I am a Lice Lady. AMA

[Anonymous]

Does one always know when they have lice? I've woken in the night with a bit of an itchy head and even had dreams that I had lice, but then it goes away. I think I've just over-heated on those nights. But I've wondered a lot whether I would really know if I (or the kids) had it. Is it very obvious? Like insanely itchy?

[Anonymous]

No, some people may not notice they have lice until the bugs are literally falling out of their hair onto the table.

Not everyone feels as itchy as other people do. The itchiness is caused by an allergic reaction to the louse saliva. Some people react more than others. And even if you are itchy, just looking at your hair, you may not see them. They are experts at hiding and are well camouflaged. Only when an infestation gets severe are the bugs easily visible to the naked eye. And moms like me in our 40s now may not have the best eyesight anymore.

This is why regular preventive combing is a good idea. You may not know you have it until the whole family is infested, you have given it to your friends, kids at school.... and then it just comes back around again. Better to nip it in the bud with preventive combing.

[Anonymous]

My daughter hasn't had lice (yet!) but I swear, I'm going on amazon right now and getting a lice comb so I can start this preventative combing. Do you recommend a specific comb?

[Anonymous]

Yes, this one. http://www.amazon.com/LiceMeister-Comb-cleaner-card-LiceMeister%C2%AE/dp/B001FVR0KG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406555190&sr=8-1&keywords=licemeister

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this one. http://www.amazon.com/LiceMeister-Comb-cleaner-card-LiceMeister%C2%AE/dp/B001FVR0KG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406555190&sr=8-1&keywords=licemeister

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Omg I have been stressing about lice for weeks since my dd's classmate had it. I combed through dd's thin blonde hair and found nothing, but my head is so itchy!!! It was itchy before the classmate got it. I tried combing through my hair but it's thick and long. If my kid didn't get it, there's no way I did, right? Am I just being paranoid? Since it's been weeks and hasnt gotten better or worse, it's probably just my regular old itchy self, right? Aggghhh this is driving me nuts. (I am a generally itchy person with sensitive skin).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg I have been stressing about lice for weeks since my dd's classmate had it. I combed through dd's thin blonde hair and found nothing, but my head is so itchy!!! It was itchy before the classmate got it. I tried combing through my hair but it's thick and long. If my kid didn't get it, there's no way I did, right? Am I just being paranoid? Since it's been weeks and hasnt gotten better or worse, it's probably just my regular old itchy self, right? Aggghhh this is driving me nuts. (I am a generally itchy person with sensitive skin).

What did you put in your hair when you combed yourself out? Did you use some kind of lubricant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg I have been stressing about lice for weeks since my dd's classmate had it. I combed through dd's thin blonde hair and found nothing, but my head is so itchy!!! It was itchy before the classmate got it. I tried combing through my hair but it's thick and long. If my kid didn't get it, there's no way I did, right? Am I just being paranoid? Since it's been weeks and hasnt gotten better or worse, it's probably just my regular old itchy self, right? Aggghhh this is driving me nuts. (I am a generally itchy person with sensitive skin).

What did you put in your hair when you combed yourself out? Did you use some kind of lubricant?

No. Just did it wet. (I called lice happens and that's what they told me to do). Should I try an oil? Wouldn't I be able to see them at this point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg I have been stressing about lice for weeks since my dd's classmate had it. I combed through dd's thin blonde hair and found nothing, but my head is so itchy!!! It was itchy before the classmate got it. I tried combing through my hair but it's thick and long. If my kid didn't get it, there's no way I did, right? Am I just being paranoid? Since it's been weeks and hasnt gotten better or worse, it's probably just my regular old itchy self, right? Aggghhh this is driving me nuts. (I am a generally itchy person with sensitive skin).

What did you put in your hair when you combed yourself out? Did you use some kind of lubricant?

No. Just did it wet. (I called lice happens and that's what they told me to do). Should I try an oil? Wouldn't I be able to see them at this point?

We went through several bad infestations without seeing a single live louse -- entirely possible if you have long, thick hair. Have someone check your scalp for nits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg I have been stressing about lice for weeks since my dd's classmate had it. I combed through dd's thin blonde hair and found nothing, but my head is so itchy!!! It was itchy before the classmate got it. I tried combing through my hair but it's thick and long. If my kid didn't get it, there's no way I did, right? Am I just being paranoid? Since it's been weeks and hasnt gotten better or worse, it's probably just my regular old itchy self, right? Aggghhh this is driving me nuts. (I am a generally itchy person with sensitive skin).

What did you put in your hair when you combed yourself out? Did you use some kind of lubricant?

No. Just did it wet. (I called lice happens and that's what they told me to do). Should I try an oil? Wouldn't I be able to see them at this point?

I don't recommend that. Ouch!

First, I would shampoo, condition, and use a regular comb to get my snarls out.

Then, get out of the shower. Put a bunch more conditioner in your hair. Use the Licemeister comb and comb it through, making sure the metal tines scrape your scalp (but not too hard). Wipe the conditioner-filled metal comb on a white paper towel. If you see little brown things, it is most likely lice.

[Anonymous]

When DD had lice, we followed the advice of a friend and did an overnight smother (used Crisco instead of olive oil so it wouldn't drip everywhere). I think that made it easier to comb out the lice without them crawling onto me, the kitchen stool, our clothes, etc. Stuffed animals were bagged for the next three weeks. Bedding washed on the sanitize cycle and dried on high. The (chemical-free) works.

We used this comb, which is similar to the LiceMeister:
http://www.amazon.com/Nit-Free-Terminator-Professional-Stainless/dp/B000HIBPV8

I highly recommend buying a lice comb before you need it. We discovered the lice on a Friday night and couldn't find a store with decent lice combs.

DD has really thick, fine hair (fine strands and a LOT of them). It took several hours of back-breaking work to comb through her hair thoroughly. After that first marathon session, I did a quick (15 minute) comb through each morning and a probably a 30-40 minute comb through each evening for the next 2-3 weeks to be sure we had gotten everything and check for re-infestation from classmates.

As for having them without knowing it, by the number of nits on her head, which were starting to hatch, she must have had them for 10-14 days. She would scratch a little bit, but it was winter and has dry scalp anyhow. The day I discovered them she was scratching a bit more than usual.

[Anonymous]

Great thread. Thanks, OP!

Just wanted to add my experience that heavy conditioner (left in the hair) plus careful combing (to pick out each nit!) did the trick when DD got lice earlier this year.

The combing took about an hour, but really wasn't awful. Having the conditioner in the hair while I combed and picked made it easy. DD usually hates brushing her hair, but this was really smooth. And we put on a TV show that we both liked, sat on the floor on towels, and just chilled out. Repeated it again a week later (to get any new nits we may have missed) and that was that. No RIT or pesticides. Just conditioner and a Licemeister comb.

I learned this from my brother, whose son had lice a few months earlier. His advice was to buy a Licemeister comb ASAP so it's at home, ready to go if you need it. Very good advice. Once you discover lice or nits, you won't want to wait another second before getting rid of them!

P.S. Just thinking about this ALWAYS makes my head itch . . . . ugh.

[Anonymous]

OP: Are lice more common now than when we were growing up in the 70s and 80s? I don't remember it being such an issue then.

FWIW, I had heard somewhere that they are more common now, probably because the DDT and some other pesticides have finally worked their way out of the environment. Is that true? If so, it's good news for our health, I hope, but maybe the reason we see more lice and bedbugs now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg I have been stressing about lice for weeks since my dd's classmate had it. I combed through dd's thin blonde hair and found nothing, but my head is so itchy!!! It was itchy before the classmate got it. I tried combing through my hair but it's thick and long. If my kid didn't get it, there's no way I did, right? Am I just being paranoid? Since it's been weeks and hasnt gotten better or worse, it's probably just my regular old itchy self, right? Aggghhh this is driving me nuts. (I am a generally itchy person with sensitive skin).

What did you put in your hair when you combed yourself out? Did you use some kind of lubricant?

No. Just did it wet. (I called lice happens and that's what they told me to do). Should I try an oil? Wouldn't I be able to see them at this point?

I don't recommend that. Ouch!

First, I would shampoo, condition, and use a regular comb to get my snarls out.

Then, get out of the shower. Put a bunch more conditioner in your hair. Use the Licemeister comb and comb it through, making sure the metal tines scrape your scalp (but not too hard). Wipe the conditioner-filled metal comb on a white paper towel. If you see little brown things, it is most likely lice.

I used a regular fine tooth comb, but didn't see anything...Still itchy!!! I'll pick up a lice comb and try again, but for identifying (not doing a full lice removal) is the regular comb probably okay???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When DD had lice, we followed the advice of a friend and did an overnight smother (used Crisco instead of olive oil so it wouldn't drip everywhere). I think that made it easier to comb out the lice without them crawling onto me, the kitchen stool, our clothes, etc. Stuffed animals were bagged for the next three weeks. Bedding washed on the sanitize cycle and dried on high. The (chemical-free) works.

We used this comb, which is similar to the LiceMeister:
http://www.amazon.com/Nit-Free-Terminator-Professional-Stainless/dp/B000HIBPV8

I highly recommend buying a lice comb before you need it. We discovered the lice on a Friday night and couldn't find a store with decent lice combs.

DD has really thick, fine hair (fine strands and a LOT of them). It took several hours of back-breaking work to comb through her hair thoroughly. After that first marathon session, I did a quick (15 minute) comb through each morning and a probably a 30-40 minute comb through each evening for the next 2-3 weeks to be sure we had gotten everything and check for re-infestation from classmates.

As for having them without knowing it, by the number of nits on her head, which were starting to hatch, she must have had them for 10-14 days. She would scratch a little bit, but it was winter and has dry scalp anyhow. The day I discovered them she was scratching a bit more than usual.

FYI lice don't live for very long away from a human host. Bagging stuffed animals for that long is unnecessary. Also, lice are not very agile. They are rather feeble. One day my DH left a paper towel of lice from our daughter out for me to see when I got home. All the lice were in their original position on the paper towel that evening. They thrive by falling off one person's hair, for example, in a hat, on a car seat or movie theatre seat, on bedding, and then climbing onto a new person, OR head-to-head contact. They wouldn't be able to do much if they were on a kitchen stool.

I recommend changing bed sheets and that's about the only cleaning you have to do. The follow up combing will catch and eliminate any stragglers that climb back on or newly hatch.