Any parent can imagine my horror upon discovering after a visit to my brother-in-law’s, that not only did we provide them with memories of our toddlers’ tantrums, but we also left them with another gift: head lice.
Yes, I’m that mother who didn’t regularly check her children’s heads before sleepovers, travel and any of the other countless ways lice can cross borders. I now know better. With three children infested with live bugs—my apologies to the squeamish readers who are now starting to feel itchy—I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the louse life cycle, their preferences for clean hair (anti-bathers, rejoice!), and how to rid one’s head of these pesky, but ultimately harmless, creatures.
“As a doctor I know that lice are not harmful and just a nuisance, but as a parent they are a terrible source of frustration and anxiety and can be a huge time commitment,” says Arielle Levitan, M.D., an internist at NorthShore University HealthSystem and co-founder of Vous Vitamin LLC. “I was called by our school nurse expecting me to leave my patients in the office to pick up my children from school and pick their nits.”
For the record, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) doesn’t subscribe to the “no nit” policy to which many schools adhere, as it has not been shown to decrease the cycle of lice transmission.
As with any issue surrounding children, medical care and parenting, opinions abound about how to rid one’s head of live bugs and the nits. So what’s the best product? Of course, it depends who you ask, but the AAP still recommends as the most effective treatment the old-fashioned 1 percent permethrin-based over-the-counter topical solution Nix that most of us remember oh-so-fondly from our childhoods.
“It’s still effective, and most children tolerate it just fine,” says Anthony J. Mancini, M.D., head of the division of dermatology at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and professor of pediatrics and dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “I’m open-minded to more natural forms of treatment, but there’s not adequate testing to prove effectiveness” of these products.
What everyone does agree is effective is to become a master nitpicker; that is, picking each and every one of the minuscule nits that eventually will turn into bugs if left on the human host.
“The hardest part of stopping the lice from spreading is getting rid of the nits,” says Risa Barash, who, as the owner of a New York children’s salon, saw so many cases of lice that she and her husband decided to create all-natural products to prevent and treat it. Their Fairy Tales Hair Careproduct line uses organic herbs such as citronella, tea-tree oil and lavender to repel lice. A natural enzyme in the “curative” treatment helps to break down the “glue” that binds the nits to the hair, making removal easier.
“Our product is a wonderful way to get rid of the bugs themselves, and then you can comb through the hair and pick out the nits,” Barash says.
So squeamish parents take comfort, and follow these steps to eradicate lice from your heads and homes:
1. Use a preventative product, such as the Fairy Tales Lice Good-Bye Surivival Kit, to try to repel lice from hair before they take up residence.
2. If the bugs find their way into your or your children’s hair, start with a 1 percent permethrin (Nix), considered by most (including AAP) to be the first line of eradication.
3. Go for the double-whammy by using a natural product to help loosen any nits that survived the Nix; use a fine-toothed metal comb to comb out each strand of hair and pull out the nits.
4. Vacuum all upholstered surfaces, wash bed linens and towels in hot water, and seal off any stuffed animals in plastic bags for a couple weeks.
5. Repeat the natural product process every three days until no nits are left.
6. If steps one through five fail, speak to physician about using 0.5 percent malathion (Ovide), considered by many (including AAP) to be the second line of defense.
7. Repeat steps three through five.
8. Have a lice eradication party!
