Nobody wants to talk about lice. It’s not a fun topic, but you need to know about it. Here’s how to get rid of lice, mom to mom!
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School is about to start and that means cases of lice go up! How is get rid of lice is the first question that people ask when they get it!
I decided to write this for other moms because it’s something people don’t normally talk about because they’re embarrassed. I wanted to let other moms know what I did because it’s hard to find information. I’m not a doctor, nurse or any kind of lice expert, just letting you know what worked for me, mom to mom.
How do you know if you have lice.
Lice isn’t hard to see, but you can second guess yourself over and over. “Is this one?” I’ve must have asked myself a gazillion times. Here’s how to tell if you really have lice.
- Itchy head. My daughter itched behind her ears.
- Lice eggs are little and white and near the scalp. It kind of looks like it could be dandruff.
- If you’ve identified something that could be a lice egg, try and blow it out. If it’s stuck in there and you really have to pull it to get it out- it’s an egg.
- You can actually see a bug crawling through hair, but these are tough to find.
Now what?
There are professional hair care businesses and all they do is remove lice and are pretty pricey. They usually have their formula and system that guarantees the lice is gone. If you want to use those then you’ll need to google those for your area, but you can also tackle it yourself like in the 80’s.
If you’ve identified that you have lice, you’ll want to follow these next steps.
You’ll want to buy
- A metal lice comb. I found these last longs and work the best.
- Nix Lice Killing Creme Family Pack– It comes with 2 plastic combs. I actually bought 2 packs of this because I wanted to do everyone in the family.
- hair clips
- cheap combs– This is a 5 pack and what I bought because I wanted everyone in our house to have their own combs.
How to get rid of lice
Follow the directions on the package on the Nix box. When it says to coat your hair with the cream, make sure to do it thoroughly.
After using the Nix, you’ll need to come out the eggs. Divide the hair into sections, using hair clips. Start with a small section of hair and pull the comb through it from the scalp to the bottom. Wipe the comb clean on a tissue. You can look at the tissue to see if there are eggs. Continue over and over on all the sections of hair until you feel confident that all eggs have been removed. Depending on how much hair you have to do, this could take over an hour, easily.
To ensure the lice was gone, I did the treatment and combing on everyone in my house.
I did repeat the lice killing cream a couple of times on my daughter to make sure the lice was gone and followed the instructions on the Nix box for their recommendations on how often to reapply.
I combed her hair out daily using the lice comb so I see evaluate the situation and kept her hair (and mine) pulled in ponytails and buns.
Important cleaning tips to remove lice from your house
If you don’t clean your house properly, then you’ll never get rid of lice. This is the most time consuming thing, but you have to do it to insure you kill all the bugs and eggs.
**Wash all sheets and dry for at least 40 minutes on high heat. Do this on ALL beds.
**Take all decorative pillows and stuffed animal and dolls, place in trash bags and set aside. I had a corner in my garage I used for a storage area. Don’t forget about the couch too! I left them out there for over a week to guarantee nothing could have survived.
**Dry pillows in dryer for 40 minutes. You don’t have to wash- just dry on high heat.
**Put all combs, brushes, bows, and hair ties in a baggie and place in freezer for 24 hours.
**Don’t forget about coats, jackets and sweatshirts. Wash and dry those too!
**Vacuum furniture.
**Wash and dry all towels and use only once until you know that all lice is gone.
**Lysol wipe your leather car seats or vacuum your cloth ones.
**You need to empty and dry backpacks for 40 minutes, If you can’t, then try to switch out for a few days.
Lice Prevention
After you have lice once, you never want it again. Here are some products we use now.
- Fairytales Lice Prevention Shampoo and Conditioner
- Fairytales Lice Prevention Spray- We love this and use it every morning.
I’ve seen recipes online that you can make your own spray using essential oils, but I can’t recommend any of those because I’ve never used one so you can Google that if you’re interested in it.
If you’re reading this, then I’m sorry! Don’t panic and just take your time. You will be overwhelmed, but just know it will end!