So if you didn't notice yesterday...posting on this site came to a screeching halt at about lunchtime (except for my automated program that posts new coupons). There is a reason for that: while blow-drying Elizabeths hair, I realized that she had lice. After noticing it, I checked Thomas & Jonathan and YEP! They had it too!
Lovely.......
Ever see those shows where a character is freaked out about something and immediately starts running around in circles, but they speed up the video so that it looks like they are going 90 miles per hour? That was me! I immediately took to my Skype chat room that I have with some of your favorite other deal bloggers to have a major freak-out. While I was running around the house grabbing every stuffed animal and bedding item, spraying furniture and cars, they posted on their Facebook Fan pages asking for advice for me.
Some of the tips were new to me...and some had me scratching my head (pun intended). One reader from Facebook Fan page would post about the "Listerine cure", and then another would post about it on another FB Fan page and I thought "Hey - maybe there IS something to not just buying Rid"!.
So without further ado, here are some of the non-conventional tips that I received (Please note: I am not endorsing or supporting any of these as a cure for lice...just passing on those tips that I got from many others)
From Kaesi:
Wash everything hot! Vacuum everything and get rid of the bag or wash the trap container hot. And my parents always used Rid(Rit?) Shampoos and patience to comb through our hair completely. 🙂
From Wanda: (and this may not be available in all areas)
Honestly, our health dept has a spray on shampoo that treats 6-18 heads (depending on hair length). It's only $10.00 and safe to use on any age and no harsh chemicals. It's called bug out and it works like a charm. I'd check with them.
From Roseanne:
Yellow listerene and Olivie oil. Sleep with the olive oil over night. It suffocates the lice. Went thru this last year. Look at hair in the light and clip out the hair with the nits on it. Good luck.
From Regina:
I went through that a couple months ago with my kids and Rit didnt work for me! Finally got rid of it by using lots of mayo on their heads, wrap a plastic bag on over it and let them sit for about an hour. Then used a lice comb, comb it with mayo still in, then wash their hair and lice and eggs were all gone! I will never buy any lice shampoo again, good ole MAYO!
From Carla (another advocate of mayo)
When my kids had lice several years ago, I was pregnant and did not want a pesticide in my house (lice treatments/shampoos are pesticides), so we took the mayo route and it worked amazingly well. My daughter had so many lice that when you picked up the back of her long hair, the underside of the hair was covered. We ALL smeared FULL FAT (low fat will not work they say) all through our hair, then covered our heads with showercaps or swimming caps and slept like that all night. In the morning, the smell wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't horrible either. There were 5 of us at the time (including 2 girls with long hair) and that is the only treatment that we ever used that whole time and just that once. Now, we picked nits out of thier hair for a few days, but I never again saw a live bug on any of us. Hope that helps. If I had to do it again, I would do it the same exact way.
From Seema (with a cider vinegar & lemon juice solution)
take 2 - 3 tbl spoon of apple cider vineger, add 2 tbl spoon of lemon juice and garlic paste. mix it well and apply it on scalp.allow it to dry it for 2 hrs and then wash it off. do this 3 - 4 times a month . you will see grt result and get ris of the lice.
From Nancy (with the "water only" idea)
I would put my daughter in the tub and let her lay down with her hair covered in the water. The live lice wrap around the shafts of the hair and I would take the nit comb and comb through her hair, then take her outside and comb out the nits in the sunlight. I did this after the school tried to make me use pesticides on her and I refused. When I took her back to school ( the same day), they couldn't find any nits at all. I repeated this everyday for a week, just in case. No more lice.
From Melissa (and I have to say, while I was taking care of the boys, Elizabeth was playing in the back yard. When I was putting the solution on her hair, I noticed a tick that wasn't there 4 hours earlier and once I put that shampoo on, that tick started backing out and freaking out like it was killing him)
Flea shampoo for dogs, no joke! It's inexpensive and after the shampoo kills the live ones it also repels more from wanting to feast on your kid's head.
From Mary (the Cetaphil solution)
In our area, for the resistant, the pediatricians have started using cetaphil ....apply to dry hair, dry with a hair dryer and leave on overnight. Still comb out the nits.
From Heather (and you know that I love Coconut Oil)
We went through it and we coated everyone with coconut oil and let it sit on for an hour and then washed with tea tree oil shampoo!
From Carla (and if you want to electrify those little bloodsuckers)
We used a robo comb. No pesticides and it was great. You can buy them at Walgreens, it fries the lice but won't hurt your children.
From Blanca:
Tea tree works. When my daughter was small she got them...and she has a lot of hair!!!
And my favorite.....
From Tiffany
Tea tree and go on vacation anywhere for two weeks.
Thanks to everyone for helping me through this.
Did we miss any great tips or removing lice? Post them in the comments!
Mercedes
Thanks for the tips! Now my head is itching! LOL!
Mercedes
Ronnie Crowley
The electronic comb that saps them is awesome. It's also make you feel good as each time you find one you can imagine the pain. You need to keep doing for several days though. I did it every day until I hadn't found any new ones for a couple of days