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.

Why I don't like lice "shampoos" or "treatments".

In the fight against head lice, so many professionals state that permethrin based products are your first line of defense. They are touted as being necessary treatments when in fact they are not needed at all. Here is why I have a big problem with lice "shampoos":

1. These "treatments"are costly.
My heart always breaks when I hear yet another story of a family that spend hundreds of dollars on "shampoos" and "treatments" only to find that they didn't work. Most "shampoos" require a second treatment in a week. Bring out the credit card - cha-ching! But wait a minute - I charge for my lice checking/removal services - am I hypocritical?

Don't believe the Nix package. The hair dryer is your friend.

Here's some info I've mentioned before, but it is worth mentioning again. Researchers at the University of Utah created a contraption called "The Lousebuster"(Update: This device is now called the AirAlle). It is a souped-up blow dryer that kills 80% of lice and 98% of nits. Sounds great, huh? It is, but read on...

In creating this specialized tool, they did quite a bit of research about blowing air and head lice. Here's what they discovered the effectiveness of using a regular blow dryer as a weapon against head lice:

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:

How to become an expert.

How did I get to know so much about head lice?
Well, first, I was exposed to lice/nit-picking, realized that I rather liked doing it, and then did it for everyone I knew that had head lice. Then I read everything that I could get my hands on about head lice, from reputable and not-so-reputable sources. After that, I took my new knowledge out for a spin. Did you know that adult lice can swim in Nix for a long time? I do, because I dropped them in the Nix myself. How do I know that a louse can look like a minuscule red speck of pepper? Because I saw the tiniest red speck on someone's head, wondered "what is that?", looked at it under my microscope and found it to be a perfect little louse. How do I know that you can believe those studies that say that permethrin, the pesticides found in most lice "shampoos", has become essentially ineffective?

Head Lice in the Daycare

In a public school, if your child has head lice and the school tells you to keep your child at home, you can probably fight it if you are able to show the school authorities that you are taking reasonable measures to deal with this problem. If your child has head lice and attends a daycare center, dayhome, or out-of-school care facility, that is another story.

Should I keep my child home from school?

I want everyone to take the problem of head lice seriously. Just because I do not endorse the use of pesticidal shampoos, that does not mean that I downplay the seriousness of it. Everyone should give this problem the time and the effort it deserves. That said, should a child with head lice be kept home from school?

Sometimes 'effective' can also be 'inexpensive'.

Never underestimate a decent lice comb. And I'm not talking about the plastic comb that comes in the Nix package. A proper metal lice comb is an extremely wise investment as it can cut your nit picking in half. I have always recommended the Licemeister, which is a great comb, but the cost is prohibitive for some. Then a client told me about a good comb that she found at Wal-Mart - the Pharmasystems dual-sided lice comb (see the blurry picture). It is a pretty generic comb, but I tried it and have found it to be both effective and inexpensive. I bought mine at Wal-Mart for around $9. You may have to ask the pharmacist where the lice combs are located as they are not stocked beside the regular brushes and combs. I don't think this comb is as durable as the Licemeister, but it can still be boiled and is good for multiple uses. On the back of the package, it tells you to "shampoo with pediculicide". As you know, I don't think this is necessary or beneficial. Just use the comb regularly. If you want to clean out the comb between strokes, dip it in water and wipe with toilet paper or a paper towel. If you want to clean between the teeth, do not pry the teeth apart - just clean between them with dental floss.

I am sorry for the ignorance of others.

Today I spoke with a woman whose family had been dealing with head lice. In fact, they had dealt with it rather effectively and saw no new lice activity for a week. But then this woman found a new bug and 3 eggs in her daughter's hair. Because of this, her children were "kicked out" of the private day care they were attending. And because this woman now has no childcare, she has to stay home with her children. And because she has had to stay home this past week, she got fired from her job. How terribly sad.

And how terribly unnecessary. I understand the sentiment behind having "no-nit policies" in schools, daycare centres, camps, etc. However, one louse does not an epidemic make. Once the woman removed the louse and nits, her child was, for all intents and purposes, head lice free. With nit picking, it is very possible to miss an egg, and when you do, you may find yourself with a new batch of head lice down the road. To deal with this, you keep checking and picking for at least 10 days, watching for new lice activity. This woman did just this. She did all the right things, but she still suffered a consequence that was greater than the head lice itself.

Last week, I visited a family whose child was sent home from school because they mistook psoriosis for head lice. That's a simple mistake, but they sent the young child walking home without contacting the parents first to ensure that someone was there to receive her. Luckily, mom was at home and nothing happened to the child on the way home from school, but in that situation, the outcome could have been far worse than a case of head lice.

We send our children to school and day cares with colds and flus all the time. And these are much more serious health issues. But with head lice comes paranoia and people will sometimes do crazy, stupid, or dangerous things just because head lice gives them "the creeps". They don't understand what head lice are, how you get them, or that you don't need expensive treatments to deal with them.

But if you want to enlighten them, tell them to give me a call.

Do not hurry. Do not rest.

Shinichi Suzuki was the creator of Talent Education, the Suzuki method of music education. What could he have to do with the fight against head lice? Well, it seems that the fundamental rules for mastering an instrument, or mastering anything for that matter, are the same for mastering head lice:

"Do not hurry. This is a fundamental rule. If you hurry and collapse or tumble down, nothing is achieved. Do not rest in your efforts; this is another fundamental rule. Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking a step at a time forward will surely get you there."

- Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998)

You will not beat head lice overnight. Not with a treatment or one use of a fancy comb. You will not beat it by exhausting yourself with a sleepless frenzied cleaning marathon that lasts for three days. You will beat it by slowly and calmly removing the lice and nits that you see. And you will do the same thing tomorrow. And the next day. And then, one day, you will notice that you are not dealing with it anymore. Even then, you will keep checking everyday. Hurrying yourself in a frantic panic will drain you of the energy needed to fight this fight. If you burn yourself out, you will give up. But the lice won't. So follow Suzuki's words of wisdom. Do not hurry. Do not rest. And you will win.