The terrible "L Word"

Whispering the word "lice" at a gathering of children has the same effect of screaming the word "fire" in a building full of people.  Everyone scatters... Well, a couple of months ago, Harlee came home from a weekend at her Moms.  Her Mom informed me that Harlee had gotten lice from a friend who was spending the night.  Lice happens.  This is the second time, it happened once a few years back on CHRISTMAS EVE of all times. I remember going to the store and getting the kit and those things are EXPENSIVE and half the time don't work like they should for the money you pay for them. I refused to go that route this time.  I went on pinterest and google and I found a combination of home remedies that WORK!  

See, the reason that we were still dealing with this every couple of weeks for a few months is because I would do a few treatments and then when I didn't see anymore, I would stop.  Well, the nits (eggs) are VERY hard to see and according to several sources, nearly impossible to get rid of.  So, what you have to do, is wait for them to hatch, and then it takes 10 days for them to lay more eggs.  So for 2 weeks, Harlee has gotten a treatment every 3 days (I can't take any chances this time.)  As embarrassing as it can be to talk about, it happens and here is how we have beat them!

Here is what you will need:

Baby Oil
Cheap mouthwash (I use the yellow kind)
Shower cap (I get a pack of 15 for .99 at Wal-Mart)
Dawn Dish Detergent (This is the only thing I have found that will really get the baby oil out)
Distilled Vinegar
Suave COCONUT shampoo
Lice Comb

First, I soaked her head in baby oil and put a cap over her head for about 2 hours.  This suffocated the lice and killed them. It makes removing them a lot easier.  During the 2 hours, Harlee played wii with Jaxon and colored.  

Then, I removed the cap and put a towel in my lap and sat on the floor.  She first layed face down so I could start right about her neck.  (This area and behind the ears seemed to be their favorite spots)  I combed through for an agonizing 45 minutes but I never really got any complaints from her other than the sound of the comb.  The baby oil really makes it easy to come through the hair with ease.  While we were doing this, Chris went to her room and bagged all of her stuffed animals and washed her bed linens.  We also tossed the stuffed animals and baby dolls in the dryer for about 30 minutes on high heat as this is said to kill them as well.  

After combing through and removing what I could, it was time to wash her hair out.  This is the hard part. I don't know if you have ever soaked your hair in baby oil, but it is very difficult to get out.  I have found a method that works beautifully though.  First, I put the dawn in Harlee's hair, lathered and rinsed.  It will still be a little oily.  Then, I re-lathered her hair with Dawn and left it there for about 5 minutes while she played in the tub.  During this time, I mixed about 1/4 cup of vinegar & 1/4 a cup of Suave COCONUT shampoo. (It is said that there is something about the coconut shampoo that the lice do not like, so this is also a good preventative measure for after treatment).  The vinegar is supposed to help loosen any eggs that were not removed during the process.  Once this is done and it has been approximately 5 minutes, rinse out the dawn. Harlee's hair felt like straw after the dawn, because our hair needs some type of oil for moisture, and Dawn is a degreaser.  I then put in half of the mixture of shampoo and vinegar, lathered and rinsed.  Then I repeated again, but leaving the mixture in for about 3 minutes. Then I rinsed again and her hair felt so soft and looked beautiful when dried! 

Cue the mouthwash - the next treatment after 3 days is the mouthwash. This serves the same purpose as the baby oil, it suffocates them in a different way.  I do the same as the baby oil.  I soak her hair, put the cap on and then let her hang out for a few hours.  Then I just have her wash her hair as normal.  This just takes care of any that may have newly hatched.  I don't really comb during this process.  Harlee struggles with psoriasis of the scalp (dandruff) and the mouthwash treatment really clears it up for a few days, which is an added bonus.  

Then, I repeat the baby oil in another few days and continue this process for 2-3 weeks.  The nurse at her school is trained with lice treatment and has checked her head every few days and there are no signs of lice!  

Extra non-treatment things I did:

Called the school and any other parents of children who had been around Harlee for the past few months.  If they aren't treated because I was too ashamed to tell them, chances are that Harlee would be getting it again. 

I set Harlee up to sleep in the office where we have a pull-out couch. Even though I vacuumed and washed all linens/took care of stuffed animals, etc I didn't want to take any chances.  Lice can't survive without a human head, so I didn't want Harlee's head in her room for a while. :) (This was more of paranoia for me, I believe.)

I also wiped down all surfaces with bleach wipes (don't forget car seats, etc).

Lice Prevention

They forgot Coconut, but:

 Hope this can help someone else! :)