all 3 of my daughters have head lice.have tried mayo, over the counter meds.i pick their hair 2x day.HELP?

Question

have cleaned entire house. washed all bedding.
right around lower hair line near neck there is a red rashy patches. what is it? alcohol seems to take away the itching and burning, but comes back.

Answer 1

Are they getting reinfected with lice at school?

The red patches could be ringworm. Try using tea tree essential oil on them. Dilute 3 drops of tea tree in one ounce of unscented massage oil or other natural cooking oil and apply topically over the red areas three times a day. Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Answer 2

Ordinary cleaning may not be enough unless you are using a spray to kill any lice or nits in carpet or furniture or if you want to avoid pesticide, vacuum the heck out of everything.. Washing needs to be done with hot water to kill these critters, and dried on hot, and anything that can't be washed needs to be sealed in a bag for several weeks. (like stuffed animals.)

The rash sounds more like an irritation from the insecticide and the scrubbing and not from the actual lice. You might try some hydrocortisone cream. Alcohol will just irritate it more. You need to use a nit comb to remove all the little clingers from the hair. You should get them all and not have to "pick" several times a day. Mayo is often not enough and if you don't want to try a prescription product you might want to try vaseline. You apply a thick coat and put on a shower cap and leave for at least four hours or overnight. It will take a lot of shampoo to get out but it will suffocate the lice. The nits must be removed, though, they are eggs.

Some recommend just using the fine comb and manually removing the lice and nits, but suggest having two people working at once to keep any critters from hiding.
The CDC has some useful fact sheets on lice:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/lice/default.htm

One thing to avoid is repeating a product that did not work. These pesticides can be harmful.

Answer 3

When my brother was in school, he got lice and we couldn't get rid of it for weeks. Since my parents made me do the work, including buying the shampoo to kill the little beasts, out of my allowance, I finally figured out that I was getting him lice-free, including the nits, and he was passing the school exam at 8am, but being sent home with lice by 11. I kept him home for two weeks, just kept telling the school he wasn't lice-free enough to return, and I guess this wouldn't work with girls so well, but we shaved his head when we did let him go back. Never had them again.

I used a lice-killing furniture spray on the sofa, floor, pillows, everything in the house. That seemed to slow them down a lot. We washed everything the first two times, but after that I got lazy, and just bagged up anything we didn't need, and ran the rest in a hot dryer instead. Probably not the best thing, but when you face the prospect of doing ALL of the household laundry every day for a week, you start to cut some corners! Picking their hair is great for removing the nits, and if you work gently, most kids kind of like it. It's a good time for them to read a book, too. Anything that helps itch will help this itch. Tea tree oil is one common one. I imagine colloidal oatmeal, such as Aveeno products, might be useful as well. Also ask at your local natural/organic food store; many of the clerks there are knowledgable about such things as what might get rid of lice, that you can add to your current routine.

But I've never seen lice that creates red rashy patches. You might want to check with your kids' doctor about that one. It might be just that they're sensitive, or something else may be going on. Ringworm is a fungal infection that causes such patches, and it's another one that gets passed around school pretty quickly.

If your doctor diagnoses a skin infection, google the prescription before filling it. Most of them are just pricey tubes of athlete's foot cream, same strength and everything.

Answer 4

My daughters brought back this pest after summer camp one summer and I thought I would die of exhaustion before getting rid of the things. We sealed all stuffed toys in plastic bags after spraying with a lice spray we found at walmart in the isle where the lice treatments are. We sprayed the pillows and put them in the dryer for 1 hour. We sprayed the mattresses, box springs and carpet. We moved all furniture and washed all clothes even if they were already clean. We washed all towels and rugs in the bathroom along with the shower curtain and soaked all combs, brushes, hair clips and etc in bleach water and washed the rest that could not soak. The kids took a hot bath and I treated them with NIX and then with mineral oil and then with NIX again. It took me three days of non stop work to get rid of it. We sprayed every day for one week including furniture in common rooms like the living room and dining room. I do caution you though that the spray is in a very small can was about $4.00 8 years ago. We used 8 cans of it in the house. You may want to consider treating others in the house as the things spread like wild fire.

Answer 5

Add some olive oil to their shampoo. It smothers the lice. Get rid of anything possible. Buy new bedding. Take them to the doctor for something to take care of the itching and burning.

Answer 6

You aren't gettng all the nits out of their hair if the lice keep returning. The bugs can also live in the stuffed animals. Put them in a garbage bag for AT LEAST two weeks to kill them off.

Good Luck

Answer 7

Over the counter meds like shampoos? (i.e. Nix) Do you actually see any eggs anymore? Or are you just seeing evidence of irritation due to all the meds, hair picking, and alcohol applications. My mom had to end up just cutting my hair off (it was really long and thick)

Answer 8

i feel your pain especially if you are African American, my daughter had them and you have to wash their hair with the incecticidal soap every 3 days that is the only way I know. good luck.

Answer 9

Olive oil..........Plus wash EVERYTHING....toys, bedding, everything you can wash.........IN HOT WATER!!! Good Luck!!
~Peace~

Answer 10

i heard gasoline will kill them off.. but it will smell awful