No matter where you live or what school your kids go to, I
guarantee there is lice in their school. Even if it is not in their classroom,
yet, it's on the playground, in the lunchroom, and at their afterschool
program. The schools are no longer doing healthy head checks on a regular
basis. So - it's all on you, moms and dads. And unless you all get it under
control, it is going to continue to go around and around.
I've discovered that the medicated shampoo sucks. It does
nothing. BUT - I've also discovered that Coconut Oil is the miracle cure.
Seriously. It dissolves the lice and even most of the nits, making clean up
much easier and repeats more infrequent.
So, you need to check your kids head. If you don't know what
it looks like, look it up. If they have it, believe me, it won't take you long
to find it, once you know what you are looking for.
If they do have it - here is your guide to getting rid of it
the first time. Believe me, if you mess this up, you'll be repeating these
steps within ten days.
1. Put your kid in a fresh pair of pjs. Go to the bathroom. Take a bottle of coconut oil, and massage
clumps in your hand until it is liquid. Completely saturate every strand of
hair with the oil. Seriously, lube it up. Cover the head with a shower cap and leave it on until morning.
Added bonus - the smell of the coconuts will get on the child's pillow, and it
is a deterrent, minimizing the risk of lice crawling back in there.
2. Get your vacuum and start in the child's bedroom. Bag up
stuffed animals and Barbie dolls to be put away for a while. Strip the bed and
vacuum the mattress. Vacuum the floors, wash the blinds and the furniture, get
some new bedding on there and send the kid to bed.
3. Do the same with all floors and surfaces in the house.
Put anything you can in the wash, and dry it for at least a half an hour. Don't
forget jackets, scarves, hats, backpacks, lunch bags. Vacuum couches, and pick
a chair for the child to own for a week. Put a clean fitted single sheet over
the chair and call it the child's throne. Don't let them in bedrooms, besides
their own, if possible. Think about all the places the child has been, and that
you have been during your clean up. Make sure you change your clothes a lot as
well.
4. In the morning,
wash the child's hair. You won't get all the grease out, but that's a good
thing. The smell is a deterrent, and the grease will help French braid their
hair, the hair style the kid now has to have forever and ever. If you did a
good job with the oil, there should be no living thing in the hair. You'll
likely find some nits, but not nearly as many as were there. Use your finger nail to put out any
remaining nits. Remember, the better job you do with this step, the less
likely another cycle of lice will develop.
5. Buy a shampoo with tea tree oil. You can use tea tree oil
around the hair line until you get some. Advise your child not to hug their
friends, not to share clothes or outer wear, and to be cognisant of where they
put their outerwear at school - to keep it separate from the outerwear of
others as much as possible. Our school has advised putting hats and mitts in
sleeves, I've seen other schools with containers for each child to put these
in. If something is lost - abandon it or
get it from the lost and found yourself with a plastic bag. Girls like to play
with each other's hair, especially when there are in line. Advise your child
not to participate in this. Lice has changed me, it used to make me happy to see little children hugging and laughing with their hair free and dangling... now I get the heebie jeebies.
6. Buy many different interesting and colorful hair clips.
Tell your child to get used to how they look with their hair up, and never wear
it down to school ever again. Seriously. Most girls I've seen in the schools
wear their hair long and loose - a real lice magnet.
7. Sleepovers. Sigh, so fun, but also so great for the
transfer of lice...
8. Think about all the other places you go that people have
laid their head... the movie theatre seats, the hats and hair accessories at
stores, the bus, the passenger seat of a car or cab... I'm sure you can come up
with more. Also, indoor activity centres and day cares - think about nap time!
Ick I can't think about it anymore. Oh - helmet rentals!
9. When you do find out you have it, please call everyone
you know and tell them. If not, all you are doing is opening yourself up to
dealing with it over and over, because your child not only got it from
somewhere, but how long did they have it that you didn't know, and who did they
give it to? Beg the school to let everyone know that lice was found on a
student - they won't give your child's name, and hopefully the parents will all
check their kids. I know it can suck to have to say "my kid has lice, and
sorry, but she was at your house for a play date yesterday, so you gotta' clean
too" but believe me, the parent would rather know sooner than find it
later when it's an even bigger mess.
Good Luck!!
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