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.

How Lice Survive

When a family is afflicted with head lice, there is a tendency to panic. Dealing with head lice can be frightening and stressful, primarily because people don’t tend to talk about how to treat head lice until they are dealing with them, which is when they are frantic and frustrated.

Understanding how head lice survive can help reduce some of the fear and anxiety associated with an outbreak. Lice are parasitic insects.  This means that lice survive by having some kind of host to provide an environment where they can survive and propagate. Head lice have evolved with humans for hundreds of thousands of years, forming a parasitic relationship with us to the point where now the only environment lice can live is on a human scalp with hair. The hair is their home, and the scalp is where they get food. They have developed six claws designed specifically to attach to human hairs close to the scalp where the lice can sip blood.

Life of a Louse

The life of a louse (singular for lice) starts as an egg or nit. Female lice lay about a half-dozen eggs every day.  The nit is a tiny yellow speck about 1 millimeter long with a glue-like surface. Nits are very difficult to see and remove (hence the term “nitpicker” to describe someone with extreme attention to detail). Nits hatch after 7-10 days and begin life as immature nymphs. After about 10 days, they grow to full size.  

Lice survive by eating several times a day. They move onto the scalp and pierce it to draw blood. Lice can’t live without a human host for more than 24 hours. This is important to know when dealing with an infestation because there are some misconceptions about how lice spread and how to respond. Lice cannot “fall” on pillows, sheets, stuffed animals, and other bedding unless the hair that they are attached to fall. But they can’t live on these surfaces, or on hats, scarves, furniture, or carpet. They also can’t live on pets or any other animals.

Nits can’t live without a human host. The warmth of the body provides the needed heat for nits to gestate. Nits that are removed or that fall in the form of lost hair die before they hatch.

How to Clear your Home of Lice

All of this means that if your child has lice, you don’t need to fumigate your house or pack away anything made of fabric in plastic bags for weeks. You just need to wash the clothes, bedding and towels that the person with lice has used, and dry them in high heat (lice can live underwater for several hours). Any stuffed animals on the bed can be put in the dryer for about 20 minutes on high heat to kill any lice and eggs. It is also important to wash any brushes or other hair accessories that may have been used by the person with lice. The CDC recommends washing in hot water (at least 130 degrees). It is also important to think of other places where the person with lice has put his or her head where hairs with lice may have fallen—hats, backpacks, car seats, etc.

Lice can’t fly. They can barely move at all. They only spread by moving from one person’s hair to another person’s hair when the people are making hair-to-hair contact—either directly or through items with hair on them.

Quick Preventative Lice Reminders

Here are few quick reminders for preventing and checking for lice:

1.  Take a peek at your child’s hair once a week!

   It is crucial that you find the bug before it has time to proceed through it's 30 day life cycle (in which many nits are laid). Check the "Hot Spots". Lice tend to love hanging out in certain areas of the head. The "Hot Spots" are; the nape of the neck, behind the ears and the crown of the head. Remember, not everyone is allergic to the saliva of the bug (only 50% of people are). Therefore, not everyone will itch as a result of having lice. Checking the hair regularly, is HIGHLY recommended.

2. No loose strands!

   The more strands of hair that are loose, the easier it is for a louse (singular for lice) to CRAWL (not jump or fly) to your head. Think of it as a jungle of vines for Tarzan to have a hay day of swinging! Wearing a braid or bun are the most ideal hairstyles to avoid easy transfer.

3. Use mint spray!

   Mint spray is the strongest scent that lice are not fond of. If you have short or long hair, it is highly recommended to spray the entire surface of the hair. Mint spray can also be used on hats, clothes, helmets, backpacks, bed linens, furniture, etc. Remember this: The STRONGER the smell (of peppermint), the better.

   If you find any signs of lice we are here to help! Give us a call at Larger Than Lice on our 24/7 line at (646)838-2011 if you have any questions or want to book an appointment. Visit our website at largerthanlice.com to book online or learn more about us.

Be A Friend, Tell A Friend!

LICE. When it happens to ourselves or our child(ren), we tend to feel like we have to keep it a secret. Yes, it's "embarrassing". Yes, it is "contagious". But are you really doing yourself good keeping this secret from friends and family? The answer is... you guessed it, no. If we're going to put so much blood, sweat and tears into nit and bug picking, deep cleaning the house, doing a million loads of laundry, straining our eyes, backs and patience, then we should at least do ourselves one solid... Make sure it doesn't come back!

Okay so, think of head lice as mosquitoes. If you were to get bit by a mosquito at a BBQ, and later find out that you contracted a virus from a bite, wouldn't you want your closest family and friends (whom attended the same event) to know that they should be cautious and be proactive in getting checked out? I don't want to compare having head lice, to having Zika or anything, but I think you can catch my drift. It's not your fault a bug liked you and your special, irresistibly-delicious smelling blood. You didn't flaunt the smell of it to these suckers! So why be embarrassed of a situation that you didn't ask for? Yes, there are preventatives, but when you're trying to "live your best life", who thinks of preventatives? Right? Exactly.

Getting rid of lice is a pain in the neck, back, and rear. Fortunately, you can help yourself from passing it back and forth within your inner circle by being a friend, and telling a friend. When you tell a friend, their first reaction will be "(insert gasp)", then they'll think, "Ew, OMG! I knew my head was extra itchy lately", but their final thought after checking into it, will be, "Wow, my friend is a good friend". Because in reality, we don't HAVE to tell anyone, but if we don't, we run the risk of allowing ourselves to get it again very easily and quickly. Whodini, sang it best, "Friends. How many of us have them? Friends. Ones we can depend on"... to be honest about having lice and telling me because you might have given it to me. Friends.

Why Do Children Get Lice More Often Than Adults?

When you ask yourself how do you get lice, you also want to know why your kids get head lice more often than you or other adults.

Have you ever noticed that in some families, head lice seem to be coming back again and again, affecting all the kids, but the parents do not get them?

Among other factors, according to experts, this may be linked to the particular scalp pH of each individual.

Basically the pH is a measure of the level of acidity of a substance, in this case, your head. A pH of 7 means the acidity level is neutral.

The pH of our skin is variable but moves in a safe range between 4.5 and 5.5. This is what is known as an acidic pH. And guess what?

This acid layer will act as the first barrier of defense of our body against all kinds of infections, whether bacterial, viral or fungal.

When we are born, our skin pH of 7 is neutral, and as we grow up it slowly changes to develop what is called the acid mantle of the skin. This acid mantle is created by the body as a protective shield.

When a child turns 12 years old approximately (at puberty) this acid layer is practically formed and from 20 years old this acid mantle is well trained to provide good protection against external environmental factors that can harm us.

The acid mantle is a very fine, slightly acidic film on the surface of the skin acting as a barrier to bacteria, viruses and other potential contaminants that might penetrate the skin.

The pH of the skin is between 4.5 and 6.2, so it is acidic.

These contaminants and other chemicals are primarily alkaline in nature and the skin’s moderate acidity helps to neutralize their chemical effects. 

This is why when a child is under 12 years old, his skin is not fully acidic and does not act as a barrier against viruses and bacteria.

And this is why children are much more affected by head lice than adults.

Then, among adults, some parents will always get lice while others will treat their children year after year without ever getting a single louse themselves. This is because not every individual has the same skin pH.

Some people have a more acidic skin and this will be too much for lice. Of course this is not enough to explain everything, but it is an important factor.

Similarly, some kids seem to never get affected by head lice, for the same reason.

They will have a skin that is more acid than their friends or cousins.

Interestingly enough, head lice home remedies can also act as lice repellents because of the pH of the skin.