Makaela has had lice about 5 different times and it is the worst thing EVER. And, there is no way to really protect the kids from it other than advising them NOT to use their friend's brushes, and to not let her friends use hers. Thankfully, she has been lice-free now for years, but wanted to share how we detected it and then treated it.
The first sign the child may have lice is them scratching their head, seems obvious, but some how we missed the signs, because by the time we caught it the first time the lice were JUMPING – not even kidding – they were JUMPING and full on BUGS!
Ask your child where they are itchy and if they have lice then the little buggers will be right where they are itching. They are whitish in color and do not fall off the hair, you will have to use your nail to remove it from the hair (egg stage). This is where your nightmare begins. These little critters will taunt you and haunt your dreams and make you scratch your head as if they have infested your entire head and your entire home.
Next step is to run to your local drug store, get a lice removal kit (forget the “natural” remedies, they don’t work, or at least didn’t work for us), a hair cap, bottle of mayo (yes, MAYO) and then on to the liquor store for that bottle of wine you're going to need later.
Before doing the treatment throw bedding into wash, and put all stuffies and pillows or anything else the lice could have fallen or jumped onto into trash bags and put into the garage or somewhere away from everything else in the house. Keep everything in trash bags for a couple of weeks to suffocate the bastards.
Follow the directions on the lice removal box and make sure to comb hair in small sections and always start at the skull and work your way through the hair to the end. Once complete, before bed, slather their hair in mayo (it's supposed to suffocate the lice), and then cover with a hair cap so that the mayo doesn't get all over their pillows and bedding. Continue to put mayo in their hair nightly until you don't find any more critters or until you need to do another lice treatment from the box and make sure your husband/significant other has stocked the wine rack to get you through the nightly mayo treatments.
There are a lot of suggestions out there on how to tackle, this is the process that worked for us. I wish you all the best in a swift removal, however you do it! If this isn't love I don't know what is - and I would do it all over again (let's just hope I don't have to).
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