How to get rid of lice

It’s the scourge all teachers and parents dread, haunting elementary schools, striking swiftly and unexpectedly. In a matter of days, it can infect all the children in a room—and then spread to you. Just the thought of that is enough to make you reflexively scratch your head. This plague is the unholy head louse.

 Back at school? Here’s how to keep kids free of head lice

Most health authorities in Australia recommend avoiding insecticides, and instead suggest wetting the hair (or using conditioner) and then combing the lice out. Essential to eradicating head lice infestations is two treatments, each about a week apart. This ensures adult lice are killed, then any eggs remaining are allowed to hatch but those newly hatched lice are killed by the second treatment before they have an opportunity to lay more eggs.

 How to get rid of head lice without spending loads of money

Two forms of head lice should be certainly considered as targets for control: the females and the newly born nits. To remove both forms, a fine comb – known as lice or louse comb – has been shown to be effective in terms of treatment and prevention of heavy lice infestations.

 Lice: The New Four-Letter Word

We all know that lice has a stigma. You think it just happens to poor people with poor hygiene. Nope. Let me tell you something. It can happen to anyone. But people don't talk about it.

 The Latest on Lice

One aspect of the confusion around head lice is that we may think of them as “infectious” because they are spread from person to person — but they do not actually carry infections. They’re just bugs, and technically, we call head lice an infestation rather than an infection, but that doesn’t necessarily make anyone feel any better. (Body lice are different — they can indeed spread infections, most famously typhus.)

Here’s how you beat ‘indestructible’ head lice

Here is the really good news. We don’t have to rely on insecticides to control head lice. The “conditioner and comb” method works well enough. By applying conditioner to the hair, any adult lice present will be “paralysed” and can then be removed with specially designed “lice combs”. (Interestingly, the earliest known “lice combs” date back to 1500 BC). Repeat the process a week later to catch any lice that hatch from eggs remaining in the hair and you should be done – at least until next time. The biggest barrier to success is getting the children to sit still long enough to methodically work through their hair. Wrangling the kids is probably more difficult than wrangling the lice!

The Facts of Lice

You may want to start the louse-hunting process by getting your child’s head wet and applying an oil or conditioner to it, as this can slow the lice down so you can more easily spot them. Then, use a louse comb—a special, fine-tooth comb you can find at the drugstore that, when combed through hair from root to end, captures live lice. One study found that using a louse comb was four times more effective and diagnosed lice twice as fast than visual inspection alone.

The Hottest Thing in Head Lice

Our history of treatments is decorated with tragedy. But ivermectin just made a strong case for being this season's "it" neurotoxic hair lotion.

The Louse is in the House

Our country has an enormous stockpile of bourgeois propriety, highly refined bourgeois propriety. In fact, it is weapons-grade, as verified by the detonation of me at our house when our five-year-old daughter was sent home from pre-K because she had head lice. "How could my daughter get lice?" I shouted (out of daughter's earshot, of course, for propriety's sake). "It's a private school!"

98 Percent of Head Lice Now Resistant to the Chemicals That Treat Them

According to the Daily Caller, "JME studied 48 states and found that, on average, 98 percent of head lice in at least 42 states managed to grow gene mutations that enable them to become resistant to different insecticides other wise known as pyrethrins, pyrethroids, and permathrins."

How to Get Rid of Lice

You won’t get diseases from head lice (whereas body lice, which are far less common, can transmit illness, including typhus). The social stigma against lice is driven largely by squeamishness; Frankowski says the common cold is a more serious threat.

I’m a “Lousy” Mom

Most importantly, don’t freak out too much. It’s annoying and gross, but remember that besides being a nuisance, lice is totally harmless and does not carry any disease or pose any real health risk.

New Ways to Fight Super Lice

Combing salons and new topical medications are catching on as head lice become resistant to widely used shampoo treatments.

Of lice and men: An itchy history

Ponder the louse. Consider its plural, lice. Try now not to scratch the multiple itches that have just populated your head at the very thought of these near-microscopic insects crawling around in that forest of hair follicles, laying eggs, sucking blood, and generally creeping you out.

You've Got Lice

There is no need to use any chemicals, tea tree oil, mayonnaise or anything else you read on the Internet to rid yourself of lice. The key is in the comb and the best one on the market is the LiceMeister, manufactured and sold by a non-profit organization.

Your Child Has Lice? Spread the Word

Prepare yourself. Starts with L. Makes your head itch. … Lice. The mere word sends tingles up the scalps of parents across the country. It should. Because in the battle of exhausted parents versus lice, it feels as if the lice are winning.

Superlouse

What my yearlong battle with Nix- and RID-resistant head lice taught me about the future of the American louse.