Smartphones - is there nothing they can't be blamed for?

The head line for this article is "Smartphones Blames for Dramatic Rise in Head Lice as Schoolchildren Gather Together to View Screens".  I had an instant reaction to it because I thought "Are they saying lice are being transmitted via smartphones?  Smartphones are inanimate objects and head lice wouldn't go on them!"  Then I read further and realized that it was about children having higher instances of head lice when they have their own smartphones or tablets and experts guess that this is because they are gathering close together to watch something on the small screen.  Though higher transmission around this particular activity is just a guess, I think this makes sense as the idea that lice are transmitted from head to head contact is proven. And it really is head touching head - don't believe this article when they use the unhelpful choice of words "allowing the bugs to jump between heads" because as we all know, head lice can't jump.

One thing to note though - the researchers were somehow able to determine that taking selfies was not a significant contributor to this stat.  I don't know how this was determined but it also makes sense to me.  The head to head contact of a selfie is brief and I think it is less likely that a louse would take the risk of leaving one warm head for another in this short period of time.

I would love to read the research on all of this but I could not find the original study with these claims.  (Update:  I found it.)And I really hope that no one becomes hyper-vigilant against children having personal electronic devices just because of this study.  While smartphones and tablets are often blamed for causing children to be isolated or disconnected from in-person relationships, here's one example where they are bringing children together.  Let's leave the children to their own devices (see what I did there?) within healthy limits for media use, encourage closeness, and do regular wet combing lice checks to prevent any lice sharing from becoming a problem.

It's a bird...It's a plane...No, it's just a bug.

My friend sent me a link to a news story about a new study on "Super Lice" - lice that have gene mutations that have been linked to permethrin/pyrethrin resistance (the two most common pesticides found in lice "shampoos".)  Click here for The Telegraph's take on the story.

This big new news story is sure to cause some people to panic about head lice and wonder, "What ever will we do to stop head lice?" The answer is wet combing.  This news story is not new; lice have been shown to be resistant to these chemicals for years.  And, when I was doing home lice removal, almost 100% of my clients had first tried lice treatments that had contained permethrin (as found in Nix) or pyrethrin (as found in R&C).  But lice cannot build up a resistance to the simple act of taking the lice and nits off of the head.

Lice combing is not the most exciting activity.  But it is cheap (cheaper than buying the "shampoos")  and it works (better than the shampoos).  Now, I have a cheap but good lice comb already (and I recommend you have one on hand as well).  If one of my kids were to get head lice, which has happened, I would grab my comb and my conditioner and give my kid a combing faster than the time it would take me to go out and purchase a "shampoo", treat the hair, wait the amount of time the directions tell you to wait, wash the stuff out of the hair. I know that I would have to do more than one combing, but don't kid yourself with the "shampoos" - you have to do these more than once; some studies say that you have to now do them three times.  AND these "shampoos" still come with a comb and tell you to comb out the bugs and eggs.  These convenient treatments are not so convenient.  And, as we see with these news stories, they are not that effective.

So, have no fear of Super Lice.  You may not be able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, but with a good lice comb, you can still fight the bad guys.

Margaret Cho sings "Lice"

Margaret Cho, comedian extraordinaire, performed a soulful song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that I will be singing for days.  Anything that puts the lowly louse in the spotlight is welcome and refreshing.  It is musically lovely and a truly enjoyable performance. But as you listen, see if you can you find the misconceptions about how to manage this critter crisis.

 

• The song starts with an implication that you get lice from an impoverished nation. Lice has no nationality - wherever there are humans, you will probably find lice. Though, there are some populations which seemingly have a lower chance of getting head lice.  At least for now.
• In this song, Cho says you need shampoo, which I'm assuming means a pesticide treatment.  This is not true, especially when the pesticide in the most popular lice "shampoos" have been shown to be ineffective. Lice have built a resistance to them.
• Cho mentions a fine toothed comb.  If you have lice, this is your greatest weapon in the fight.  Combs with long, rigid, metal teeth are the best. Plastic fine toothed combs, while still somewhat effective on getting out adult bugs, are not as effective on eggs and nymphs.
• Shaving the head.  Drastic, yes. Not the way I would go but it is a way to get rid of your head lice in no time at all. Just getting an army buzz cut isn't enough - lice can still thrive on a scalp with very little hair. Did you watch the end of the song?  Cho totally rocks that look. In the song, shaving the head is mentioned in the context of having dreadlocks.  I have to say, I know of no truly effective ways to treat head lice on people with dreads. If I had dreads for religious reasons, head lice wouldn't be a good enough reason to shave my head. Since someone with dreads can't get a lice comb through the hair, the fast blowing air of a blow dryer might be their next best tool.
• With lice you don't have to 'go to the mattresses'.  In fact, you don't have to do anything with your mattress because lice don't live on your furniture. They live on your scalp.  Save the dragging of your mattress outside to bake in the hot sun for your bed bug problem. Lice also do not thrive in your garbage. Do they make apartments in your ears? No. Around your ears? Yes.
• Will lice seem like they are dead after a shower? Sort of.  When wet, lice sort of hunker down and close themselves off - they move more slowly and may seem like they are no longer a problem. But those suckers can hold their breath for a long time and can stay alive in water for a day. So, while your shower won't get rid of your lice problem, a wet louse, is easier to detect and comb out.  And if you add some hair conditioner, you can even get the nits out more easily too. 

Even though I disagree with some of Cho's lice premises, I still love the song. Head lice shouldn't be something that we freak out about. Some laid-back humour is just what we need to get through the pain-in-the-arse that head lice is. Anything to get us past the stigma of having this very common pest.

Now, if I could only find out where I can get that awesome louse hoodie.

Something old, something new

The American Academy of Pediatrics just put out a new report on Head Lice.  It is a doozy - it covers everything from lice biology and life cycle, to transmission, diagnosis, and treatment.  It looks at the different pesticides you can use on lice in the United States (which I do not recommend) and non-chemical treatments such as the very expensive machine from Lareda Sciences and in-expensive lice combing.  It doesn't give you all the info from all the studies that are out there, but it tries to provide an overview of what is going on in the lice world today.  Most of what you read here you probably have read before.  However, there are a few new nuggets of interest.

Check it out here.  Of course, there are things I like and things I'm not so keen on in this report.  I'm not going to go through all of it with you here; review it for yourself. Here's just a few things that caught my eye:

"Additionally, because lice infestation is benign, treatments should not be associated with adverse effects and should be reserved for patience on whom living lice are found." 
LIKE - Lice are benign, people!  They are a nuisance to be sure, but they are not the health risk that many schools and parents make them out to be. 

DISLIKE - I really like that it says you should only do a "treatment" when lice have actually been found on the head. However, this paper later says that perhaps you should also do a treatment on people who don't have head lice if they share a bed with someone who does.  Which contradicts the statement above. They say this is prudent but don't back this idea up with research.  I say this is not prudent but I don't recommend any chemicals anyway. What I recommend is that when lice are found on one person in the home, everyone should get a lice check through wet combing. Low cost, no side effects, proven effectiveness.

" Note that some experts refer to "eggs" as containing the developing nymph and use "nits" to refer to empty egg casings; others use the term "nits" to refer to both eggs and the empty casings."

LIKE - I simply like statement his because I have heard other lice professionals say that those of us who use "nits" for both developing eggs and egg shells are wrong.  I use "nits" for both because most people, myself included, should not be wasting any time trying to guess if the egg shell is full or empty.  It is much quicker just to get everything out of the hair.

 

"Pruritus results from sensitization to components of the saliva". - Don't get worked up about this.  Pruritus simply means itching.

 

"However, there are reports that combing dry hair can build up enough static electricity to physically eject an adult louse from an infested scalp for a distance of 1 m."

DISLIKE - I have never heard this before, but it seems there is a study to back this up. Still, mentioning this seems like fear mongering. What are all the factors that would have to be in place for this to happen?  And if it did happen, so what?  If a louse gets ejected off my head due to static electricity, great! One more louse off the head.  It is unlikely that it will be thrown perfectly onto someone else's head.  Wherever it goes, this paper reminds us that the louse cannot live off of the head for very long.  Static electricity is a not a significant factor in the spreading of head lice and mentioning it in this paper will probably cause some panicked parents to keep their children away from static-electricity-causing balloon animals.  This is just one more thing that will distract people from the important work of getting the lice and nits off the head.

 

"A regular blow dryer should not be used in an attempt to accomplish this result [the same results as the modified hair dryer created by Lareda Sciences] because investigators have shown that wind and blow dryers can cause live lice to become airborne and potentially spread to others"

DISLIKE - This statement really concerns me. It is research done by Lareda Sciences that showed the effectiveness of a home blow dryer in the fight against head lice, but they have been trying to suppress this information ever since their report.  In their original research around their product, which you can read about here, they showed that a regular blow dryer at high speed, directed at small sections of hair, killed 98% of the eggs - which was the same result that their modified machine produced.  The notion that we should abandon the hair dryer as a tool in the fight against head lice in the chance that a louse may be blown off the head is ridiculous.  When I am blow drying the dry hair of someone who has head lice, I am directing the air in a controlled way on one section of hair at a time.  I'm not blow drying the hair all over the place in a crowded room. I'm usually in a bathroom or a kitchen and the air is blowing in the opposite direction of me and most people in the room.  If a louse were to be blown off, where would it go?  The bathroom floor?  How will that louse get on someone else's head?  If this is a significant way of getting lice off the head, why are we not recommending it as a removal technique?  Again, the effectiveness of using a blow dryer as directed in the original Lareda study far outweighs the minimal risk of blowing a louse on to someone else's head. As with the notes on static electricity, I find statements like these to be more hurtful than helpful.

 

So, much like most broad papers, this article still recommends the use of chemicals, and surprisingly, it still recommends he use of products like Nix and R&C.  This is astounding to me as there are so many studies showing that these chemicals have lost their effectiveness in Westernized nations. It also recommends doing some extra cleaning and laundry, which is disappointing. However, unlike older papers, this paper recommends that schools DO NOT adopt "no-nit" policies and that such policies might even be human rights violations. Now that I agree with.

 

Anyway, here are my favourite parts of this article:

 

"There is an obvious benefit of the manual removal process that can allow a parent and child to have some close, extended time together while safely removing infestations and residual debris without using potentially toxic chemicals on the child or in the environment...Because none of the pediculicides [chemical treatments] are 100% ovicidal [egg-killers] nits (especially the ones within 1 cm of the scalp) should be removed manually after treatment with any product."

LIKE - No matter what you use, you still have to manually remove the eggs!  But most people buy chemical treatments because they think that it will allow them to avoid this step -they don't want to have to do the work of nit picking or combing. And yet, no matter what so-called "treatment" you choose, you still have to do the work. Of course, you know that in my experience, it is the wet combing that actually solves the problem in the first place, so I think you should save your money and energy by skipping the "treatment" and go right to the wet combing.

 

"As new products are introduced, it is important to consider effectiveness, safety, expense, availability, patient preference, and ease of application."

LIKE - I agree. Keep these things in mind when dealing with your head lice.  I've said it before, effective doesn't have to be expensive. You don't have to put your family at risk for side effects - remember, head lice are benign! The various chemical treatments listed in this study are often not effective, can have side effects, can be very costly, not readily available, and can have confusing instructions for use. In my mind, lice/nit picking, wet combing, and safe blow drying (don't use high heat - the lice can dry up without the scalp getting burned!) are the only treatments that cover all the criteria for effectiveness, safety, and accessibility.

 

Of all the human parasites, head lice is the one you want.

I love talking with people about head lice.  Think Bubba in 'Forest Gump' talking about shrimp or Harlan Pepper in 'Best in Show' naming nuts.  I just love talking about head lice.  However, it seems like the conversations that people have with me about head lice turn to talk about other parasites...bed bugs and scabies.  And in my mind, these parasites are a whole different ball game. I once heard someone say, "I'd rather have bed bugs than lice.  At least they don't live on your body."  My response was something calm and rational like, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?"

Head lice, though they live on your body, are simple to treat.  Just get the bugs and the eggs off the head.  They won't survive for very long off of it.  If you forget the hype and look at the research then you know that you can deal with them relatively quickly and for little cost.  You don't have to worry about your home, belongings, or clothing. Head lice are a pain but the problem is still quite contained and manageable.

Bed bugs are different.  They can reside almost anywhere in your home. They can live without a host for a year. As with head lice, they are manageable but are much harder and more expensive to treat and usually require a home treatment of some kind which is costly.  You often have to replace some furniture.  If you are dealing with bed bugs, I highly recommend that you talk to a professional exterminator - even if you don't use them, they might help you get your facts straight and equip you with the knowledge to help yourself.

Scabies are different.  They live under your skin.  They are microscopic.  They are contagious. Most doctors diagnose scabies based on the skin reaction - you usually need to get a skin scraping from a dermatologist to get an actual proper diagnosis.  With scabies, our only line of defense is pesticide and even after treating yourself and everyone in your household,  it is still difficult to be sure if you have actually beaten it. You have to do laundry, vacuuming, cleaning. Dealing with scabies is real work. You can beat scabies but it can be cost and labour intensive.

Other lice, like body lice and pubic lice (crabs), are pretty easy to treat.  Got body lice? Wash your clothes in hot water, dry them on high heat, always wear clean clothes, keep yourself clean. Got crab lice? Well, you might not find a buddy to remove them manually, so it might be easier to try the pesticidal cream which is still effective on these little critters.

With any of these parasites, we have to push back the paranoia and get informed. We need to stop giving energy to action that doesn't actually work and be willing to work on doing what is actually effective. Keep things in perspective - these parasites just create an itch. They are an uncomfortable inconvenience, not a life threatening situation.  We can handle that, can't we?  Still, I want to stick up for the little pediculosis capitis. The little head louse is hearty and resilient but it also has its weaknesses.  Even without a comb, we can remove lice and nits faster then an adult louse can lay them, so we always have the advantage in the fight. If I had to choose between parasites, I'd always pick head lice - because it is the only one I can actually pick.

The lice are on your scalp. Don't let them mess with your mind.

My mother used to have this picture on a sweatshirt.  She was a woman known for her humour, but she was also known for how stressed out she could get. Normally, with life's stressors, we can cope.  Work can stress me out, but I can go home at the end of the day.  If the kids are stressing me out, I can usually find a sitter for a little while.  However, if you have head lice, you don't feel like you can get away from the stress - it's with you day and night, wherever you go,  and since lice problems aren't fixed in a day, you get to feel this stress over time. It can wear you down.

We have to be intentional about how we deal with this stress.  I covered this in the post below , but it so important to remember.  We work hard to get rid of head lice, but we also have to work hard to push past our own panic and fear.  I once met a woman who chose to sleep in her car in the winter thinking that the cold would kill the bugs.  You know, sleeping in freezing temperatures could also kill her!  Step out of your emotions and let your intellect help you assess the real risk of head lice over the perceived risk.

If you don't deal effectively with the head lice, what's the worst that could happen?

• Your head could get really, really itchy.
• You're hair wouldn't look pretty.
• You could pass it to someone else.
• In very rare cases, you can have a greater allergic reaction to head lice. (In the bazillion people I've met with head lice, I've only met one person to have a worse reaction - she had swollen glands and flu-like symptoms. Her doctor told her to take an over-the-counter antihistamine.)

If you go crazy dealing with head lice (spending tons of money, losing sleep, missing school/work, stressing out), what's the worst that could happen?

• You could get very sick - physically and psychologically.
• You could put your financial stability at risk. 
• You could put a strain on your relationships.
• You could lose your job or fall behind in school.

These problems are greater than the problem of having head lice. Head lice cause the first group of calamities.  We cause the rest.   Try to keep head lice in perspective.  Give head lice the attention they deserve, but don't give them one second more.

Common Sense Myths VS. Radical Research

I love the Internet. More specifically, I love a good search engine. I love being able to find information about almost anything in a matter of seconds via the Internet. Because of these technological advances, the common man has more access to information than ever before in history. We can learn about, and sometimes even seemingly diagnose, illnesses or conditions thanks to Dr. Google.

I think the use of the Internet has really helped in the fight against head lice. Without the Internet, I wouldn’t have access to research and you wouldn’t be reading this blog. That said, I find it sad that while we have new ways to share information, most head lice “experts” are offering up old information about how to deal with head lice. There are some head lice myths that most head lice authorities debunk, such as the myth that head lice can jump (they can’t) or that lice prefer clean hair (they don’t care about your hair, they just want your blood). But there are other head lice myths that are still promoted as fact by most websites and health authorities. Before I talk about them, I ask you, dear reader, to put away your assumptions about head lice; those strongly held believes about bugs or those compulsions that cause you to want to panic. The information I want to share will challenge so much of what you have been told about head lice. Have an open mind and read the research for yourself.

Common Sense Myth #1: To get rid of head lice, you must really clean your house and launder (or store away) your clothes, pillows, stuffed toys, and bedding.

Radical Research: Head lice are not a virus that infests your home or belongings. A louse is a bug that lives on the human head. Research has shown that extensive house cleaning or laundering makes no difference in the fight against head lice.

Why I want you to know this: It breaks my heart to talk to parents (mostly mothers) who are getting only 2-3 hours of sleep every night because they are constantly vacuuming, washing the bedding, bleaching the floors, packing up the toys, etc. I know the panic that head lice can cause in a household and I understand our desire to do everything we can to get rid of it. However, all this vacuuming and laundering is just giving you a false sense of security. It isn’t actually doing anything to get rid of (or prevent) the problem of head lice and it is using up precious energy that you could be using to actually focus on the head and deal with the problem effectively.

Read more about cleaning the Floor and see point #2 below

Common Sense Myth #2: You can get head lice by sharing the hat, brush, seat, or shirt of someone who has head lice and must take great care not to share or touch these items if they have been in contact with someone who has head lice.

Radical Research: Head lice are passed by direct head to head contact. Period. There is no real basis in the common notion that lice are transferred through inanimate objects.

Why I want you to know this: I know that this information goes against what we feel is common sense. This information was even hard for me to swallow – when I first started my journey into head lice removal, I always shared the conventional wisdom that said head lice could be transferred via our hats, brushes, etc. But the research is sound and shows us that time is wasted when we focus on trying to prevent the spread of head lice by controlling our belongings. If we spent less time trying to keep our kid’s jackets from touching other kid’s jackets in school and spent more time just checking for lice on the heads of our children, we would be so much further ahead in the fight.

Read More about transmission via inanimate objects

Common Sense Myth #3: You need to kill the head lice through the use of a pesticidal lice treatment, such as a product containing permethrin, in order to stop the infestation cycle.

Radical Research: Numerous studies have shown that head lice have become resistant to pesticides and are simply not as effective as they once were.

Why I want you to know this: In Edmonton, our health authority and school boards are still telling parents that these pesticidal treatments are the #1 way to deal with the problem of head lice. And yet, ALL of my business comes from people who have first used these treatments. These treatments are costly and rarely work. By putting our faith in these treatments, we are preventing ourselves from actually dealing with the problem. Well meaning, conscientious people, people who have diligently followed the advice of health professionals, are going out in public, assuming that they have solved their head lice problem when they may still be infested and at risk of passing on these parasites. The cycle continues and the problem grows.

Read more about pesticide resistance in head lice and specifically permethrin

Common Sense Myth#4: That chemicals are our only weapon in the fight against head lice.

Radical Research: Wet combing techniques and the use of hot air have been proven effective in the detection and treatment of head lice.

Why I want you to know this: Mechanical removal of head lice is a very accessible and effective technique in the fight against head lice. A proper lice comb is inexpensive in comparison to the cost of lice "shampoos" and can be used repeatedly with each family member. A warm air treatment that has a great success rate in drying out eggs and a substantial success rate in drying out bugs can be carried out with a low-cost hand held hair dryer.

Read more here about wet combing in lice detection

Read more here about wet combing in lice removal

Read more here about the use of hot air

Common Sense Myth #5: Health and school professionals know all about head lice.

Radical Research: Health / school professionals often misdiagnose head lice and recommend unnecessary treatment or call for the removal of children from schools though active cases of head lice may not be present.

Why I want you to know this: Many school boards and childcare centres have "no-nit policies" and yet may be misdiagnosing cases of head lice. Public health and school nurses usually recommend, and some even dictate, the use of chemical treatments. However, they may not know about the most up-to-date research. You can become the expert about your child's head lice. You can detect an active case of head lice through wet combing and with regular follow up, you can deal with this problem without costly treatments. You also have a right to expect your healthy child to stay in or return to school.

Read more about misdiagnosis here.

Conclusion: For every new study that debunks our old myths, many more new web pages come up that reinforce the incorrect stereotypes of having head lice and how to treat it. In fact, there's research about that too. Click here. If you would like to chat about what you've read, leave a comment or email me. Let's stay informed.

Update: Check out these amazing pictures of head lice up close. This is great information about lice anatomy and will help you understand how they live so well on your head.

How do you get lice? From someone else's head.

Click on this link to a great study that supports the idea the head lice are NOT effectively spread through inanimate objects (clothing, furniture, pillowcases, hats, brushes, etc.). This study is from the Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University, Austrailia. My favourite sentence from the conclusion is:

"We conclude that the control of head lice should focus on the head and not on the environment."

Incidently, this study also mentions how long lice can live without a meal:

Head lice are like clutter.

In his book, "It's All Too Much", home organziation guru Peter Walsh challenges the notion that the answer to clutter is more storage. To avoid having to get rid of items, or to avoid having to make decisions about all our stuff, we buy into new "storage solutions" - more baskets, file cabinets, shelving and boxes. However, in the end, these do nothing to deal with the real issue - the clutter itself. In the end, to really deal with clutter, we have to find a way to actually have less of it.

This makes me think of how some people deal with head lice. They want to deal with the problem, but they want to do everything they possibly can to avoid actually having to remove the head lice. They buy "treatments", "shampoos", and concoct home remedies. And then, when they still find bugs living on the head, they call me and ask, "Which treatment should I use next?" Or, they spend all of their energy on cleaning their home from ceiling to cellar because of head lice paranoia but can't be bothered to actually deal with the activity on the scalp.

To quote Peter Walsh, "Enough already!" Forget the expensive solutions. If you have head lice, deal with the real issue - the head lice itself. It is only when you take the time to actually remove the bugs and eggs off of the head that you will see progress. And by dealing with the real problem right from the start, you will save yourself time and money in the end.

Why I don't use Adsense.

As you can see, the info on this blog is offered for free. But at one time, I thought about setting up Google Adsense . With Adsense, you get revenue for allowing advertisements on your blog. Then I realized that those ads would be related to the information on my blog - they would probably be ads for lice products. I am not a fan of most lice products and I would never want most of these products to be associated with my advice in anyway. So, this blog will continue to come to you ad free (with the exception of the offer of my services.)

Why do I offer free advice? Two reasons. First,

I have a small problem with Alberta Health Services...

My daughter got another notice from school that someone in her class has head lice (no, it wasn't her). We get these green information sheets sent home fairly frequently. Maybe you've seen these information sheets before. These handouts have been created by someone at Alberta Health Services (formerly Capital Health in Edmonton). I think it is great that notices are sent home. I don't like all of the information given:

The pamphlet says: "You will need...Shampoo, 1% Permethrin lice treatment, and a regular comb or brush."
Oh please. I fight head lice all the time. I do not use ANY lice topical treatments. None. Zippo. This is not a "need". Even if you did use the lice treatment, the directions on the pamphlet are different than the ones given in the box. Whose advice should you follow? I would think you should follow the advice of the maker of the product. If you use the product, that is. Which I don't.

"Nits that are more than 1/2 inch from the scalp will not hatch."
Not necessarily so, though anything past a few inches is certainly not viable.

"In fact, lice really like clean hair"
Lots of people say this and you can read one of my old posts about this idea here.

"Wash hats, scarves, combs, brushes, hair barrettes, bed sheets and pillow cases in hot soapy water."
I used to recommend this too.  But don't do it.  It is a waste of your energy and not proven to have any effectiveness.  Lice don't want to be on things.  They want to be on people.  Put all your attention on the head.

If after 48 hours, live lice are still seen, and "if steps were missed or hair products with conditioner were used...repeat the treatment with the same product immediately..."
Permethrin is a pesticide.  And there are many studies to show it is no longer effective.  It just doesn't work.

This pamphlet implies that if you do a proper second treatment in a week, then you will have solved your problem. The steps end with the phrase, "That's it - you're done!"
Are you kidding me? The huge majority of my business comes from people who have tried these "shampoos" 2, 3, 4, or more times! They've followed every direction, cleaned every surface, and gone mad because the lice remained a problem.

"Hair dryers, hair conditioners, vinegar rinses and chlorinated swimming pools should be avoided for 7-10 days..."
Hair dryers and hair conditioners can actually have a place in the fight against head lice. I discuss the topic of hair dryers in this post. For my post on hair conditioners, click here.

This pamphlet has a some good advice, but its emphasis on the use of lice "shampoos" is part of what I believe is causing so many cases of head lice in our schools. In step #4 of "How to Treat", it tells you to remove the eggs, but it doesn't really explain just how time consuming or how absolutely essential this step is. It doesn't tell you that you will have to manually remove the bugs as well. In my mind, you could get rid of almost every step in this pamphlet except step #4, and then you should have it repeated again and again.

One more note. If a doctor or a health nurse tells you that you have head lice, but then a lice removal professional comes over and says that you don't, trust the lice removal professional. I was once called in to see a woman to offer a third opinion. This woman had seen her doctor who told her that she definitely had head lice (even though he barely looked at her head). Then she had called another lice removal professional to remove the lice, and was told that she didn't have head lice. Then the woman called me and I told her that she could probably trust the other lice removal professional, but she wanted me to come in anyway. I went to see her and found that she didn't have head lice. Unfortunately, she still believed her doctor and called me a week later to check again. She still didn't have head lice, but she did have an itchy scalp from the useless half-dozen treatments she had given herself in the meantime.

Back In The Day...

Do you remember having head lice as a kid? I don't. I think I knew one kid who had head lice, and we just said he had "cooties" (kids can be cruel) and then the school sent him home. Most people I talk to never remember head lice being the epidemic that it is now. Why has the problem grown over the years?

My theory is this has happened because we've put our faith in pediculicides (pesticidal lice treatments). Back in the day, head lice was dealt with severely. Kids were sent home from school. Heads were shaved. Giving people the "leper treatment" probably increased our therapy bills (not good), but perhaps head lice was taken care of in fairly effective ways (with the exception of the turpentine and toxins that were poured on the children in residential schools, but that's another horrible blog post altogether.)

With the arrival of treatments that promised fast results as easy as shampooing your hair with no need to pick out the eggs, all that changed. But so did the lice. The more we shampooed, the more the bugs adapted. The less we picked, the more they spread. So many still believe these treatments are effective and the problem keeps growing.

So what do we do now? As I always say, we gotta pick it old school. Forget the treatments. Pick and comb (with a REAL lice comb, not those little green combs from the treatment packs).

You are the secret to your success.

Use your imagination for just a moment. Let's say your home had a cockroach problem - an infestation. What would you do? You would call an exterminator. What if the exterminator sprayed your house with pesticides and then told you that the spray wouldn't kill the cockroaches right away. Yuck. Then, what if the exterminator told you that you had to go and catch every roach, one by one, to prevent infestation from happening again. I know what I would think - I would think, "Why the heck did I pay that guy when I'm the one who has to solve the problem?"

This is how I feel about the makers of lice "shampoos". They tell you that their pesticides are necessary, but then, and I quote from the Nix website, "If your child has been diagnosed with head lice, you must remove every last one of them, including their eggs, to prevent reinfestation." And then you remove every louse and nit (which is what really solved the problem) and you declare, "The shampoo worked!" Right.

Don't fall for their lice advice. Since you have to go straight to the source of the problem anyway (i.e. you have to remove the lice manually), skip the middle man. Forget the "shampoos". If you really want to utilize a "middle man", I'm your gal.

Hair Conditioner: Friend or Foe?

Does hair conditioner have any part to play in the fight against head lice? Some may say it works against you.
The makers of the pediculicides or lice "shampoos" claim that you are not to use hair conditioner for a number of days after treatment as this will render the chemicals ineffective. So, if you choose the pesticides, don't use the conditioner. (On a side note, this is one of the excuses that the supporters of the pesticides use when the pesticides don't work - they say you didn't follow the directions.)

However, if you choose the non-chemical route, some say hair conditioner can help. It can really slow down or stop the live lice from crawling, making them easier to catch. First, comb your hair with a regular brush or comb to remove tangles. Then, hop in the shower and apply conditioner. Before you rinse, comb through the hair from root to tip with your lice comb. There is a great chance that if you have any bugs on your head, you will comb them out. Do this on a regular basis as a preventative measure against full infestation.

Some people feel that conditioner is even more effective when you apply it to hair that is dry. I haven't really noticed a difference. Dry or wet, the lice comb goes through the hair much more easily with the conditioner. So, I say that conditioner is your friend as it can make for easier lice removal. And you hair is so nice and shiny!

Lice Lesson #4: Don't believe everything you read.

Or, a little misinformation goes a long way. Traditional lice treatments (pediculicides) say that they will kill all the nits. Don't believe it - nothing is 100% ovicidal. They say these treatments are safe. Then they give you a list of possible side effects. Like many, I used to think that the risks were worth it if it killed the lice. However, in North America, the lice have adapted to these pesticides and have reduced their effectiveness from 50 - 90%. Those lice that are affected lice may take up to 7 hours to die, which gives them time to lay a couple of more eggs. What really gets me, is that you have to pick all of the eggs whether you use lice "shampoo" or not? These pesticides are costly and don’t save you any time, so why use them?
What You Can Do: Kick it old school, or should I say, pick it old school. Go through every section of hair and remove every adult louse, nymph (baby louse), and nit (egg). And then keep checking every day for any new activity. Forget the "shampoos".