With back to school upon us, tips and tricks on avoiding head lice is on every parents to do list. Hopefully some of these tips will . . .

help us out.

Every time I see a child scratch their head, even just once, you can be sure they are getting checked. I hate lice. Any parent who’s had to deal with lice will concur that they too hate them. These tiny little bugs are the absolute worst creatures to have to deal with. They’re much harder to deal with then you can imagine. They cause so much trouble, work and stress. For anyone who is worried about that little note that often comes home from school, here’s some of the 411 on lice.

Now I’m no expert, I’ve had lots of family members deal with lice and definitely remember getting lice when I was little. To try and keep these little buggers out of our house I have been doing some research.

Myth busters

1. Lice are attracted to clean and dirty hair. At one time people believed that lice would live on dirty heads, not true. They will host on any head.
2. Louse do not hop, jump or fly. They are crawling insects. There is a very small chance that head lice will spread by sharing items such as combs, brushes, and hats.
3. You do not need to throw things out that can’t be put in the washing machine, you can bag things and put them in the basement/garage/outdoor for two weeks to kill the lice.
4. Lice are rare: False. Lice are very common in school age children. We should be checking heads regularly even if we haven’t received a note home.
5. There is no shame in getting lice. Lice love all heads and hair.

What to know about lice

1. There are three stages of lice, the egg (nit), nymph and adult louse.

   The nit hatches in six to nine days and is found four to six mm from the scalp. If they are not that close they die.

   The nymph is a small louse 1.5 mm diameter, they become adults seven days after hatching.

   The adult louse multiplies like crazy. They can produce 10 eggs per day. It only takes 12-14 days for nits to reach adulthood.

   If the louse is not treated they repeat the cycle every three weeks.

2. The main way head lice spread is from close, prolonged head-to-head contact. For example, when kids hug, are bent down playing a game together, are laying down reading stories together, etc.
3. Most common symptom of lice are itching on scalp near the back of the ears and neck.
4. We should be checking for lice regularly so that we can catch them before they multiply.

   Here are some tips for checking your child’s head:

   Seat your child in a brightly lit room;

   Part the hair;

   Look for crawling lice and for nits on your child’s scalp a section at a time;

   Live lice are hard to find. They avoid light and move quickly;

   Nits will look like small white or yellow-brown specks and be firmly attached to the hair near the scalp. The easiest place to find them is at the hairline at the back of the neck or behind the ears. Nits can be confused with many other things such as dandruff, dirt particles or hair spray droplets. The way to tell the difference is that nits are firmly attached to hair, while dandruff, dirt, or other particles are not.

   Use a fine-tooth comb to help you search the scalp section by section.

   (Source: https://www.healthychildren.-org/English/health-issues/conditions/from-insects-animals/Pages/Signs-of-Lice.aspx)

5. Treatment — There is the comb out method (which you can find information on how to do online) as well as lice medicine you can buy (at a pharmacy) to treat your child’s head. If the treatment is used it should be repeated. If using the medicine it is a good idea to use the comb out method following the medicine to remove the nits and any louse that have survived.
6. How do you treat the rest of your house/things. All bedding, clothing, towels, hats and outdoor clothing, blankets and other items that have soft surfaces need to be washed in hot water and dried at a high heat temperature to kill the nits. Think about anything they had come in contact with two days prior to discovering their lice, it all needs to be washed. Items that cannot be washed can be sealed in a garbage bag (sealed) and put in the basement or garage for two weeks.
7. All household members who have been in contact with the child that has the lice should be checked and possibly treated.
8. Tip — Lice do not like tea tree oil or lavender. Use tea tree oil in your shampoo (add a few drops to the bottle of shampoo your children use) or dab some tea tree oil on your child’s forehead and behind their ears before leaving the house. There are also shampoo bars available in our town, made with tea tree oil and lavender.

If you find your child has contracted lice it is a good idea to contact any children (or their parents) that your child has come in contact with so that they too can check for nits and louse on their child. The quicker it is treated the less it multiplies! It should not be something that embarrasses anyone, lice loves all hair. I cannot stress this enough. I remember getting lice and being very embarrassed, at the time people thought lice only lived on dirty heads which really gave off a negative connotation. This is absolutely false.

Fun fact, my head is itchy after writing this article, which happens pretty much every time I think about lice. Get checking those heads and hope to find nothing.