Our local lice experts say the peak times for head lice problems occur when children return from summer camp, families return home after vacations and during the first semester of the school year. However, if kids are in close contact with one another, lice are possible, if not probable. Yet have no fear, the lice myth busters and helpers are here!
Myth #1 – Head lice infestations occur because of a lack of cleanliness.
Barbara Gips of Lice Connection says parents often tell her, “I don’t know what happened. We aren’t dirty. My kids are so clean.”
Head lice love clean hair! It is easier for them to grip the base of the hair shaft so they can lay their eggs. Lice feed off a blood protein, which they obtain from biting the scalp.
“The scalp itch often associated with head lice actually comes from an allergic reaction to the bite,” shares Debra Rosen of Licexchange.
Myth #2 – Head lice are contracted from pets.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that head lice infestation, or pediculosis, is spread most commonly by close person-to-person contact. While head lice can be perceived as contagious, head lice are really human parasites. The CDC uses language such as infestation rather than infection. Dogs, cats and other pets do not play a role in the transmission of human lice.
Myth #3 – Lice hop or fly from one infested person to the other.
Head lice multiply easily if there is close proximity to an affected person or if the brush, combs or hats of an affected person are shared. Head lice are spread most commonly from head-to-head contact. Head lice do not hop or fly. Lice have no hind legs to hop and no wings to fly. Head lice do crawl, quite rapidly at times and blend into the hair shaft very well.
Myth #4 – After a lice infestation you must mega-clean your house, top to bottom – steam the carpets, curtains and burn the mattresses!
Housecleaning myths for lice eradication abound! Lice are not bedbugs. They do not survive off their host’s head. Lice have a 24 to 26 hour survival off a host’s head when removed from their blood supply so simple vacuuming will work to pick up bugs that have fallen off the head.
Anna Krosche, aka The Lice Lady, educates parents to wash all bedding and make sure to put the dryer on high; then vacuum the house. “Twenty minutes of high heat in the dryer kills lice,” she emphasizes.
Myth #5 – Head lice will go away in one day by shampooing with over the counter pesticides and those will kill all lice and their eggs.
Dale Longworth, states, “Unfortunately, head lice have become very resistant to those products, and they are not working very effectively. Some lice specialists quote the Harvard studies about lice resistance to pesticides and their metamorphosis to “super lice.”
Whether you choose to go to a doctor for a prescription shampoo or use one or more of the numerous green products our local specialists use and recommend, note that thorough, consistent comb outs with a lice comb are required after the shampooing to remove all lice and eggs. Often, follow-up combings are required for seven days, depending on the severity of the infestation.
The Facts
Head lice are small insects about the size of a sesame seed. Diagnosis is often made on the basis of finding lice eggs. Eggs are tiny, grayish white, tan or brown ovals that attach very tightly to hair shafts in the hair. These eggs cannot wash off or be blown away. It takes some effort to remove them from the hair shaft but once removed by hand or by combing out, they turn brown. Eggs may be found throughout the hair, but often are seen at the nape of the neck, behind the ears and at the crown of the head.
Solutions
While opinions and methodologies vary somewhat, all our experts share these common steps to eradication. You may do it yourself or hire one of them to do it for you and your child. They charge by the hour and some make house calls. Others have local salons.
1. Shampoo with a lice-killing shampoo. You may get a prescription shampoo from a physician or use one of the green products recommended on the specialists’ websites. Today’s lice are resistant to over the counter pesticides. Do not use them.
2. Do a thorough comb out immediately after the shampoo using a lice comb. Comb out after the initial shampoo using a white crème rinse to catch the bugs and eggs, called nits. (Our specialists have crème rinse recommendations.)
A lice comb has long teeth and should be wiped with a white paper towel after every combing stroke to remove the lice and nits from the comb. Any darkness you see in the white liquid is a louse in one of its stages. The initial comb out may take up to two hours. Finish one small section of hair at a time and move to the next section.
3. Follow-up comb outs should take place. The specialists recommend doing follow-up comb outs. When and how often varies. Some say comb outs should take place every day for seven days after shampooing. Others say if the initial comb out was thorough then another one is not needed until the seventh day. All agree, however, that follow-up is vital.
4. Head checks
Since the life cycle of the louse is 14 days, check your child’s head at the two-week mark from initial treatment in case any lice remained.
Prevention
• Teach children to avoid head-to-head contact.
• Teach children to not share brushes, combs or hats.
• You may choose to use a preventative spray on your child’s head or hair spray product. The odor acts as a repellent to the lice and the consistency on the hair helps to prevent lice from latching onto the hair shaft.
Lice are as common as the common cold. While they are frustrating and time consuming to deal with, they do not pose a serious health threat. Don’t panic! Help is available.
Laura Reagan-Porras is a parenting journalist and mother of two daughters who have battled lice and lived to share the tale.
Westchester Area Lice Removal Specialists
Barbara Gips
Founder & Lice Removal Specialist
Lice Connection
914-666-LICE (5423)
LiceConnection.com
Anna Krosche
The Lice Lady
914-497-5465
TheLiceLadyofWestchester.com
Dale Longworth
The Lice Expert of Dobbs Ferry/Westchester
914-424-1367
liceoffinc.com
Debra Rosen
917-657-0249
LiceXchange
licexchange.com
