School and Lice

[ennuideluxe]

School is starting up tomorrow, and that means that the lice epidemics will be starting up too.

We battled lice twice already, and I NEVER want to do that again. It's so much work (and expense) to not only treat everyone in the family, but also all of the bedding, pillows,etc.

Apart from the standard rule of not sharing anything that touches their heads and keeping all hair neatly pinned back, is there anything I can do to lessen the chances of it ending up in my house again?

[faithsdaisy421]

I don't know if it is true or not, but I remember hearing that tea tree oil is known to keep the little buggers away. When my DS got a a letter sent home with him last year that a breakout had was happening at his school, we spritzed his hair every morning with tea tree water. He did not get lice, but there is no way to know if it was the oil or not :shrug:...

[pastel]

I heard a glowing recommendation for the comb that zaps the lice on contact, this mom would run it through her dauter's hair as soon as the girl got off the bus as a preventative measure. After a couple weeks of doing this, she got a zap - turns out the girl her daughter was siting next to on the bus had some and one climbed over on the way home, and the mom was able to prevent it spreading. It might be worth it.

[mallorykay13]

When I got lice for the very first time, I also had undiagnosed scalp psoriasis too. Oh geez. How fun.

[ennuideluxe]

Thanks! I happen to have TT oil already, so it wont be any trouble to at least try it. I dont want to be an obsessive momma about the whole thing, but good grief. Everyone in the house ended up catching it, and it was awful.

[ennuideluxe]

@pastel- I have one of those combs! It didn't work well to treat a larger infestation, but maybe it would be great for prevention. I'll give that a try too-- maybe comb through with it once a week or so.

@mallorykay- Ouch! How did you treat it? Did the lice treatment make the psoriasis sting/flare up?

[Gvnagitlvgei]

lavendar spray made with essential oil and distilled water, maybe a drop or two of glycerin. Spray it daily on the kids' hair before school.

[lapispimpernel]

I don't know if your kids have separate lockers- I'm guessing no? If they can, have them take off their outdoor things at their desk and zip them into their bags before they go into the closet with everyone else's stuff.

[marzipanthecat]

Thanks! I happen to have TT oil already, so it wont be any trouble to at least try it. I dont want to be an obsessive momma about the whole thing, but good grief. Everyone in the house ended up catching it, and it was awful.


You aren't being obsessive - lice are the absolute devil to get rid of. Prevention is better than cure, and all that.

I was going to suggest a tea tree spritz, but someone beat me to it!

[kyandii]

Tea-tree oil. I put it in my brothers hair, cling film and leave it over night.
then comb through for the nasty critters in the morning.

[xoxo_laura]

When my gradeschool had a lice outbreak, all the girls had to wear their hair up every day. All the kids also had to put all their belongings (coat, schoolbag, lunchbox) into a trash bag and then hang that up in the closet. I doubt your kids would want to do this alone tho, so try suggesting to the school that all the children must do this? This way anyone who already has it would keep it to themselves, too! Best of luck! For the record, I got it anyway, but not during school. One of the girls got it from her much younger sister and then we had a sleepover, you can see where it goes from there :/

[Dragon]

My Parents use to use tea tree oil in our shampoo when I was a kid and that seemed to stop them for my brother and I. When I was older I started putting it in my conditioner to. Also I was made to keep my hair up for school when it was long enough. They also apparently don’t like leave in conditioner and oil in hair. I wonder if spraying tea tree oil in the school hat would also help?

[Aveyronnaise]

I don't know if it is true or not, but I remember hearing that tea tree oil is known to keep the little buggers away. When my DS got a a letter sent home with him last year that a breakout had was happening at his school, we spritzed his hair every morning with tea tree water. He did not get lice, but there is no way to know if it was the oil or not :shrug:...

I am going to back this up I have been putting tea tree oil in his shampoo and he didn't get lice all last year and then again this summer at camp. and there were several licecapades at his school.