Head Lice (RESOLVED)

[Kibbity_Kabbit2]

So tonight I found a louse in my hair. I bought treatment right away & followed through with it. Then afterwards, I combed my hair for an hour & a half to remove everything. I'm pretty sure I got most of it out, because I combed over my head numerous times. It seems I'm clear for now, I'll still comb daily to make sure. It's just that I'm all paranoid now! It feels like they're still there. Even though I followed through with the treatment exactly! & I've also taken cleanliness precautions (furniture & such). Can someone give me advice about further precautions or just tell me everything will be okay. I just really need kind words right now.

***I will not appreciate being called dirty or gross. I've done research & it doesn't matter how clean you are. ANYONE can contract head lice from ANYWHERE. It's especially common in the Fall.***

[Lyra Batschild]

Totally feel for you. If you need someone to tell you that's it's okay, well that will be me. Imagine dealing with that as a young child & your parent being completely oblivious as to how to treat it properly. I mean not being able to afford repeat treatments of lice shampoo & going to school in shame with no friends because of fearing getting close to people and them knowing what you could hardly control. Finally got rid of them after I had a mini breakdown while in junior high and shaved my hair off. Yes I had it for a couple years and it was torture. If my father had been competent enough to make sure all bases were covered & was willing to take extra precautions then I would not have dealt with that. Believe me, I tried to get rid of it myself, but everyone else was not doing their part. So, you got rid of it and it's no longer going to effect you, right? Just be glad that you didn't suffer for an extended period and took action promptly. I'm sure you're going to be fine, and if you happen to see something suspicious crop up, then you already have the experience of nipping it at the bud. You just have to look at the positive aspect of all this and be proud of yourself for accomplishing a feat not many succeed with first time.

[Kibbity_Kabbit2]

Berlyn Bats

Totally feel for you. If you need someone to tell you that's it's okay, well that will be me. Imagine dealing with that as a young child & your parent being completely oblivious as to how to treat it properly. I mean not being able to afford repeat treatments of lice shampoo & going to school in shame with no friends because of fearing getting close to people and them knowing what you could hardly control. Finally got rid of them after I had a mini breakdown while in junior high and shaved my hair off. Yes I had it for a couple years and it was torture. If my father had been competent enough to make sure all bases were covered & was willing to take extra precautions then I would not have dealt with that. Believe me, I tried to get rid of it myself, but everyone else was not doing their part. So, you got rid of it and it's no longer going to effect you, right? Just be glad that you didn't suffer for an extended period and took action promptly. I'm sure you're going to be fine, and if you happen to see something suspicious crop up, then you already have the experience of nipping it at the bud. You just have to look at the positive aspect of all this and be proud of yourself for accomplishing a feat not many succeed with first time.

I'm so sorry! Trust me, I've dealt with it for years too. I first contracted it in 4th grade & had it until 6th grade. It was an epidemic in our school. My mom got so frustrated, I would awful telling her I still had it. We tried everything, I even had to get rid of some of my fave stuffed toys. She also put mayonnaise on my hair at one point. Finally, they left me alone when I got in middle school. I had a scare in high school, but it was just one bug that got on me at school. I got it off in time, before it laid eggs. This is the first time in forever, I've actually had to do a treatment. I just hope it's not gonna be like before for me either. But my mom was being a little mean when I told her. I mean, I had to! I was being very adult about it & let her know she doesn't need to do anything. I told her I'd take care of it. She just said a bunch of one-liners like "wonderful." or "great". She totally made me feel like it's my fault! I'm not expecting her to be thrilled, but at least say that she's proud of me. confused

[Diamond Rika]

Lice like clean hair anyway; it's easier for them to grab and hold on. So anyone who calls you gross for it is just being silly.

To prevent getting them again, don't share hairbrushes, hats, clothing, or anything that goes near your head. However, nothing's foolproof since they also spread via head-to-head contact.

Don't feel bad... I had lice as a kid once and we never figured out how I got them.

[Exoth XIII]

If you're really paranoid about lice, shave your head. Hair grows back. It's what I'd do.
After that, like they said, don't swap hats.

[iEvanie]

Gah. I had head lice, my hair was about past my shoulders... Plus my hair is so thick, we had to go through 6 treatments to get rid of them, ill tell you when I put my hair in a pony tail I could FEEEL them crawling in my hair... I feel for you, head lice are a pain in the bum....Wash your sheets, soak your hairbrush in boiling water for about 5 minutes.. another trick to get rid of them is Rubbing alcohol, it'll sting from what my friend said but dont shave your head, those eggs are laid close to the skin of your head, so chances of them springing back, quite likely. I had head lice only twice in my life...if I feel like something is crawling in my hair I have to check I cant stand it even though I dont have lice anymore. Best bet is to have a parent or some one to a do a THOROUGH check through your WHOLE head, behind the ears, nape of the neck, crown of the head, everywhere. They like the warm spots. Not to mention they suck blood :X I found my own blood on a live louse ..I was like wtf.. and told my teacher immediately to be sent to the nurse and to be sent home to get rid of it. I dont know how I caught them, but they dont fly at all... I never shared anything with anyone and hell I was a loaner so I caught it somehow, they're nasty little buggers.

[Kibbity_Kabbit2]

Exoth XIII

If you're really paranoid about lice, shave your head. Hair grows back. It's what I'd do.
After that, like they said, don't swap hats.

Uuumm....no way!!! I'm not gonna shave my head. Yeah, hair grows back, but slowly. Bald would not suit me at all whatsoever. I'm sorry, I'm quite vain when it comes to my hair. Never mind, I'm not sorry about it. I have a right to be vain about my hair. 3nodding

[Exoth XIII]

Kibbity_Kabbit2

Exoth XIII

If you're really paranoid about lice, shave your head. Hair grows back. It's what I'd do.
After that, like they said, don't swap hats.

Uuumm....no way!!! I'm not gonna shave my head. Yeah, hair grows back, but slowly. Bald would not suit me at all whatsoever. I'm sorry, I'm quite vain when it comes to my hair. Never mind, I'm not sorry about it. I have a right to be vain about my hair. 3nodding

Oh? Is yours the nicest louse house in the states?

[Kibbity_Kabbit2]

Exoth XIII

Kibbity_Kabbit2

Exoth XIII

If you're really paranoid about lice, shave your head. Hair grows back. It's what I'd do.
After that, like they said, don't swap hats.

Uuumm....no way!!! I'm not gonna shave my head. Yeah, hair grows back, but slowly. Bald would not suit me at all whatsoever. I'm sorry, I'm quite vain when it comes to my hair. Never mind, I'm not sorry about it. I have a right to be vain about my hair. 3nodding

Oh? Is yours the nicest louse house in the states?

That's not at all what I'm saying. I'm not vain in the way that my hair is the best. I'm vain in the way that I won't shave my head. Because I know it wouldn't look pretty. I like to feel pretty, even though that is vain, I don't see it as a bad thing.

[AeonFluffy]

Oooh, I hated when I got lice. I got them twice when I was little. A few suggestions, after a week or so shampoo with the lice killer again. A week is generally the amount of time it takes for the eggs to hatch so it'll kill off any that didn't get killed the first time around.

Any fabric material- pillows, blankets, any stuffed animals- my mom put in some garbage bags and she doused the inside with some lice killer before tying the bag up and letting that sit for a week or two then washing whatever was in the bag.

I hated having lice. Though it isn't an uncommon thing to have at least at some point. It's never indicative of poor hygienic rituals(generally actually the opposite) and they're a pain in the a**. But I'm sure with some time they'll eventually go away. Just make sure to do one or two quick sweeps to kill any eggs or any new hatching 3nodding

[buggsie blue]

If you find that you still have lice, buy some Listerine (the nasty brownish s**t), and a shower cap. Soak hair in Listerine and then put on the cap to retain moisture. I used to use this back in elementary school, where that s**t was rampant. Worked like a charm, and it also made the nits come off so easily. Plus, lice don't like the smell of Listerine, so it keeps them away for a while.
If you don't have it, buy something with tea tree oil in it. Lice don't like it at all.
I know my friends always used mayo to get rid of them, but it takes forever.
EDIT: Plus, Listerine will not damage your hair, and helps with any dandruff you may have.

[Laili]

Ugh. They were annoying growing up.

Wash everything in HOT water. Buy a salon-use sterilizing solution for your hair styling tools and keep them in it.

And how I finally rid my head of the stuff: Lice killer solution and then I dyed my hair (in a similar shade to my hair color). I've been lice free since I was a young teen.

[Avenoir]

Never had head lice, but I thought about the shaving-head thing.

Seems like that isn't much of an option now, isn't it?

[myaccountisdeadnow]

I know you resolved this and it's an old topic but I just have to share.

I can tell you what to do in extreme cases. I had head lice for six years straight; six years. I tried all the products/solutions with either no or only temporary results. Finally I just lost it and did a combination of everything I'd tried over the years.

Threw out all my bedding + mattress, flea/bug bombed my house, shaved half my head (the entire underside. My hair is ridiculously thick.), used lice solution/combed out my hair three times, washed hair in tea tree oil and then went two months without washing what was left of my hair. It was disgusting and horrible but it was the only thing that worked.

If I was to get head lice again I think I would have a nervous breakdown.