What if you can't pick or comb...an oldie but a goodie.

I once wrote a blog post entitiled "What if you can't pick or comb". I think it has some good information. Check it out here.

When others have head lice.

So your cousin has head lice. Should you let her come for a visit? You find out that 3 kids in your child's classroom are totally infested. Should you keep your child home or should you raise a stink with the principal? The mother of your son's best friend just called - her kid has head lice. Do you keep the boys apart?

When someone with lice is coming for a visit, don't isolate yourself - just take some simple precautions. If you or your children have long hair, pull the hair up in a ponytail. If the visitor has long hair, ask him/her to pull it up (this is easier to do when your guests are children). Address the issue with your guest at the start of the visit. If your guest is staying over, give him/her fresh bedding and wash and dry the bedding in high heat each day. Put towels over the tops or arms of the couches - anywhere where someone might lay their head. Put your brushes and combs away. Make sure no one shares hats or hair accessories. Set some ground rules about contact - no hugging when possible (But hey, if my friend was really upset, she might need a hug, and I'd give her one, head lice or no head lice.) And then do regular head lice checks on yourself and members of your household.

With regards to the lice in your child's classroom, talk to the other parents, or talk to the teacher to make sure that everyone is aware of the problem. Offer information and support. And by all means, give them my number!

Have a nice lice frame of mind without going buggy.

When you discover that you or someone you care about has head lice, you know that you are in for some work. You are discouraged because this little "surprise" upsets your family, your schedule, and maybe even your budget (it doesn't have to - don't buy the shampoos!).

However, there is something that is much more exhausting than dealing with head lice: it is the paranoia that some people create around the head lice. Hours of reading about head lice on the Internet. Days and days of cleaning, shampooing, and washing. Constantly monitoring the comings and goings of everyone in the household. Thinking every little itch must be a bug bite. This flurry of agitated activity is absolutely exhausting, not to mention absolutely unnecessary. THIS IS JUST HEAD LICE! Calm down. You will need to do some work to get rid of it - conserve your energies for more productive behaviours.
While paranoia is not productive, the same can be said of an attitude that is too relaxed. I hear people say, "Oh, head lice is just a part of life and you can never really get rid of it.", or, "What's the point of wasting time picking out the lice when my son is just going to come home from school with another case of it next week?" It is attitudes like these which have led to the head lice epidemic that we have in our schools. Having head lice is not in and of itself a health issue, but it is a very real social problem and can leave you or your child feeling like a outcast. And then there's the maddening itching, which leads to scratching, and the scratching can lead to wounds. (If these get infected, then you ARE dealing with a health problem). Choosing to do nothing, or choosing to do very little (i.e. using "shampoos" that don't really work) passes your problem on to others as well.

Stop the paranoia, but don't be ignorant. Don't freak out about head lice, but be prepared to really deal with it. Be diligent, and patient. Lighten up, but don't tune out. Have a nice lice frame of mind.

No need to get dirty with your lice.

There is a phrase that people tell me all the time:
"I know that head lice prefer clean hair to dirty hair."

When someone has head lice, she often feels dirty and finds comfort in this misleading statement. We need to reassure ourselves that we are clean people. And part of the sentiment of the statement is true - head lice is not a hygiene issue. People with clean hair (and clean clothes, and clean homes) are as likely to get head lice as anyone else.

The circulation of this belief also stems from the fact that globs of goop do make things a bit more difficult for the louse. It is harder to maneuver around slimy, oily, goopy hair. So, people mistakenly think that head lice will not thrive in dirty hair. But do you know anyone who lets their hair get that dirty? Where globs of grease are dripping down their neck? No, you probably don't. Even if you didn't wash your hair for two weeks, it would never get that dirty. And even if it did, just because the restaurant takes longer to get to, that doesn't mean the lice are not going to eat. In hair clean or dirty, those bugs are going to get to your scalp and they will do just fine for themselves, thank you.

So for all of you folks who think that postponing your shampooing will assist you with your lice problem, you are sadly mistaken. Dirty hair will not prevent you from getting head lice, nor will it slow them down if you already have them. Please keep your scalp clean. Especially if I'm the one who is going to be looking through it. Much appreciated.

Jeopardy Question: These parasitic insects live only on the human scalp.

Answer: What are head lice? (Pediculosis Capitis)
For more general info about lice and nits - what they are like and what to do with them when you find them - check out the my blog posts from November 2008.

Another note: See this picture. See the little red baby louse? (It is red because it just ate.) On your head, that nymph is about the size of a speck of pepper and you usually can't see the outline of its legs with the naked eye unless it is in front of a completely white background. (Because of the age and the size of these little red guys, my daughter calls them "Baby Spice".) So, if you are doing your own lice removal, and you see a tiny speck on the head, don't waste your time wondering if it is lice. Just remove it. When in doubt, take it out.

Working the bugs out of the new school year.

Though I am a life-long learner, I am not currently in school. Still, September always makes me sentimental - it is a transition between the carefree days of summer and the buzz of "back to school". If you are getting your children ready for the "new year", don't forget to check them and prep them. In other words, do a thorough check for head lice before sending them back into the classroom and teach them how lice spread - head to head contact. Make sure you incorporate regular lice checks (through wet combing) into your weekly routine because by the time a family realizes they have head lice they may already have had it for 3 months. Regular checks find lice before the itching even begins.  Your kids should be itching to get back to school but not itching once they get there.

From Summertime Blues to Summer Lovin'

The lazy, hazy days of summer. Time to relax, right? Until your kid is sent home from summer camp because she has head lice. Unlike the camp where I first learned to pick head lice (see my first post on this blog), most summer camps, day camps, and daycare centres have a no-nit policy where children with head lice are sent home. Most parents love this policy - until it is their child that has lice. Then again, many camps don't even check for head lice and I know of children who picked up head lice from summer camp.

Do not fret - there are things you can do to ensure that the only bugs that will interrupt your summer frolicking are the ants that want to join your picnic:

1. Continue with the regular head lice checks.
I know that you relax your routines in the summer - the kids' bedtimes get a little later, the rooms get a little messier, etc. However, remain diligent with your regular lice checks so that a small problem doesn't become a big infestation. Do a quick check each day, do a more comprehensive check once a week, and do a spot check if your child's scalp is itchy.
2. Keep long hair pulled up.
Have children with long hair keep their beautiful locks pulled back in a braid or ponytail. This will reduce their chances of getting lice, or if they already have lice, it will reduce the chances of spreading the problem.
3. Don't share head gear.
This includes hats, visors, big headphones, hair scrunchies, bandanas, brushes, combs, bike helmets, and whatever else lice could crawl on to. Remind your children not to lend, borrow, or share these items.
4. Clean up after camp.
Just in case a critter came home from camp with your child, make sure you wash all returning camp gear in hot water and dry on high heat. Boil brushes and combs. Anything that can't be washed should be put in the freezer for a couple of days. Or, just put items in a plastic bag and leave them alone for 2 weeks. That will take care of any unwanted stowaways.
5. Get informed.
Read what you can about head lice (you can start with the information on this blog). That way, if your child's camp director comes to you thinking that your child has head lice, you can inform him/her about what head lice is and what head lice isn't. And if your child does have head lice, you will know how to treat it without harmful chemicals. Or you might call me, and I'll be glad to help.

No Viagra Required

Clients sometimes tell me crazy ideas about how lice reproduce. Some think that they are like viruses, that you can get infected just by being in the same room as someone with head lice. Some think that head lice are hermaphrodites - that they have both male and female sexual organs and fertilize themselves. Not true.

Both a female louse and a male louse are required to produce a fertilized egg. So, why then can you get lots of head lice from just one bug on your head? Well, if the bug is a male, not much will happen. But if the bug is a fertilized female louse, watch out, because a little sperm goes a long way.

The female louse mates with the male louse just once and receives all the sperm she will ever need. She stores all the extra sperm in her body in a receptacle called a "spermatotheca". Then her eggs just get fertilized as she goes. Not very romantic, but it gets the job done. Bow chicka wow wow!

Aaah...The Simple Lice

In her book, Simplify Your Life, Elaine St. James talks about how she used to take all sorts of medications for a cold - decongestants, expectorants, whatever. Then she decided to simplify her cold fighting strategy and traded all her medications for simple Aspirin. In doing this, she found that her colds were actually shorter in duration than they had been when they were being treated with those cold medicine cocktails.

When fighting head lice, I also like to simplify. I do not use any "shampoos" or medicines at all. I just pick and comb (with the proper comb), and I find that the problem actually goes away more quickly. People who use the pesticidal "shampoos" are often less diligent in picking out every bug and egg, and therefore do not get rid of the problem right away. Or, there are some who deal with head lice so severely with random treatments that they cause their scalps to be dry and itchy - and then they think that the problem is head lice, which makes them use more treatments, which cause more dryness and the problem continues.

By just combing and picking, you will not irritate your scalp, nor will you mask the real problems. You will focus your energies into a technique that works instead of wasting your energy (and money) on false promises. Just K.L.S.S. (Keep Lice Simple, Silly.)

Is it live or is it Denorex?

Yet another home remedy - Denorex shampoo. Does it work in the battle against head lice? I don't really know because most people I know who have tried it have just added it to their list of ofter remedies they are actively using. So I don't know what is solving the problem, if the problem is getting solved at all. You may read story after story of people who say it is the best thing, but I know people who have used it with no lice killing results. Because it is one of those unknowns, I just don't use Denorex for head lice.