Head lice from headphones?

[Nevermore]

I know there have been several topics about this and I know the basics (lice can't jump, what to look for, how to treat and so forth), however, I'm wondering about the possibility of getting lice from a shared headset.

I just quit this job, so there's no continued worry about this issue, but yesterday I was told that someone who works there and has worn both of the store's communal headsets that day has lice. One of the headsets in question was already on my head at the time. The style is something like this: http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/products.nsf/resources/8EC8A78574E3B53FC1257495004BF4C0/$File/CC510_silverblack_005357__.jpg only with significantly more foam on it (around the ear piece, on the other side). I'm not particularly concerned about this whether I have them or not because I'm pretty confident that I can treat them without any damage to my hair/using chemicals, I'd just like to know if I could have gotten them from the headset or not.

[SimplyLonghair]

I have never heard of it but that doesn't mean anything. To me it would be like sharing combs, which I have heard of spreading them. I would do a hot oil or something to kill any potential problem before it starts. :shrug:

Good luck,:thumbsup: I know that I hate sharing headphones and earpieces. This is why! :p
Ugh!

[eaglefeather71]

I think it is very possible. I agree that you should do something to stop any possible problems as soon as possible.

Wow, how many times can I use the word possible in 2 sentences :)

[Nevermore]

I'll have to go get oil then. What I have currently is just not going to do it (a whole bottle would only maybe get 3 inches of hair). I do have loads of cheap conditioner and tea tree oil though, do you think liberal application of said conditioner mixed with a bit of tea tree would be ok for now?

[eaglefeather71]

I'll have to go get oil then. What I have currently is just not going to do it (a whole bottle would only maybe get 3 inches of hair). I do have loads of cheap conditioner and tea tree oil though, do you think liberal application of said conditioner mixed with a bit of tea tree would be ok for now?Maybe. Whatever you use, it needs to suffocate them, and/or make your head undesireable. Do you have any soapnuts? They're known to be a head lice repellant.

[Nevermore]

Nope, no soapnuts. My hair stuff is as follows:

conditioner (citrus smoothie suave, a bit of coconut sauve)
shampoo (some coconut sauve, which I'm allergic to; aveeno baby wash/shampoo)
castile soap (kirk's)
honey
small bottle all-purpose oil (vitamin e mix)

I also have tea tree oil and some random household things that are sometimes hair stuff.

[Catladyintown]

Head Lice Totally scary.

[Nevermore]

Not really, more annoying and preventable in this case, if my former workplace cared at all about its employees.

[Aisha25]

Do you have mayonnaise? Olive oil would be good to drown them;)

[Nevermore]

No mayo or olive oil here. We don't have much in the way of typical food/cooking stuff (hence no oil except that tiny bottle I mentioned upthread or mayo).

[SimplyLonghair]

Yes I used mayo to prevent at one time. Henna is another thing that kills the little buggers! HEHEHE;) Tea Tree is supposed to work well, but I haven't used it for that. My black friends that never get them swore by the mayo, I used it and no problem :thumbsup:

[Aisha25]

Ok then what I would do is mix the honey and conditioner together and apply for like an hour then rinse out if thats all I had just to make sure I didnt have them:shrug:and then have someone look through your hairs just to be safe:)

[Nevermore]

I also don't have henna/cassia/otherherbalhaircoloringstuff. Basically just conditioner, in terms of suffocants and tea tree in terms of things that would kill lice with the smell alone.

Aisha: I was figuring I'd just leave it in overnight and wash out tomorrow with my usual soap+conditioner. I don't have a hair buddy to look for me, but I can set up some mirrors and move my lamp to get a pretty good look at everything. Being as I'm currently unemployed, I can do the conditioner thing nightly for awhile.

[Nevermore]

I just did a super thorough louse check and found...nothing. No evidence of anything at all other than I need to oil my length.

Should I still treat or wait and see if there's anything to treat? I literally checked every inch of my scalp with mirrors and bright lights, brushed my hair well (I figured I'd have to de-louse the brush anyway, given that I used it yesterday and today, so it couldn't hurt) and that turned up nothing too.

[eaglefeather71]

I would at least do one treatment. When one of my daughters got it, the rest of us did treatments along with her. My other daughter that was sharing a bedroom with her at the time didn't seem to have anything, but when we did the treatment and combed through her hair with the nit comb there were (3) only three babies that looked like lint, but upon further investigation they turned out to be babies. They would have been impossible to see without the oils and comb, and they would have caused her to have a full on infestation had we not found them. She ended up staying lice free, but we did about 3 treatments on each of us even though we couldn't find any more just to be safe. We used Olive Oil and/or Listerine for our treatments. This was before my LHC days, or I would have gotten some better ideas here. My daughter that was infested, we finally had to use the commercial stuff because her long hair was just too hard to get them all out of and it was taking too long (weeks).

[Darkhorse1]

Lice can indeed jump. They don't fly, but anything around the head that is shared can transmit lice. If your scalp is itchy, you most likely have lice and need someone to remove the eggs for you. Then, you need to use a shampoo that kills lice. I'd go to your drug store and speak to your pharmasist. Trying to self treat might make the situation worse. Lice are very strong little buggers and oils won't work. I know kids who had lice repeatidly because they were not removed properly.

I NEVER got lice when I was in school, and that was thanks to my mom. Her tips about preventing lice were:
Keep hair clean--clean hair is harder for them to adhere to
Keep hair tied back--they adhere to the scalp
Keep hair up
Use ACV vinegar rinses--apparently they don't like vinegar.

I did this ALL the time during lice outbreaks and NEVER got lice, and I was the one with long hair, while all the kids had short hair with lice.

[Nevermore]

DarkHorse: According to the health department, lice can only crawl. Very fast, but still. I am absolutely not using chemical treatments because it's not an option for me due to chemical sensitivities. I don't neccessarily concur with the idea of chemical treatments anyway, as people have managed to get rid of lice with non-toxic means for thousands of years and there's evidence that lice are becoming resistant to delousing shampoos.

As for getting someone else to help me, I don't have that option either. I have me, myself and I or I have my mother wielding a razor, so it's me and myself.

eaglefeather: I'll have to get a nit comb and do some treatments and combing then. Fun times, I'm sure.

[Aisha25]

Just try keep your hairs oiled for at least a week to be safe that way if they are there they wont survive. If you can maybe some mayo treatments anything ok. I would say you to get neem leaves but I dont think you can get this,this will for sure keep them away

[Nevermore]

I have conditioner+tea tree slathered on my hair right now, under some plastic wrap and a bag. I'm aiming to leave this on for fourish hours, then comb with the super fine tooth comb I have, then wash well. I don't have a nit comb yet, but I'm doing what I can.

Aisha: I'm under the impression that neem and tea tree are fairly similar, so hopefully this'll work. I can repeat tomorrow and hopefully get a nit comb.