Head Lice Help: What To Do Now
So you looked at the pictures, and it really is lice? These pages have all the head lice help and info you need to solve the problem quickly. Here's how to get started right now:
- If you can easily afford it, look for a professional service in your area. These people know what they're doing and can take care of the problem fast. Choose a service with a guarantee.
- If pros aren't an option (true for most of us), DON'T PANIC. This is not difficult or scary. I promise! Just be thorough:
- Call your local drugstores/groceries until you find either the Terminator or the LiceMeister comb. You need one of these. (The Terminator is better.)
- During those same calls, figure out where you can pick up Licefreee spray. Walgreen's carries it. (It uses sodium chloride to kill eggs as well as active lice.)
- If you plan to remove all nits, look for a non-toxic enzyme shampoo. Lice-R-Gone is the one I used. It's also the only one I've seen in retail stores so far. (Here's a list of stores carrying it.)
- Come home and treat with Licefreee or enzyme shampoo (or just lots of
regular hair conditioner on wet hair, if you don't have either yet).
Conditioner won't kill the bugs like Licefreee, or dissolve nit glue
like an enzyme shampoo, but it will make combing easier.
Follow the instructions here on how to remove nits. You'll be combing out both the bugs and their eggs. This is not hard, just painstaking.
Continue to check your kids' heads daily after comb-out, just to make sure you got everything. Repeat comb-out if you find even one missed nit.
Order a bottle or two of Licefreee spray and/or enzyme shampoo to keep in your cabinet, so you're ready immediately if you find another bug in a few days, or if head lice ever visit your family again. Licefreee kills lice and eggs. Enzyme shampoo works like a charm to loosen the nit glue. Most lice professionals use enzymes. (And of course both are non-toxic.)
My family's second bout with head lice came three years after the first encounter. (When we had finally slacked off on our preventative measures.) With the second and third bouts behind us, I'm ready with my comb, enzymes & sodium chloride spray, just in case we ever do get lice again.
Now that you know how to start, here's some more very thorough and complete information about how to treat head lice.
Check out our photos ... What Do Lice Look Like?
