Girls) – Parenting
Being in child care I’ve learned tons about lice over the years. So here’s some info that may be of help.
Lice is actually very common and tends to be found more often in clean hair/homes than filthy ones, much to the contrary of popular beliefs. Clean hair presents a nice porous hair shaft for the eggs to be attached, while oily hair does not.
If you have live lice and eggs then you’ve had lice in your house at least a week, likely longer, and it could have come from anywhere. For example: *If anyone sat in your car that had lice, all it takes is for one to be left behind on the seat. It could have then gotten onto the next person who sat there. *Anyone that might have tried on a hat in a store, used someone else’s brush or laid down on anyone else’s couch/bed could have gotten them from one of those places. *It could have come from someone while they were brushing their hair or blow drying their hair close by someone in your family. (they don’t jump but can be flung while using a brush or dryer) And so on. Since you have found them on each family member, realize it didn’t necessarily come from the child whose hair it was first found in. You or your husband could have just as easily unknowingly brought it in.
Irregardless there are some things you need to do in order to insure you don’t continue the cycle in your household. There are many ways to ‘treat’ hair, however none will be successful unless all eggs are removed in addtion to the live lice. Once you’ve used a chemical treatment, if that’s your choice, do NOT use it again until the time frame specified. Eggs are not typically killed by all chemicals and they take 7-10 days to hatch. If you use it before that time then you will still have live ones hatching soon.
An egg that is still attached right at the scalp and is extremely difficult to get off the hair shaft, is still alive. It is imperative to get those off so they cannot hatch.
Live lice can live at least 2 weeks off the body, so you have to treat, in some manner, everything that is fabric of any sort. This included in your house and cars and any other family member or friends that have been visited in the last week or so. There are a couple of easy ways to do this without using chemicals.
First, a thorough vacuuming of all car upholstry, carpets, furniture upholstry and mattresses that everyone has come into contact with since the earliest date they could have had them. Then dispose the contents of the bags since they can’t live more than about 2 weeks off human scalps.
Second, all clothing/bedding that can be washed and dried needs to be done in full if it’s been used in the last few weeks. This is because high heat kills them as well. (this explains why it’s more prevelant that younger kids get lice more often than older ones/adults since they are more prone to blow dry their hair daily)
Last, anything that cannot be vacuumed or washed/dried should be sealed in plastic bags and stored for at least 2 weeks. This would be things like stuffed animals or throw pillows.
The most important thing to remember is that after doing all that, if you haven’t gotten rid of all the eggs, you will soon be doing it again.
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