Lice do not jump or fly, they simply crawl (9 inches p/min) from head to head.
Head Lice have become VERY resistant to over-the-counter (& even prescription) products. The best way to elimitae is to remove them from the head.
Head Lice is the 2nd most common reason for children to be absent from school, only after the cold!
The Larger Than Lice uses only chemical-free, safe products for our lice trearments.
You're lice free, now what?
After our visit:
1) Change sheets on any bed the infested person might have slept in, in the last 24 - 48 hours. Wash and Dry in HOT temperatures or thrown in dirty clothes.
2) If you lay on comforters or bedspreads, they can be removed from the bed for 24 hours or thrown into the dryer for 30 to 45 minutes on high heat.
3) Combs, brushes and hair ties used only in the last 24 hours can be cleaned by any of the following methods:
a. Place in alcohol, ammonia or dish detergent and allow them to soak for a minimum of two hours.
b. Put into boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes.
c. Put in a ziploc bag and place in freezer overnight.
d. Place in your dishwasher on a hot cycle.
e. Also, simply dont use them for 24 hours.
4) Run a light vacuum on areas where child frequently sits or lays, including floors, furniture, auto, and other upholstered items. In the absence of a vacuum cleaner, you may use a lint remover brush on sofa, etc, or throw a sheet over the item for 24 hours.
5) If your child sleeps with a stuffed animal or blanket, be sure to put them in the hot dryer for at least 30 minutes.
6) Provide child with clean pajamas and bath towel.
7) Be a friend and tell a friend. Notify your child’s school and any close friends who may have been in contact with your child. Remember, it is not just where the child got lice BUT who the child gave it to as well. Failing to notify contacts could put your child at risk for re-infestation.
8) Make head checks a part of your weekly routine. Early detection is the only way to stop head lice from escalating or spreading!
9) Reduce your child’s chances for re-infestation. Keep girls’ hair pulled back, any time they are playing with others. Shampoo regularly using a mint-based shampoo or lice prevention shampoo to identify. Use a mint-based leave-in spritz on the hair before leaving home. Comb with lice comb once or twice a week and watch for signs of head lice. Lastly, Play It Safe! Know who you are coming in contact with and NEVER knowingly expose yourself to head lice.
*** REMEMBER, YOU’RE NOT ALONE IN YOUR EXPERIENCE! HAVING HEAD LICE IS NO WORSE THAN A BAD COLD AND SHOULD BE NO MORE EMBARRASING THAN A CASE OF CHICKEN POX!!!***
How to make my own head lice prevention hair spray?
Lice Solution Recipies.
3 oz. water
10 drops Cedarwood Essential Oil (anti-septict, astringent anti-fungal)
17 drops Lavender Esssential Oil (anti-flammatory, antipasmodic, anti-toxic, tonic)
3 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil (anti-bacterial, anti-fugal, desinfectant)
Directions:
Using an empty spray bottle, add the water and essentials oils and shake well.
Spray the solution on dry or wet hair. Repeat daily.
Follow-up Instructions After a Lice Treatment
Be concerned only with items that have been in contac with infested individuals’ hair in the last 24 to 48 hours.
Replace sheets, towels, and PJs with clean ones. If child sleeps with comforter or blanket, you can dry them on high heat for 20 minutes. If your child sleeps with any stuffed animals, put them into a hot dryer for 20 minutes, or refrain fom using them for 48 hours.
Avoid lice sprays! They don’t work and can cause problems for individuals with upper respiratory problems. Run a light vacuum on items on which child sits regularly, and in the absence of a vacuum you may use a lint brush on a sofa, etc., or just cover with an old sheet for 48 hours.
Backpacks can be washed or wiped down with hot water.
Most mothers waste both time and energy doing countless loads of wash of bed linens and clothes. Lice are not living in your enviroment. They are living on your head. Time is better spent checking the children’s heads and calling anyone with whom they have had contact in the last several weeks.
Remove hair from brushes. Wash nit comb an old toothbrush or nailbrush. Soak in any solvent for at least 2 hours or boiling water for 10 minutes, or bag and freeze for 2 hours.
Notify your child’s school, camp, childcare provider, neighborhood parents and friends with whom you have been in contact. Failing to do so will only put your child back at risk of being re-infested with head lice.
Watch for signs of head lice such as frequent head scratching. Keep in mind that only 50% of individuals with head lice actually scratch their heads. Scratching is an allergic reaction to the lice’s saliva.
Keep long hair up or in a braid or ponytail. Doing so reduces chances of lice spreading while less than 2% of cases comes from items in our environment, children who share helmets can either wear a bandanna on their heads or use moist wipe (such as baby wipe) to clean the helmet after each use. You could also buy the children their own helmets.
Head-to-head contact is the most common way to get head lice, such as play time, slumber parties, sports activities, car pool, or camp, i.e., anywhere that heads are in contact with other heads.
Comb through the infected person’s head using a nit comb for 2 to 5 minutes once or twice a week for three weeks. If after the first couple of checks you are still combing nits out, please contact Larger Than Lice.
When a person is deemed clear of head lice, it does not mean that screening should stop. Regular combing should become part of everyone’s weekly routine.
I Spent Years Dreading the Day My Daughter Would Get Lice — and Then It Happened
I had just escaped from my kids, handing them off to my husband to take a few minutes to myself before the chaos of bath and bedtime began. The calm didn't last long. Five minutes later, he entered our bedroom and announced that our daughter had lice. "Are you sure?" I responded, hoping, of course, that the answer was no. "Look for yourself," he replied instead. I did, and yep, that definitely wasn't a case of dandruff. Those were bugs crawling around on my daughter's head.
Her lice took me by surprise (though is anyone really expecting it?). Months before, when I got notes home from school about the cases reported in her classroom, or when her best friend's mom called to let me know her daughter and son, who had been in my carpool just that afternoon, were both lice-infected, I had braced myself for an impending doom that never came. I heard horror stories from my neighbor, mom to one of my daughter's classmates, about her whole family battling lice. At one point, she said, she was seriously considering shaving her own head just to ensure she'd gotten them all.
My own scalp immediately began itching, though my husband couldn't spot a single nit (weeks later, that phantom itching still happens every time I even think about the word "lice"), and I began picturing the long, complicated, and annoying process that ridding our family and home of lice would entail. I'm glad to say that although it was pretty annoying (never have my washer and dryer worked harder), we were able to defeat the lice — it ended up only affecting my daughter, who luckily had a mild case — within 24 hours. Here are six things I learned about lice and getting rid of it that I never knew. If your house comes down with a case, don't despair. You can vanquish those annoying bugs quickly and thoroughly.
Related:
My Toddler's Eardrum Ruptured and I Didn't Even Know It
Lice are only passed through head-to-head contact. Head lice don't crawl, jump, or fly. The main way they spread is from close, prolonged head-to-head contact, and to a lesser degree, they spread through items that come into contact with an infected head, like brushes, hats, and (at our school found out last year) the helmets used in gym class.
You'll almost certainly know them when you or your child gets them. When friends and classmates of my daughter's got lice, I checked her head obsessively, wondering if I was missing something. I wasn't. She was clear. When she actually did have lice, she complained about her head itching, and when we checked, it was pretty easy to spot a few bugs (they're called a louse, are around two millimeters long, and are pale gray in color) crawling around on that head of hers. Because she's blond, the nits (tiny white or yellow eggs that attach to the hair with a sticky substance that holds them firmly in place) were harder to spot, but because of the bugs, we knew they were there.
Lice don't live long off a head. Head lice only live with the aid of a scalp to feed on (gross, I know). Once they leave a head, they're usually dead in a day, two tops, so don't feel like you have to fumigate your whole house. Instead, focus on the things that have come in contact with your child's head over the past 48 hours (beds, brushes, hats and hair bands, towels, and clothing are the big ones).
A laundry cycle will kill lice. Wash all bedding and clothing that's come in contact with the a louse-infested person in very hot water, then put it in the hot cycle of the dryer for at least 20 minutes, and you're golden. I continued to wash my daughter's pillowcases every morning for a few more days just to be safe.
Isolate or clean items that can't be washed. You can put items like stuffed animals in a bag or simply isolate them from your child and you can be assured that they'll be lice free in a few days. Simply vacuum rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, and your car. Hair items like brushes, hair ties, and headbands, you can either wash in hot water, soak in rubbing alcohol for an hour, or simply toss.
Don't be afraid to call in the professionals. When I texted my neighbor who was threatening to go bald the previous year because of lice, she directed me to a nearby "salon" that focuses solely on removing lice. While the service wasn't cheap (because of my daughter's mild case, we opted for the shorter comb out, which was still around $150). However, they were able to remove almost the 55 nits that were still inhabiting my daughter's head after we used special lice shampoo and spent three hours combing out her hair the night before. We also bought a far superior comb than the one that came with the drugstore lice shampoo we'd used. After that one service, the lice were gone, so in my mind, it was definitely money well spent. We followed their comb-out advice and kept checking for the next few weeks, but thankfully, not a nit was found.
Professional Lice Removal - Not as expensive as you think.
A professional lice removal clinic is a new concept for a lot of people. We hear, “I didn’t even know there were places like this!” or “I couldn’t afford a place like that – it must be so expensive!” You’d be surprised that you will actually save money seeing us! Let me explain why you should let us help you in the unfortunate event you’re ever faced with this lousy problem.
Let’s use the example of an average family of four. One of them has lice. Statistics show that in a family where there is one case of lice, there is an 85% chance of another family member having it too. Because the mere mention of head lice elicits a panic like no other, families often run to the pharmacy and buy enough lice kits to treat a small country! Well, they at least buy one for every family member – just to be “safe”. Over the counter lice treatment kits are $25-$50 each, depending on the brand. So this family just spent $75-$200 right off the bat.
If the family consulted a doctor for help with head lice, they had to pay for an office visit which is roughly $250. If a prescription lice treatment is recommended, this family will pay $150-$310 for one prescription. Not only are these products filled with pesticides, but lice have become resistant to them due to the evolution of “Super Lice.” One prescription, Malathion, comes with a warning to not go out in the sun after treatment because your hair could start on fire. Yes, it is true!
Larger Than Lice has only been in business now for three years. At this time, we’ve helped thousand of families. I know of only ONE family that successfully treated their head lice at home. Of the families that we’ve met that were unsuccessful, they struggled anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 years with trying to become lice free. This is some serious business people here! These families have missed countless days of school, work, after school activities, sports, social events, and the list goes on and on and on. Feelings of frustration, depression, anger, fear, stress, and repulsion can all affect the family dynamic during this time. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through this for one day, let alone 3 weeks to 2 years! It sounds absolutely horrible!
So what is the solution? At the first suspicion of head lice, or any potential contact with head lice, call US - Larger Than Lice! Let me tell you what we can do……we will SUCESSFULLY treat your family the first time and GUARANTEE to keep you lice free for 21 days!!! A priceless peace of mind not to mention the freedom to not spend unnecessary hours cleaning what you don’t need to clean!
SO back to our scenario, our sample family of four treated everyone in the family, just to be safe @ $25-$310 per person. Mom missed 3 days of work trying to treat the family and clean the house. Our sample Mom makes $40,000/year, so she lost $500 in wages. Doctor visit cost $250. The family most likely threw away every brush, comb, hair ties, and even pillows thinking this will help make it all go away. Replacing these items could cost anywhere from $50-$300 + depending on how frantic things got. What’s the total? Over the counter lice kits for every family member: $75-$200, Doctor visit: $250, Prescription lice treatment kit: $150-$300 for each person positively diagnosed with head lice. Missed wages: $500, Replacing items thrown away: $50-$300 + Trying to tackle head lice on their own cost our sample family at minimum $872 - $1300. Because most families end up dealing with head lice for so long, this sample cost could go much higher.
At Larger Than Lice, our average treatment time is 1.5- 2 hours per case of head lice. We only treat clients that HAVE head lice. As mentioned above, 2 out of the 4 family members likely have lice. ($150 - $250) In addition, we are available day, evening, and weekend hours so no missed days of school, work, after school activities, sports, or social events! So, our sample family spent around $400 for our services. As a bonus, we provide education and counseling on treatment and prevention free of charge. The family learns what needs to be done at home – nothing needs to be thrown away!!! And let’s not forget about our amazing 21 day guarantee! If head lice are found at either the 15 day head check or the 21 day head check, we treat again absolutely FREE!
In summary, Larger Than Lice is a professional lice removal clinic with THE best certified and trained staff in the New York metropolitan area! Letting us treat your head lice will actually save you money! The relief, joy, and unwasted time we can provide is priceless! Just sit back and relax because you're in the best hands with Larger Than Lice!
De-lousing the house
Parents frequently ask us at Larger Than Lice how to remove head lice within the home. If I can only count how many times I, or one of our Lice Specialists have arrived to a home only to find ten, twenty, thirty garbage bags full of “household things”. One family even went as far as removing their curtains, just in case. On top of all that, countless numbers of laundry loads have already been done. No wonder head lice becomes such a stressful event for many parents. I almost feel bad telling the families that all this cleaning is just excessive and not necessary at all. That’s right. Excessive cleaning is not at all required when you, or your child has a case of lice.
The reason? Head lice live on the head. They do not live on inanimate objects. They have no interest in leaving one’s head to go wander around on the living room couch, or kitchen floor, or roam the car. A human host is the only place they want to be, the only place that they can potentially survive a whole month while they feed off of the blood of an individual. Typically, a louse that has fallen off the head is not healthy and is in the process of dying. Once they are away from their feeding source, a louse can only survive up to 24 hours. And let's pretend as though a healthy louse has fallen off and has found its way onto the couch- it will not burrow or sit around and wait for another human to sweep it off its feet and place it back into a new head. The chances of getting a displaced louse back into one’s hair are as small as finding a needle in a haystack, nearly impossible.
Remember that lice are not living in your environment, they are living with you!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some things that need to be cleaned and laundered, but the list is very minimal. Laundering the bedding, any recently used towels and bathrobes is important. Same goes for all recently used hairbrushes and hair accessories. Bagging, laundering or drying on high heat should be considered for any stuffed toys that reside in your child’s bed. That is it. Use the rest of your energy on properly eliminating head lice and nit picking. Being meticulous is essential if you want to rid head lice for good. Removing every single nit is crucial to being lice free so make sure that no nits are left behind, which is exactly what Larger Than Lice are experts in.
When Larger Than Lice dispatches a Lice Specialist for an in-home lice removal treatment, you can rest assured that every single live louse and viable nit will be removed – in just one visit. After one lice treatment, and minimal laundering, you can rest at ease and be confident that your home will be lice-free.
Mutant Lice Resistant to Treatment Found in 25 States
Head lice are freaky enough as-is, but new research has discovered there’s a strain of mutant lice that is resistant to over-the-counter treatments — and they’re found in at least 25 U.S. States.
Kyong Sup Yoon, PhD, an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University, presented his findings Tuesday at the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting & Exposition.
Yoon and his team collected lice samples from a large number of populations across 30 states in the U.S. They discovered that 104 out of 109 lice populations had high levels of gene mutations, which make them resistant to pyrethroids.
Pyrethroids are a group of common insecticides that includes permethrin, the active ingredient in the most common head lice treatment products sold at drug stores.
That means if you or your child contracts head lice, there’s a very good chance that the widely available treatments won’t get rid of it.
“It’s kind of alarming,” Yoon tells Yahoo Health. “A ton of products is not working.” It’s worth noting that Yoon’s study is ongoing, meaning these mutant lice may be in more than 25 states.
It doesn’t look promising for the rest of the untested states, based on Yoon’s findings: Michigan is the only state so far to have a population of lice that is still largely treatable with common over the counter treatments.
While the news is shocking to most people, he says it isn’t to the research community, which has known for years that pyrethroid-resistant lice were proliferating.
- But how did this happen?
It’s much in the same way that antibiotic resistance occurs or can occur, Yoon says. When a product is widely available and even overused, it can create a new problem. Most head lice treatments are available without a prescription, increasing the chances that they will be overused.
In this case, super lice formed a drug resistance that spread as they procreated. “Permethrin is a great chemical because it’s very safe to use on humans, but we lost it because of the lack of resistance management,” says Yoon.
Luckily, this doesn’t mean that you or your child is doomed to a life with a head lice if it’s contracted.
Pharmaceutical companies have developed some lice-battling products that don’t contain permethrin, Yoon says, but many are only available with a prescription.
There are also a number of home remedies that are inexpensive and non-toxic, Jake Deutsch, MD, founder and clinical director of New York’s CURE Urgent Care, tells Yahoo Health. Those include using essential oils like tea tree, clove oil, and nutmeg oil, as well as vinegar.
But, if you prefer sticking with a more traditional louse-killing treatment, Sklice, Ovide, and Natroba, are good options, Deutsch says.
If you or your child contracts head lice, don’t use an over-the-counter treatment (unless you live in Michigan), Yoon says: You’re likely wasting your money. Instead, call your doctor.
