Monday, June 2, 2014

How I Managed the L-Word

I am a working grandmother; therefore, my little one attends preschool. Recently, we had to deal with head lice. Ugh, I know...stop scratching your head after reading that. Please note this is not intended as health care/medical advice, but just one experience with those critters. It's been my experience professionally, that parents often want a prescription product for head lice. While there are lice which are resistant to OTC permethrin products (RID, Nix, etc.), you won't know if you don't try them.

Here's what we used:
Day 1: Licefreee Spray was used per package directions. We sprayed it on, combed it through and allowed it to dry. I was skeptical, but immediately seeing dead little critters was reassuring. Hair was then shampooed with their Licefreee Tea Tree oil shampoo. Combed hair with nit comb and removed any visible nits. The metal toothed comb is okay, but you'll have to nit pick with your finger nails for the stubborn ones.
Days 2 & 3: I applied tea tee oil to hair (section hair and apply a dab), combed with metal comb and removed any nits. Licefreee tea tree oil shampoo was repeated on day 3. The product label recommends daily shampooing for two weeks, but I did not use it in that manner.
Days 4-7: I continued tea tea oil to hair, combing and checking for nits.
Day 8: I consider the treatment a success because there were no more lice and no nits. If you worry about tea tree oil leaving the hair oily or greasy, it didn't. By the end of the day, you couldn't visually tell that it had been applied. The key is diligently removing all nits and washing linens, combs, and brushes in hot soapy water. If you don't get rid of the nits, you will have new visitors every 7 days.
One irritating aspect of this was upon notifying the preschool director that my granddaughter had head lice (so they could check the other children), I was told, "I thought Black children didn't get head lice". It has nothing to do with race, but hair texture. The coarser the hair, the less likely. Grandgirl is of multiracial parentage. Sometimes, I just want to say, "DUH!"

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