Quick tip: How do you clean a lice comb?

Wipe it with toilet paper or paper towel.  If something is stuck between the teeth, never pry them apart. Clean it out with dental floss.  If you want to sterilize the comb between users, put it in a cup. Pour boiling water over it and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

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.

Oooh, I like this one...

Here is a Sept 2014 article from the CBC (that's the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - if you are not from where I live).  I think it is a good article, but that's because of my personal bias towards wet combing with conditioner and a metal lice comb and my bias against using so-called "treatments". Check it out: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/head-lice-most-used-treatments-no-longer-very-effective-scientists-say-1.2776917

You probably need information more than you need a professional.

Though I am not doing home lice removal services at this time, I am still getting many requests for visits.  As I've said before, a lice removal professional is handy but not a necessity when dealing with head lice.  If you can pay to have someone to clean your home, cook your meals, and dry clean all your clothes, then you probably have enough breathing room in your budget to hire a lice professional.  But, if you, like most of us out there, would rather spend your hard-earned money on almost anything else, then I think you should deal with your head lice on your own.  Or grab a friend to walk this journey with you.  If you ever called me in the days when I was taking calls, you know that I spent most of my time encouraging people to deal with head lice on their own.  I mean, if you choose to hire a head lice professional, you'll still need to do your own checking and combing on a regular basis anyway.  Read articles on this blog, check out the links, and get informed.  Trust that with the right information, you can do this.

Another thing I get frequently asked about is what products I endorse.  While I don't have any connection to particular products, I have good things to say about effective metal lice combs such as the Licemeister and the Nit Free Terminator.  But that doesn't mean that you have to have one of these combs.  I also have good things to say about the generic metal, purple-handled, cheap, dual-sided comb that sells at my local Wal-Mart. It's the comb I use. If you find a metal comb that has teeth that are long, very rigid, and close together, then I'm sure it will have some effectiveness and get the job done over time. 

Lice removal should be accessible, inexpensive, and easy to do.  Don't think that you have to trouble yourself by ordering items from far away, travelling a long distance to get to a lice professional, or spending buckets of money on so-called "treatments".  If you are not a lice expert now, you will be once you read the research and have tried a few days of wet combing. If there are services or products you want to try and you have more than enough money to spend on them, go for it.  But if you are sacrificing your schedule, budget, or sanity to acquire these things, know that they aren't necessary.  Your time might be better spent by grabbing the comb closest to you and getting started on that wet combing.  Your money might be better spent by renting that new movie you've been wanting to see to watch while doing it.

Help! I just found out we have head lice!

So you just received the unfortunate news. Maybe from you child's teacher or a friend. Maybe you discovered it yourself. What do you do?

First, take a breath and repeat after me, "It's not life or death. It's just head lice." Remind yourself that head lice are not a health issue. Just because they are icky and itchy, that doesn't mean they are a serious threat. Learn about what head lice are and are not.

Second, take another breath and say, "I can deal with this." Because you can. Think of all the other bigger problems you have dealt with in your life. This is an inconvenience but you will be able to handle this.

Third, forget a lot about what you heard about getting rid of head lice. Don't do ANY extra laundry or house cleaning - I know that most of the available information tells you that you need to bag stuffed toys and wash everything in hot water, but it is simply a waste of your time. In dealing with head lice, most people become burned out - not because of the bugs or the eggs, but because of the cleaning. Just don't do it. (Reverse NIKE psychology.)

Speaking of time wasters (and money wasters), don't put all your trust that chemical head lice treatments or "shampoos" will completely treat your head lice or reduce the time you need to spend combing. All of my business comes from people who first used a treatment (mostly the permethrin based "shampoos" like Nix and R&C). Study after study is showing that in developed nations, our lice have adapted to these pesticides. So, save your money and save your time. Head lice can be dealt with without these treatments.

Fourth, get some inexpensive tools. A great lice comb, a blow dryer, a cheap head lamp, and some cheap hair conditioner are some wonderful tools that you can use again and again with great success.

Fifth, get to work. Read this post about how to remove head lice. Again, lice only thrive on the head so this is the only area you want to spend time on. And don't feel stuck doing all the nit picking in the bathroom - pick a comfortable location. (Look where I nit pick my own children.)
 

Sixth, check everyone else in the household. They may not have it, but you should check to find out.
 

Seventh, get some rest. Have some tea or other comforting drink. Take care of yourself. This is going to be a part of your life for a while. Get informed by reading the various articles on this blog. If you start to panic, go back to step one. You need to ease your mind. This is just an inconvenience. It's part of life. You can do this.

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:

Even if you don't know what to do, do something!

A CPR instructor once told me that a high percentage of serious emergency situations where a first aider is on the scene, the injured or ill person still dies. I found this to be surprising. Then he continued by saying that the deaths didn't occur because the first aider did not adminsiter CPR correctly, but rather because the first aider didn't do anything at all. Many first aiders are so afraid of making mistakes; afraid of getting the ratio of breaths to compressions incorrect, or of doing things in the wrong order, that they remain inactive. The CPR instructor said, "But if the person's heart has stopped, they are technically DEAD. Your imperfect or rusty technique isn't going to make the person more dead. You have nothing to lose by taking some action.

It is the same with head lice.

So it's late and you can't get to the store to get a good lice comb? Use the comb you have and comb the hair that is detangled, wet, and conditioned. You will still be able to get out quite a number of adult bugs this way.

Or grab your blowdryer - warm, fast blowing air kills bugs and eggs.

Or, get in some good light and simply go through the hair, strand by strand. Just like the monkeys do. Look at the root of the hair and the scalp and pick out what you see. Is it eggs or dandruff? Well, dandruff will usually move when flicked, but eggs won't. When in doubt, pick it out. Even with no other tools, your nimble fingers can pick out bugs and eggs faster then they can lay them. If you spend time considerable on this problem and focus your energies on the scalp (and not on housecleaning) you can out run those bugs.

Head lice has been around longer than our tools. We have dealt with them for a long time. You have the ability to get rid of them, or at the very least, get the head lice under control. Get started and do something.

How to remove head lice from someone else.

If you are dealing with head lice on your own head, and you do not have someone to help you, click here.

So, you've checked and you are certain you have found head lice in someone. Don't worry. You can beat this. People have been fighting head lice effectively for years without any special tools.  If you have nothing but your hands, just get the person with lice in some good light and start picking out the bugs and eggs.  You can pick lice and nits out faster than they can reproduce and so you can always get ahead of their cycle if you just put in the time.   However there are some tools that can be of help in the fight: