2018 Lice

The title of this post cracked me up. I thought it was going to be about a new and improved "Lice 2.0"...

Me too! I wanted to learn more about this new strain of superlice.

Another trick to find the nits is to use a black light, they glow. Then comb them out with the nit comb. This works well on kids with darker hair. I have also heard that mayonnaise on the hair overnight with a shower cap works as well.

Ha!!!! Pets!!! That was great! And no it is not mean. If you ask me, when we've tried the killing with kindness route and it didn't work; then we should be quite a bit more cutting. I love people who were born in the 1930s and 40s, those people can be so cutting, but they are always honest about their opinions and thoughts. I we need more of that in society.

I read your link hppygr8ful, I saw no where in that link where the CDC thought of lice as 'normal human flora'. Really though anything that causes discomfort "sleeplessness and itching" per your link and can be spr ad to others relatively easy should not be allowed in public schools. I mean if you knew that your kid had a high risk of getting lice many times during their school years related to a decreased regulation of lice policy in schools would you send them still? Scabies kind of falls in this same category...not over all terrible for humans but itchy, annoying, and worse cases a little painful. But if it relatively easily spread why would you send your kid to that?

I read your link hppygr8ful, I saw no where in that link where the CDC thought of lice as 'normal human flora'. Really though anything that causes discomfort "sleeplessness and itching" per your link and can be spr ad to others relatively easy should not be allowed in public schools. I mean if you knew that your kid had a high risk of getting lice many times during their school years related to a decreased regulation of lice policy in schools would you send them still? Scabies kind of falls in this same category...not over all terrible for humans but itchy, annoying, and worse cases a little painful. But if it relatively easily spread why would you send your kid to that?

Your kid only has a "high risk of getting lice" at school if they're rubbing heads with a friend who has lice.

It's very rare that they're transmitted any other way. I do, however, send my kids to school every day knowing there's a tiny percentage they'll get lice. My kids range from elementary through high school & (knock on wood) we've not had an instance. I'd guess an overwhelming percentage of kids make it through school never having lice. They have a better chance of catching a common cold, which can cause discomfors & sleeplessness, and I still send them.

I

I would also say that about 50% of the kids that I see diagnosed with head lice don't have it as the untrained eye doesn't know what it's looking at

Hppy

This right here. Sometimes even the trained eye! Case in point:

I had my kids at a chain haircut place over the summer & my oldest was in the chair. The girl who was to cut his hair called someone else over and they started coming through his hair. I'm sitting there thinking - what the heck is going on? Then they call me over and tell me they can't cut his hair - what? why? Because they said he had lice. I about flipped my shizzle. Impossible, I tell them. So she starts going through his hair showing me the white flecks. Dandruff or dried product, it's not nits. Show me a live bug. She still was not convinced and told me that it wasn't coming out of his hair - because you just sprayed it soaking wet!! Of course it's going to be a little stuck now!! I did pull the - I'm a school nurse and deal with this all the time - card. Finally I convinced her she was wrong. The boy needed a haircut so I did let her do it but I was so ticked. I sent them an email shaming them that someone whose business is hair doesn't know what lice/nits look like & we haven't been back.

Another trick to find the nits is to use a black light, they glow. Then comb them out with the nit comb. This works well on kids with darker hair. I have also heard that mayonnaise on the hair overnight with a shower cap works as well.

Black light? Do you know if you can get one cheap?

Pretty sure they're in all the supply catalogs with the hand washing glow type stuff.

Black light? Do you know if you can get one cheap?

I bought a cheap one off of eBay, it looks like a little flashlight (

The age of the student is paramount here. If she is in middle school or above, you can provide her with a lice comb and teacher her to go through her own hair nightly at home, and check in with you say, every Friday. It might work with some younger kids too.

I had the same situation in two separate families: one family had all special needs kids and they were not capable of doing this. Mom did nothing (no job, did not actually 'care' for the kids in the years I worked with them) - it was truly sad. But I just kept putting it back on mom: I'd check the kids every Friday, no matter what, because they were chronic for YEARS. And their paraprofessionals would bring them down whenever they had any concerns. If I found anything - call to mom, off to home they would go. They needed to see me the morning they returned to confirm that the lice was gone (or back home they went). It's not our job to be their parent - but we do need to be the 'checks & balances' of some of the parents.

The other family had siblings in the 7th & 8th grade... I simply worked with them to help teach them autonomy (since the adult at home did not follow-through). They were provided their own lice combs, I taught them to comb through their own hair (or each others), what they were looking for, and then I would follow-up with them every Friday. They very quickly took care of the lice problem all on their own. AUTONOMY!

Best of luck to you!