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Our Story

When I discovered head lice on my daughter I couldn't believe it. My daughter got lice in the middle of summer vacation. I thought summer was the time I could relax and not worry about infestations and regular lice checks. This was my first experience with lice and I sure hope my last. I thought I'd share what I learned about these little critters with you.

I know that many people have a secret recipe for a head lice remedy. Here's mine:

2 parts olive oil
1 part white vinegar total to equal about a 1/2 cup
add : 20 drops tea tree oil
20 drops lavender essential oil
10 drops rosemary essential oil

mix thoroughly and saturate the hair with this solution. Save any left overs for the next night. Leave it on over night. Wash out in the morning.

There is a lot more to getting rid of lice than using a pediculicide or alternative remedy on the hair. I obsessed about it until I knew it was under control. Here's what I did. I checked everyone's hair daily to make sure no one else had any. I changed everyone's bedding and vacuumed everywhere. I changed my daughter's bedding daily, until I hadn't found any nits for several days. I vacuumed her room daily. I gave my son's a short brush cut as a preventative measure. I vacuumed the van. I washed everyone's clothes as soon as they were removed as well as the towels as soon as they were used. I soaked all our brushes and combs in hot water with bleach daily.

I checked my daughter's hair (which took over an hour each time) morning and night, outside to take advantage of the great sunlight. Nits are very reflective and bright light makes them much easier to see. I oiled her hair first since I found it easier to make the hair super smooth so I could spot a nit. I divided her hair into sections and used clips to hold the hair. I used a toothpick to lift small sections, maybe 1 1/2 inches wide by 1/4 inch thick, then ran the lice comb up and down the section, looking carefully for nits. Next I ran the hair between my fingers because sometimes I felt them before I saw them.

I didn't try to remove the nit from the hair, I just cut the hair with the nit off. I kept a wide piece of tape beside me to which I stuck the hair so I didn't misplace them. I flushed them down the toilet (without the tape) when I was done. I realize that some cases would be too bad to cut the hairs off so picking the nit out would be better. I believe you must remove every single nit to prevent reinfestation. Why take a chance and leave even one that you think is already hatched? I wouldn't let my daughter play with her friends until we had three consecutive days with no nits found.

My conclusion is that catching the problem early is very important to getting rid of the lice quickly. I will be including a lice check in our weekly routine year round. I had been putting tea tree oil in our shampoo to prevent lice but obviously it didn't work. Maybe it helps but isn't fool proof.

Here are a few things that I, personally didn't try but others have with success.

Use a black light to check for nits. Apparently nits glow under blacklight.

Use an equal mixture of olive oil and vinegar without the essential oils. The oil is supposed to suffocate the lice while the vinegar weakens the glue holding the nit to the hair shaft.

Some people claim to have rid their child of lice by slathering on hair gel.

Petrolium Jelly is also supposed to smother them too ( I did try this too and it may have helped).

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