborate hats for “Dolly” can probably still be used between separate casts, as long as they perform on different days.

8) Safety (equipment) first! Let’s take a moment here and play the Worst Case Scenario Game-show! Which of the following would you choose? What’s behind Door #1 – Skull fracture and death; or Door #2 – Head trauma with a lifelong seizure disorder; OR Door #3 – Itching. Not really much of a comparison, is it? That’s why, when it come to your kid’s long-term health, helmets trump head lice fears any day of the week. Sure, in terms of avoiding head lice, it’s best if everyone has their own, individual head-protection. But if your nine year old son is at a friend’s house and they’ve decided to take on Dead Man’s Cliff with a borrowed skateboard, you want to make sure he knows it’s better to borrow the helmet too – rather than avoid head protection because of lice fears. It gets a bit trickier when expensive protective head gear is shared constantly on a team, and passed among players during the same event/day/tournament. While the practice may not be optimal for lice avoidance, it’s definitely better than having someone forced to take what’s behind Door #1.

9) What’s the deal with movie seats and airline headrests? Once you’re aware of head lice transmission patterns and risks, you’ll probably start to wonder about those cushy movie theater seats. You know, the kind where hundreds of people lean their head back against them, over and over again all day. Can you get head lice from leaning your head back against them? The same question applies to airplane seats. Planes are emptied and refilled rapidly, with only cursory trash removal. Many airlines no longer use (or change!) those flimsy paper headrest covers – and who knows if those even “worked” in the first place? And, since most people can’t know they’ve got a case of head lice until 4-6 weeks after exposure, how would you know one of those seats is where you got it? Unfortunately, I don’t have a definitive answer for you there. What’s reassuring is that most clusters of head lice occur in the same predictable ways – among elementary to middle school kids and their siblings/family members. But if you’re worried, you can do like a nurse friend of mine does – carry a scarf to toss over the seat back, then shove it in a plastic bag afterward to launder and dry on high heat. Does that work? Reasonably, it could, but sorry, again, I don’t have a definitive answer for you there.

Bottom line: We humans are uniquely prone to infestations. Hey, it may be the real reason we’re, as a species, essentially hairless. Which leads me to wonder if the only difference between us and chimps, over time, is that we ARE hairless. After all, if you have to spend all day, every day, picking nits, it’s hard to find time to paint the Mona Lisa. When it comes to recognizing, treating, and containing the spread of lice, we’re all in this together. Be sure to email, tweet or share this information with others, including school officials. But if lice happens in your community, try to avoid the blame game. After all, anyone can have a lousy day.

Lice Advice From a Mother of 12

Lice are in the news, the news has been, um, lousy with stories about lice: lice that are resistant to pyrethroids, the active ingredient in most lice shampoos and preparations; and lice that kids get as a result of posing for selfies, with the little buggers jumping from head to head. Parents are freaking out, because if they can’t get rid of the lice, their kids won’t be able to go to school.

Now, I could have written this article as I usually do, by doing research and citing reputable sources, but then I thought, “Heck. If anyone knows about lice, it’s ME.”

After all, I raised 12 children. I’ve been dealing with lice for over 30, backbreaking years of checking heads, nitpicking, and laundering the bedding whenever I found evidence of an infestation. In my area, lice are rather common, so I’ve had to be vigilant and proactive.

Lice Advice

As a result, I’ve learned a lot about lice over the years, so I thought I’d share my accumulated wisdom with you, dear Reader (don’t thank me, I’m a giver—but not of lice!). So here goes:

Don’t use lice shampoo on a regular basis: So let’s say you and your kids aren’t allergic to lice shampoos or preparations—you still don’t want to use them on a regular basis. I did not need a study to tell me that lice become resistant to the shampoos. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Use it once (meaning: use it, wait two weeks, repeat, as is usually recommended), but then wait until half a year or so has passed before using it again.

Why? Because it simply doesn’t work the second time. The lice get used to it, and it doesn’t kill them anymore. That is what parents in 25 states are now seeing.

Alternate lice preparations: If you don’t want to deal with the lice on your own without shampoos, try a shampoo with a different active ingredient and alternate it with the more usual, more effective pyrethrin-based preparations. This way, the lice won’t become so easily resistant.

Not all lice shampoos are created equal: In theory, it’s a great idea to alternate the types of lice preparations you use, to avoid the issue of lice becoming resistant to the treatments. Unfortunately, the lice preparations that don’t contain pyrethrins aren’t really as effective. In fact, some of them just don’t work and you’ll find you’ve simply thrown away money and wasted time better spent on something else.

Teach kids to keep their heads far from other kids’ heads: In my day, there were no selfies. Instead, kids would get lice standing in line for things, like lining up for the school bus or to get food at the school cafeteria.  Children often don’t understand the concept of personal space. They may stand too close to the child in front and this is how they get lice. The lice can crawl from one head to another. So teach your child to maintain a distance from other kids’ heads. It’s that simple.

No way around the bedding issue: Lice can’t stay alive too long without hair. But they can stay alive for at least a day with no head in sight. That’s why you have to worry about your child’s bedding, after you’ve cleaned out those lice from her head.  You can hang things outside in the sunshine while your child is at school, and this will probably do the trick. But a good washing and a stint in the drier is best. Some parents put blankets and pillows in a tightly closed bag for a day or so, which should kill the lice, since they have no access to a head of hair.

Long hair is easier than short hair for getting rid of lice: Sometimes moms see lice and their first reaction is, HAIRCUT. This is not a good idea. It’s much harder to pull lice off a short strand of hair than off of a long strand of hair. That said, if the hair is very long, that could be difficult for nitpicking, too. Shoulder length is probably best for keeping hair lice-free.

Lice egg colors and what they mean: In my experience, dead lice eggs are whitish, flatter, and dry looking. Technically, you don’t have to worry about them and could leave them in, since they won’t hatch. Lice eggs that can hatch live lice are darker and rounder, and kind of shiny. But the color of both the lice and their eggs seem to adapt a bit to match a child’s hair color. After awhile, you’ll learn to spot them, but it takes some practice.

I believe this is the sum total of what I know about lice to share with you. But if I think of anything, I’ll add an update.

Here’s to lice-free, happy children and stress-free parents!

Lice in my house? Home cleaning guide

When a case of head lice is confirmed in a family, the first step is to check the entire household for lice and find an effective treatment to eradicate lice and keep it from spreading.

Once treatment begins, the next important step is home cleanup. Remember that lice live on the head, not in the home, so there is no need to have your house deep cleaned. Lice can only live off the human head for 24-48 hours. Chemical sprays do not affect lice and can be harmful.

LAUNDRY

Clothing and linens do not need to be washed. Putting the following items in a dryer for 45 minutes on high heat will kill the live bugs.

• Special stuffed animals, blankets or other cloth items they sleep with.

• Bed linens, pillows, comforters, blankets, pillow shams.

• Backpacks, jackets, scarves. Any clothes worn or towels used in the last 48 hours

Anything that cannot withstand the hot dryer cycle or be vacuumed needs to be bagged for 48 hours.

VACUUM

Vacuum common areas where there has been contact within 48 hours of lice detection: 

• Carpet, rugs, cloth sofas and chairs (use damp cloth for leather)

• Cloth car seats and safety seats (or use a lint roller)

• Any large pillows that can’t go in the dryer.

Lice have claws, not sticky feet. They crawl but cannot travel long distances and cannot move at all on hard surfaces.

FREEZE

Hot water will not kill lice so there is no need to boil or wash anything in soapy water. Instead, it’s best to freeze items. Place items in a baggie and then in the freezer and keep it there for 2 days.

• Hair brushes, hair ties, scrunchies

• Helmets and hats

Lice infestations only occur on the head, not in the home, so there is no need to have your house deep cleaned by a cleaning service or yourself. Do not use a pesticide spray in the house or on furniture. Lice are resistant to toxins and the use of pesticides can have harmful side effects.

How To Talk To Your Kids About Head Lice

When your child is sent home from school because he or she has head lice, the first thing you should say is, “You didn’t do anything wrong.” (You should say this to yourself as well!)

It’s true.

If your child comes home from school and says that another kid in school has lice, you can say the same thing. That child (and its parents) didn’t do anything wrong.

The myth that lice happen because of poor hygiene or subpar living conditions has been chipped away at over the years, but the myth and the stigma that follows it are still alive. Kids get lice from hair-to-hair contact with other kids. Period. There are certainly things you can do to help prevent lice from landing on your child’s head—keep long hair pulled tight; discourage sharing hats, brushes and anything else that touches hair—but no amount of hair-washing will prevent a live louse from crawling from one kid’s head to another if the opportunity arises.

Unfortunately, “you didn’t do anything wrong” may not be the message your child has already received at school or day care. School officials and other children may have reacted with fear or alarm that could be interpreted as blame or judgment. 

Tell your child that “catching” head lice is like catching a cold. You get it from someone else, who got it from someone before that. No one did anything wrong. There is no morality involved.

You can also tell your child that head lice aren’t dangerous and that, like a cold, they will go away with appropriate treatment. No big deal. While you’re treating it, you’ll have to be careful not to let is spread to others—repeat the hats and brushes advice.

You can also make a lice encounter a learning experience. Tell your child that lice have been “bugging” people for thousands of years.

Cleopatra had a lice comb in her tomb. Lice have influenced our vocabulary: A “louse” (singular for lice) is someone who behaves badly; “lousy” is defined as “very poor or bad;” a nitwit is someone or something stupid; and a nitpicker is someone who is overly critical. And remember, every time you decide to go through something “with a fine-toothed comb,” you are referring to lice treatment!

Know that you are not alone. There are 6-12 million cases of head lice in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, but do not worry Larger Than Lice offers you a safe, fast and effective way to getting rid of lice and nits and most importantly reducing fear and stress!

Do Home Remedies for Head Lice Work?

If you have a case of head lice on your hands and want to treat it naturally and cost effectively, you may be considering a natural remedy. Home remedies can be appealing because they don’t involve toxic chemicals and neurotoxins that are commonly found in over the counter and prescription treatments. Over the counter options also have a very low effectiveness rate as lice have developed resistance over the years to the chemicals in those products.

The goal of applying a natural solution to the head is to physically suffocate live lice, however most home remedies do not have the properties necessary to properly suffocate all live bugs.

• Olive Oil- Olive oil is too thin to effectively suffocate and kill adult lice. It is able to enter the breathing apparatus of the louse, but the bug is able to expel it (spit it back out!) because of it’s thin consistency.

• Mayonnaise- Mayonnaise is too thick to fully enter the breathing apparatus of the bug in order to suffocate it.

• Mouthwash- Like olive oil, mouthwash is too thin to suffocate lice.

• Cetaphil- Using Cetaphil cleanser to treat head lice can be effective in some cases but is time consuming and uncomfortable. The method involves applying Cetaphil cleanser to the hair, using a blow dryer to dry the lotion to the scalp, essentially creating a shrink wrap like layer. The dry lotion must remain on the head for 8 hours and the process must be repeated 3 times, a week apart.

  The most important thing to remember with all of these methods is that they have no effect on the eggs, which will eventually hatch if every single egg is not removed. Combing is a very tedious and time consuming process, especially on girls with long hair.