Head lice are the bane of grade school children and especially young girls. Most parents cringe when they see their little darling starting to scratch her head. Just thinking of head lice is enough to make most people feel their scalp begin to itch. Uncomfortable is far to mild to describe the feelings that head lice evoke. Treating an infestation can be an ordeal. Having to repeat it regularly because of a four-foot-tall head lice factory in a school classroom is even worse.
There are several fronts that you need to fight the battle of the louse. The obvious one is to go to your local pharmacy and buy a home remedy. This consists of an anti-lice shampoo like Rid or Nix. These are vile smelling potions concocted to kill lice and make the person infected rue the day it happened. As awful as these are, it is not recommended to douse her head with a flammable liquid to kill of the swarm. Many children have been seriously hurt when a stray flame got to close to their head. Stick with the commercial shampoos designed for this use.
Following the directions on the bottle is the easiest way to do the hair cleaning. You apply this stuff and then start the countdown while the poison does its work on the lice. Prayers need to be offered that the lice die before your loved one. They always do.
Now, step two for even more fun. Inside the box that held the bug killing shampoo is a little comb with tiny teeth. You have to divide the hair into sections and begin the laborious task of combing through the hair to remove the nits. These are the sacs that lice attach to the base of the hair shaft. Most shampoos will kill the eggs inside th sacs. However, most schools today have a no-nit policy before they allow your child back into the classroom. So, the combing is necessary. Every hair has to be combed to get rid of the nits. The comb needs to be frequently cleaned to get rid of the nits that can get caught in the teeth of the comb.
Once you have finished combing every strand of hair, I recommend that you get some shampoo that smells good and re-wash your child's hair. Of course, you probably need to do you hair and everyone else in the family to be sure to kill of all of the lice.
After getting rid of the critters from everyone's head, you get to go onto the next step. All of the beds need to be stripped. Wash the linens in really hot water to scald the any of the little devils that may be lurking there into submission. When you bought the shampoo, you should have bought a can or two of lice spray. Now, generously broadcast this spray on every surface where a human head may be likely touch.
Things like fuzzy toys and items that can not be washed should be bagged into a large trash bag. Spray into the bag and seal it for 24 hours. The experts say that 24 hours is the maximum amount of time that a louse can live away from a human host. In really bad cases, you may have to buy some anti-lice foggers and fog the house. This will mean that you might have to vacate your house for 2 to 4 hours while it does its work.
Try your best to fix your daughter's hair into a style that does not hang down and give her specific instructions not to wear anyone's coat, hat, or touch heads. If the infestation keeps reappearing, you may have to cut your child's hair short for a while. Fortunately, if the school or church is diligent, you should not have to resort to this extreme measure.
