Early detection might be all the treatment you need.

It has been a while since I offered lice removal services. Thankfully, I still get to experience the joys of head lice through friends and family. In my own home, we do weekly lice checks - my girls get a quick combing during one of their baths each week. One evening a week or so ago, one of my daughters said her head was itchy.  I did a quick spot check and saw nothing but knew that we would be doing our regular lice check the next day.  Now, the process of wet combing for lice detection is exactly the same as wet combing for lice removal.  Wet, condition, and detangle the hair.  Then start combing. A fine-toothed plastic comb can still be effective in detecting bugs but a metal lice comb with long rigid teeth is best for lice removal.  I usually comb around 40 -50 strokes all over the head; it takes less than 10 minutes.  If a child has lice, I will usually find some evidence of it within that time.

When I did the combing on my daughter's head, I found a louse after about 20 strokes. Unlike you when you found lice on the head, I was thrilled.  Anyway, once evidence of head lice is found, you keep on combing.  After a few more strokes, I found two more smaller lice. Then nothing after that.  I combed 100 more strokes with no more findings.  We were done.

A few days later, I combed again. 100 strokes. Nothing else was found.

A few days later, I combed again. 100 strokes. Nothing else was found.

I will keep on doing this until I have had two weeks of "nothing else was found". It is likely that the brief amount of combing that I was originally doing just for the detection of head lice was also fully sufficient as the treatment for it.

What else did I do when I found out that my daughter had head lice? Nothing.  No extra cleaning.  No extra laundry.  Because wet combing works and I knew that based on what I was finding (or not finding) in the comb that I had it beat.  This is the great joy of regular lice checks through wet combing.  They are so easy to do, take very little time, and are effective in finding something before it becomes a big problem. People ask me about how to prevent head lice. There is really nothing you can do to prevent it. But early detection is just as good as prevention in my books.  Head lice are truly a non-issue in my house because I know that as soon as someone brings them in, I will be able to get them out quickly and easily.

If you are surfing the web looking for information, it is likely that your problem is bigger than one or two lice.  When you are faced with a bigger problem, the treatment is no different - with more lice, you do the same thing (wet combing) but you just do it for longer. Read more posts on this blog for more info about wet combing and other inexpensive tools in the fight against head lice. You may have to put in more time this time before you get to 100 strokes with nothing found.  But, if you do regular head lice checks after this, it is unlikely that you or your loved ones will be dealing with so many head lice again.

So don't worry about things that you can't control - like tricks or tips on how to prevent head lice. Early detection is the key to keeping this problem at bay. And when you find a louse during a routine lice check, don't despair - celebrate!  You will have just proven that you have this under control.

I thought it was just dandruff...

When I ask parents when they first noticed their child's head lice, it usually becomes clear that the signs of head lice were present long before the parents would like to admit.  They say things like, "Sure, my daughter's head was really itchy, but I thought it was just because of dandruff" or "My son's been taking swimming lessons and I thought his head was itchy from the chlorine".  Sometimes, these parents have had no experience with head lice or they never knew anyone who had it so the possibility of head lice doesn't even come to mind.  However, many parents  are just in denial about head lice because they don't want to have to deal with it.  Later they tell me, "I thought it might be head lice but I didn't do anything at first because I was too busy" or "I knew that her friend at school had recently had head lice but I didn't think it would happen to my child".

In my house we have a rule - if you scratch your head, you get a quick spot check.  It is even true for me - if I scratch my head, my youngest daughter says, "Mom, c'mere. Let me take a look."  And these spot checks, because they are not always reliable, are still done in conjunction with weekly wet combing checks. Of course, someone's head is really, really itchy, they get a wet combing check right away. (I should mention that routine combings will often prevent the itchiness of head lice. Most people are asymptomatic - they don't get an itch - until they've had head lice for quite a while.  Routine combings will often find the bugs before the itching starts.  It happened to me!)

If someone is itchy, investigate. If you find that you or your child do have a lot of dandruff, use a dandruff shampoo to remove the dandruff before doing a check for head lice. With head lice, you need time to be on your side and the sooner you find the little critters, the sooner you can get rid of them. 

You're never too young to fight headlice.

Today I met a couple of delightful young women who just happen to have head lice.  Thankfully, head lice has not dampened their charming personalities. I was so disappointed that I couldn't stay and visit with them - they were watching campy scary movies. It would have been a hoot! (Hey, I think something like Dracula would be the perfect movie to pick head lice too!) Head lice has been a problem for these girls for a long time.  I truly understand how this can happen as head lice are not to be underestimated in their resilience.

When we are young, our parents take care of problems such as head lice; small children don't have the information, the patience, the stamina, or the drive to deal with it on their own. However, once we get to the age where we start taking care of ourselves more - taking charge of our own appearance, our own grooming - we can probably learn to take some responsibility for dealing with our head lice problems as well. 

My advice to these beautiful girls was to use the wet combing and blow drying techniques on alternating days until a full two weeks go by without ANY signs of bugs or new eggs.  (You can read about how to do these techniques on this blog.)  I felt these ladies were at the age where they could start to take charge of their own head lice problems (although Mom's extra encouragement is always a bonus!)  In fact, they could help each other out - it's always great to have a buddy to help deal with head lice.

Ladies, enjoy watching the bloodsuckers on the scary movies and good luck getting the bloodsuckers off your heads!  Call me if you have any questions. 

Lice Advice via Classic Sitcoms: If it's "All in the Family" take it "One Day at a Time"

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it has been a dark and stormy night; we even had tornado warnings today. It is 10:30 pm. I just put my son and middle daughter to bed. Why so late? Because I found head lice on my daughter's head. Yes, no one is immune from head lice, not even the children of The Nice Lice Lady. But I wasn't freaked out or upset(though I wish I had noticed it at 7:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm.) I was quite happy - random lice checks work!

My daughter had been scratching the back of her head earlier this evening. She noticed that I saw her scratching and said, "C'mon, Mom, you don't need to check - it's just a mosquito bite." I may have replied by saying, "But, my darling daughter, you must understand that regular assessment for the condition of pediculosis capitis, or head lice, is the most effective way of detecting the condition before a more serious problem arises." Hmm. I don't think I said that. I think I said something more along the lines of, "Get over here; you know the drill."

I looked in the itchy spot but found nothing. Because we were going to start supper, I reminded myself to do a more thorough check later. Which I did. At bedtime. Yawn.

I found one egg on her bangs. So, I knew we had to do the whole big lice thing, the crazy production, the...just kidding. Head lice are a treatable problem that you have to take seriously, but it doesn't mean that you have to go crazy. You may be surprised at what a non-issue this is in our house. Here's what we did...

What about nits (eggs) not right near the scalp?

Nice picture, huh? I like and encourage the reading of a variety of head lice fact sheets from a variety of research centres/universities. While the facts are usually (but not always) the same, they occasionally use different language that helps you understand an issue more clearly.

For example, here's an excerpt from the fact sheet from the Entomology Department of the College of Agricultural Sciences of Penn State University. It is regarding the viability of eggs that are not right near the scalp:

How to deal with your own head lice.

So, you are the one who has head lice. What if you don't have a buddy to help look through your head? If you are on your own, here's what you can do:

While You Were Sleeping

I love a good bedtime routine. I just finished putting my kids to bed. After a quick teeth brushing and a spot check for head lice, we went upstairs and read a chapter of Judy Blume's "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing." Then we said prayers and blessings, gave kisses and goodnights.

And then just before I turned out the light, my youngest daughter just happened to scratch her head.

I said, "Are you itchy, honey?"

She said, "Mom, you don't need to check - it's just that my skin is dry"

I said, "C'mon, sweetie. You know what I've gotta do."

How I found a bug on my head. And why I'm happy about it.

As 'The Nice Lice Lady', I am in frequent contact with head lice. Because of this, I have my own head checked regularly for lice and nits. My buddy does a quick check of my head daily, and I check the heads of my children. I also comb my hair thoroughly each time I'm in the shower or bath.

Today I was having a nice Mother's Day bath and combing my hair, alternating between using a fine-toothed plastic baby comb and a metal lice comb. I like using both because the plastic comb goes through the hair faster, but the metal comb squeezes the hair more. When combing, I put hair conditioner in my hair to keep my hair wet and to make combing easier. Also, please understand that I'm not just combing my hair long enough to get tangles out. I'm combing for upwards of one hour - combing from under the hair, over the hair, from back to front and from front to back. I scanned the comb after every stroke to see if I had found anything. I had never had head lice in my hair ever since becoming a professional lice remover.

Until today. I found a tiny louse and I was giddy. There are two reasons that I was happy about what I found:

Do You Really Have Head Lice? How To Check It Out.

If you suspect that someone you know has head lice, check it out.
If you think you might have head lice, find a buddy to check for you.

1. Comb through the hair to remove all the tangles.

2. Ensuring that are looking under good light, go through the hair section by section, and hair by hair looking for any lice eggs or bugs. You can use your fingers to do this, or you can use a regular comb to gently pull away a few hairs at a time for examining. You only really need to look for any lice activity from the scalp to approximately 3 inches off of the scalp, though be extra diligent in your search if find older lice activity farther away from the scalp. It may help to use hair clips to keep the hair in sections. Look through the hair from different angles, looking over the hair and under the hair.

3. Check for nits (live eggs or hatched eggs). Don’t waste time wondering if eggs are live or hatched – if you have them, you have a problem. Their eggs are like tiny oval drops that are yellowish-white and are completely glued to the hair. On dark hair, they can look white and on light hair, they look dark. If you see something on the hair, flick it with your finger or try to brush it away. If it moves, it is NOT a nit. Also, look at its shape – is it a completely uniform oval shape? If not, it is not a nit. Now, having nits DOES NOT guarantee that you will have an active case of head lice. It does mean that you should investigate further.

4. Watch for live bugs. The baby louse starts out as small as a tiny speck of pepper. After hatching, it is completely clear in colour, but it turns red after its first meal, and it then turns a translucent brownish colour as it grows. Its colour is enhanced by the colour of the hair it is in – head lice look darker in lighter hair and can easily blend in with darker hair. A louse is as big as a sesame seed when it is fully grown. If you see a bug, remove it immediately. Note, in dry hair, bugs run from the light and can move very quickly through the hair. In wet hair, bugs stay still so after checking for eggs, you should comb through wet hair with a fine tooth comb to see if you comb out any bugs. You can add some hair conditioner to the hair to make combing easier.

5. Start wet combing. Here's where the real checking begins. It's great if you have a metal lice comb but this can even be done with a plastic fine toothed comb. Wet your already detangled hair and coat it with some cheap hair conditioner. Comb through the hair from scalp to tip and check the comb after each stroke for lice (this probably won't remove any eggs or tiny bugs, but adult lice can still be caught this way). Keep on combing until you have counted to at least 100 (or found a bug, whichever comes first).

At the first sign of bugs, switch from doing lice checking to doing lice removal. If you have any questions, give me a call. Good Luck!

It could just be dry scalp...but take a good look.

My son has a very dry scalp with quite a bit of dandruff. The winter weather makes it worse and his flakes are actually sticky - they don't brush off that easily. But they are flakes.

Usually dandruff brushes away. For those times when the flakes stick to the hair, how can you tell that it is not nits (lice eggs)? Well, eggs are very uniform in size and shape - ALWAYS the same and they are always glued to the hair. Dandruff can be very different in size and shape and usually can be easily brushed or blown away.

Also, if you have nits, you probably have bugs. If you have nits, go looking for ma and pa bug.

Lice Lesson #2: When in doubt, check it out.

Does your head itch? Did you just see your child scratch her head? Take a quick look in the itchy area. Any bite marks? Eggs? Live bugs? Besides these random checks, lice checks should be a part of your daily routine. I do a quick check on my kids when I brush their hair in the morning and when they brush their teeth at night. I also do a thorough combing through everyone's head each week.

What You Can Do: Understand the difference between vigilance and paranoia. Don't go crazy and grab your child's head every time they brush the hair out of their eyes. But if you see extended or repeated scratching, get in some good light, and do a check.