Gonne Asser

1. ALL of the children's (and Mom's few teddies) stuffed animals were washed and run through the dryer and immediately garbage-bagged for 2 full weeks. The bed linens and pillows were also washed and bagged. It will NOT kill your children to sleep on bare mattresses for a few days. For goodness sake - they crash on the floor, in the car, face first in their food at the table!! She left them each one blanket in case they got cold (i don't know if that will work as well in the winter)

2. she washed the blankets every other day and vacuumed the couch and the floor every few days - just in case.

3. all the children immediately got bathes and shampooing with a nit comb.

4. her PEDIATRICIAN recommended Cetaphil lotion b/c of its mildness and he specifically stated to use a comb to part the hair into thin rows so that it can specifically be put close to the scalp. leave it in for at least 10 hours.

5. then it was combed out, washed the next day and repeated.

6. washed again 3rd day and repeated lotion application

7. left that lotion for 2 days and then washed out and repeated for rest of 2 weeks, but not as much lotion so it was hard to tell. For the oldest's sake, since she was in school, her hair was put in a slick ponytail or braid everyday, so no one could really tell it was lotion and not hairspray making her hair a little shiny and stiff at the scalp.

8. All three girls were bought their own new little brushes and of course, lectured repeatedly about NEVER sharing hair products from then onward. at least once a month since - all their brushes are "disinfected" too.

9. for an additional week after the first two weeks of the ordeal, the oldest's hair was hairsprayed and ponytailed or french-braided.

For the record, after an amusing hour-long diatribe at Easter about our plight, both her mother and mine noted only ever having one run-in with lice with us as children. After that, they both started using heavy hairspray (and braids or ponytails so we would not be tempted to brush or trade barettes, etc) on certain occasions - such as a possible outbreak at school, hayrides, field trips, etc (since no one is exactly sure how headlice is transferred the first time). Why hairspray? B/c they were always told that nits/lice need clean healthy scalps/skin to eat and the chemicals in the hairspray gave 'em a nasty taste and deterred them. They also used the lotion remedy when we got them, but my mother did not have Cetaphil available, and so she used a charcoal and tea tree oil lotion (tea tree oil is excellent for killing some bacteria, fungi, etc that cause many skin irritations and is moisturizing - so it is really acceptable for sensitive heads!) I use a similar product all the time for one of my poor dogs for that exact reason, and it also seems to deter ticks (and i have used a small dollop to smother them too on both dogs). Good Luck! 

Mary in Texas