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OOOOOHHH!!!
NOOOO!!! COOTIES!!! - J. Edwards
The Horror! The Shame! Your child, your grandchild, niece, nephew has just been sent home from school/day-care with head lice! How can you bear it? What must they think of you?!! Neglectful?!! Dirty?!!!
Alright, now that you have vented your spleen, I want you to take a nice, deep breath. Try to focus your eyes and relax. This is not the end of the world. First, understand that lice are parasites which do not respect socio-economic class distinctions. They actually prefer clean heads over dirty ones and Caucasian people over other ethnic groups. They are primarily acquired by sharing brushes, combs and hair accessories.
Ok, so we're past the guilt, shame, horror. Right? But what to do? What to do? First you ought to know as much about lice as possible. Pediculus humanus capitis, i.e. head lice, are tiny parasitic insects who live mainly on the scalp and neck of their human host. They have always been associated with people. In fact, lice has been recovered from prehistoric mummies. Lice do not fly or jump; nor are they likely to wander far from their preferred habitat. Neither lice nor their eggs are able to burrow into one's scalp. These little bloodsuckers cannot survive more than about a day, at room temperature, without access to human blood. The female louse deposits the eggs at a rate of about six eggs per night up to 100 eggs per female. Eggs hatch in eight days. Nymphs grow up in two to three weeks after hatching.
Secondly, you should only treat for lice when you can see active lice or viable eggs. An infested child will only have up to a dozen or so active lice on the scalp, but may have hundreds of viable and hatched eggs. Hatched eggs are virtually transparent. Viable eggs still have the developing louse inside which you can see with the naked eye. Do not begin treatment because the head itches, or it feels like something is crawling on the head. Begin treatment only when active lice or viable eggs are observed. Head lice are a major annoyance. They make you itch. You will probably lose sleep because of the itching. In North America, there is more harm from the wrongful use of caustic and toxic substances to eliminate the lice than from the lice themselves.
Grooming is the best and most effective control of lice. It is also the most time consuming. Wash the child's hair. Remove any tangles. Put a video on for your child to watch as you begin. Light the hair and head so you can see well. Keep a magnifying glass handy or have a helper hold a magnifying glass over the infected area as you work. Use a louse comb to comb the scalp and hair shafts. Comb one small section at a time. Although it's natural to comb away from the scalp, combing from the hair shaft towards the scalp is more effective to break the hold of the egg from the hair. Clean the lousy comb from time to time. Expect this process to take some time - like a couple of hours. Be patient. Be realistic. You probably will have to do this several nights in a row.
Other delousing methods have mixed results. Insecticides are easily absorbed through the skin and certainly aren't recommended by this author. Further there is increasing anecdotal evidence that lice are becoming resistant to the over use of pediculicides. One organic method that has some research behind it is the use of olive oil. The Harvard School of Public Health found that lice submerged in olive oil for two hours died; but lice submerged for only one hour recovered. Lice that had never been submerged survived for 18 hours. Soak the child's head and hair in olive oil. Cover it with a shower cap, tie a bandana over the shower cap and leave on for at least two hours. Some recommend that you keep the olive oil treatment on for eight hours. Follow the procedure for combing the lice and eggs out of the hair as already stated in this article. When you are done, wash the hair to remove the olive oil. Don't be surprised if it takes two lathers to remove all oil. When hair is dry examine again for eggs. Remove any eggs you see. Despite how thorough you have been, you are bound to miss a few eggs. Repeat this process every four days for the next three weeks to kill all emerging lice before they are old enough to lay more eggs.
Last you will want to clean all areas of your home where a lousy head may have laid. Vacuum all upholstered couches, chairs, car seats etc. Wash and dry all linens, towels, and recently worn clothing including hats, coats, and scarves. If the head has been in contact with something that cannot be washed or dry-cleaned, then put it up away from human contact for two weeks. Dry everything you washed in a hot dryer for 20 minutes. Soak combs, brushes and hair accessories in hot water for 20 minutes. Admonish your child that he or she cannot try on other people's hats, helmets, and caps and they cannot use other people's combs, brushes, or other hair accessories.
If you follow all of these recommendations, your experience with lice should be a relatively short one. I obtained most of the information for this article from the Harvard School of Public Health's web site at www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html and from a video Head Lice to Dead Lice by Sawyer Mac Productions. This is a humorous, 15 minute video that instructs parents and caretakers how to use olive oil to get rid of head lice. The only complaint I have about the video is it does include using a pediculicide in it's 5-Step Battle Plan against lice; however, it does so in a responsible way and doesn't stress the need to use an insecticide. Despite the video's inclusion of the use of a pediculicide, it would be a real public service to donate one of these videos to the school your child attends. You can review the information at the American Headlice Information Center's website at www.headliceinfo.com. You can order a video for $26.90 by sending your check to Sawyer Mac Productions, P.O. Box 862, Armonk, NY 10504.
The Horror! The Shame! Your child, your grandchild, niece, nephew has just been sent home from school/day-care with head lice! How can you bear it? What must they think of you?!! Neglectful?!! Dirty?!!!
Alright, now that you have vented your spleen, I want you to take a nice, deep breath. Try to focus your eyes and relax. This is not the end of the world. First, understand that lice are parasites which do not respect socio-economic class distinctions. They actually prefer clean heads over dirty ones and Caucasian people over other ethnic groups. They are primarily acquired by sharing brushes, combs and hair accessories.
Ok, so we're past the guilt, shame, horror. Right? But what to do? What to do? First you ought to know as much about lice as possible. Pediculus humanus capitis, i.e. head lice, are tiny parasitic insects who live mainly on the scalp and neck of their human host. They have always been associated with people. In fact, lice has been recovered from prehistoric mummies. Lice do not fly or jump; nor are they likely to wander far from their preferred habitat. Neither lice nor their eggs are able to burrow into one's scalp. These little bloodsuckers cannot survive more than about a day, at room temperature, without access to human blood. The female louse deposits the eggs at a rate of about six eggs per night up to 100 eggs per female. Eggs hatch in eight days. Nymphs grow up in two to three weeks after hatching.
Secondly, you should only treat for lice when you can see active lice or viable eggs. An infested child will only have up to a dozen or so active lice on the scalp, but may have hundreds of viable and hatched eggs. Hatched eggs are virtually transparent. Viable eggs still have the developing louse inside which you can see with the naked eye. Do not begin treatment because the head itches, or it feels like something is crawling on the head. Begin treatment only when active lice or viable eggs are observed. Head lice are a major annoyance. They make you itch. You will probably lose sleep because of the itching. In North America, there is more harm from the wrongful use of caustic and toxic substances to eliminate the lice than from the lice themselves.
Grooming is the best and most effective control of lice. It is also the most time consuming. Wash the child's hair. Remove any tangles. Put a video on for your child to watch as you begin. Light the hair and head so you can see well. Keep a magnifying glass handy or have a helper hold a magnifying glass over the infected area as you work. Use a louse comb to comb the scalp and hair shafts. Comb one small section at a time. Although it's natural to comb away from the scalp, combing from the hair shaft towards the scalp is more effective to break the hold of the egg from the hair. Clean the lousy comb from time to time. Expect this process to take some time - like a couple of hours. Be patient. Be realistic. You probably will have to do this several nights in a row.
Other delousing methods have mixed results. Insecticides are easily absorbed through the skin and certainly aren't recommended by this author. Further there is increasing anecdotal evidence that lice are becoming resistant to the over use of pediculicides. One organic method that has some research behind it is the use of olive oil. The Harvard School of Public Health found that lice submerged in olive oil for two hours died; but lice submerged for only one hour recovered. Lice that had never been submerged survived for 18 hours. Soak the child's head and hair in olive oil. Cover it with a shower cap, tie a bandana over the shower cap and leave on for at least two hours. Some recommend that you keep the olive oil treatment on for eight hours. Follow the procedure for combing the lice and eggs out of the hair as already stated in this article. When you are done, wash the hair to remove the olive oil. Don't be surprised if it takes two lathers to remove all oil. When hair is dry examine again for eggs. Remove any eggs you see. Despite how thorough you have been, you are bound to miss a few eggs. Repeat this process every four days for the next three weeks to kill all emerging lice before they are old enough to lay more eggs.
Last you will want to clean all areas of your home where a lousy head may have laid. Vacuum all upholstered couches, chairs, car seats etc. Wash and dry all linens, towels, and recently worn clothing including hats, coats, and scarves. If the head has been in contact with something that cannot be washed or dry-cleaned, then put it up away from human contact for two weeks. Dry everything you washed in a hot dryer for 20 minutes. Soak combs, brushes and hair accessories in hot water for 20 minutes. Admonish your child that he or she cannot try on other people's hats, helmets, and caps and they cannot use other people's combs, brushes, or other hair accessories.
If you follow all of these recommendations, your experience with lice should be a relatively short one. I obtained most of the information for this article from the Harvard School of Public Health's web site at www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html and from a video Head Lice to Dead Lice by Sawyer Mac Productions. This is a humorous, 15 minute video that instructs parents and caretakers how to use olive oil to get rid of head lice. The only complaint I have about the video is it does include using a pediculicide in it's 5-Step Battle Plan against lice; however, it does so in a responsible way and doesn't stress the need to use an insecticide. Despite the video's inclusion of the use of a pediculicide, it would be a real public service to donate one of these videos to the school your child attends. You can review the information at the American Headlice Information Center's website at www.headliceinfo.com. You can order a video for $26.90 by sending your check to Sawyer Mac Productions, P.O. Box 862, Armonk, NY 10504.