How common are lice?

[Anonymous]

Many families I know have had lice lately. I can think of five or six and that is just the people who have told me. It has me a little freaked out. Is it everywhere, and I have just been in denial, or is this unusual? What can I do to prevent? My DD is 7 and has long thick hair.

[Anonymous]

Keep her hair braided. It helps.

[skatnixpanda]

To prevent lice, there are a few things you can do. Encourage your daughter to avoid sharing combs, brushes, hats, and other personal items with her friends, and teach her about the importance of personal hygiene. Regularly checking her hair for any signs of lice and nits can also help catch them early.

[Anonymous]

Pediatricians and teachers consider it a common occuring.

[Anonymous]

So so common. When there’s a lice outbreak at school, I put DD’s hair in a tight bun then coat her whole head in a ton of cheap hairspray like Aquanet. Lice don’t like the sticky texture of hairspray, so it works as a repellent in addition to keeping her hair tight to her head all day. Then nightly live combing in the bathtub for 2-3 weeks. It’s a pain, but we’ve been through half a dozen outbreaks and have never gotten it.

[Anonymous]

Very common. You can prevent it by periodically combing through her hair with a lice comb to make sure she doesn’t have it, or at least to catch it early. And if she gets it, the key is more combing because the lice shampoo is pretty worthless on its own.

[Anonymous]

I have two girls who are now teens. We had lice twice.

[Anonymous]

skatnixpanda wrote:To prevent lice, there are a few things you can do. Encourage your daughter to avoid sharing combs, brushes, hats, and other personal items with her friends, and teach her about the importance of personal hygiene. Regularly checking her hair for any signs of lice and nits can also help catch them early.

None of this really helps. I mean, its good practice in general but it doesn't prevent lice. Lice transfer from live host to live host. Think two kids sitting on the floor looking at the same computer/tablet screen head to head.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the info. Scratching my head reading this. Ahhhh!

[Anonymous]

Between 3rd and 5th grade, I think dd had it 5 times. She has long thick hair as well. Each time I took her straight to the lice lady to deal with, while spouse stripped her bed and washed everything in hot water,
followed by prolonged time in the dryer. By MS, she didn't get it any more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many families I know have had lice lately. I can think of five or six and that is just the people who have told me. It has me a little freaked out. Is it everywhere, and I have just been in denial, or is this unusual? What can I do to prevent? My DD is 7 and has long thick hair.

Hair is braided and up. Don't share hats, combs, umbrellas, jackets, hair accessories, etc. Kids don't ride in other people's vehicles.

[Anonymous]

I think I have PTSD from all the times my kids got lice. I think they each had it four times. With boys, shave the head bald, wash all the clothes and bedding, and that'll take care of it. For my daughter, we'd spend hours removing the little eggs. The last time,. I took her to a lice removal place. It was worth every penny!

[Anonymous]

I somehow never had lice as a kid but have had it two times as an adult -- the first in my 20s when rolling around with little cousins and the second time when my kid caught it at day care (shared brush on school picture day!). My kid got it again in elementary school but didn't spread it.

I am the wacky person who thinks lice is super easy to get rid of (way easier than dog parasites and bed bugs, which I've also dealt with). We don't use the lice shampoo (bad chemicals and not so effective). Instead we buy a relatively natural product (Lice Freee) that Whole Foods sells and works super effectively. We also use hair dryers several times a day, shake the head into the sink, and (kinda gross) the dead bugs fall out. The heat from the hair dryer will also kill most of the nits. We keep the hair dryer going each day over the duration of the life cycle of the lice. If some nit does hatch, it will be killed as a bug before it reaches the reproduction stage. We do over time get the nits out for cosmetic reasons, but they are already dead. We wash pillow cases carefully for a couple of days but don't do more involved laundry; the bugs don't survive off of a human head for long at all.

[Anonymous]

Extremely common. Buy a good comb from Amazon- I like the Nit Free Terminator because the lice get stuck in the little grooves on the tines. The shampoo is useless. Comb daily, then every other day if you stop finding things.

Be sure to comb yourself and to check your DH.

[Anonymous]

I'm in my 40s and have never had lice, nor has my husband and his family, nor have my kids, now teens and adults, nor have any of their close friends. We're all Asian. However all the Caucasian people we know have had lice, and some of their kids even had lice while playing with my kids.

I'm wondering if there's something about the Asian hair follicule that tends to not attract lice?