5 Tips for Treating Lice Infestations in Your Child
Head lice, words that every parent with a school age child dreads hearing each and every school year. While getting head lice is nothing for you or your child to be embarrassed about, every parent knows that they can be super hard to get rid of.
The first thing you need to know is that anyone can end up with a lice infestation. It does not mean that you, your house, or your child is nasty. You can get lice from sharing brushes, combs, barrettes, and even coming into head to head contact with another child. Every parent who has ever dealt with a lice infestation knows that lice can be spread easily, however, they aren’t as easily gotten rid of. Below, you will find a few concrete tips for helping you get rid of lice infestations in your school age child.
Seek Professional Help
The days when the only help you had to stop a lice infestation was a comb and a prescription from your doctor are long gone. Now, you can call in experts to help with a professional lice treatment instead. These usually only take one treatment and the experts take care of everything from shampooing to getting rid of the nits.
Lice Treatments and Shampoos
There are plenty of over the counter treatments and shampoos that you can get at your local store. There are shampoos, lotions, and cream rinses that can be found at most professional pharmaceuticals, along with prescription treatments that your doctor can prescribe. Some of these treatments contain chemicals, so you need to be careful what you buy and what you put on your child. There are also natural home remedies that can be tried as well as lice treatments in Houston that can effectively help remove lice.
Wet Combing
The one thing you need to keep in mind is that you can’t just do a lice treatment and be done with it. While the treatments you use may kill the lice, you still need to get every single nit out of your child’s head to prevent reinfestation from occurring. Wet combing is one of the best ways to get the nits out. For the best results, you need to separate your child’s wet hair into sections and comb the nits out a little at a time. Sitting them in the sun to comb the hair where you have direct light should help you see the nits easier and make them easier to remove as well.
Wash Everything
Washing everything is key to preventing the lice from spreading as well. You need to wash all clothing, bedding, and even your pillows if possible. For things that can’t be washed, they can be treated with a lice spray that is supposed to kill the bugs as well. The biggest concern is that the child will put on a hat or go to sleep on a pillow that hasn’t been treated, so make sure to wash, vacuum and spray everything you can.
Prevent a Reinfestation
Anyone can end up with a lice infestation, whether you’re clean or dirty. Lice love long, clean hair, so if you can cut your hair to prevent an infestation is a good idea too. There are also sprays and natural remedies that you can use, which are said to repel lice, though those have not been scientifically proven to work.
Teaching your child not to share brushes, combs, hats, and other hair products is a good way to try and prevent the infestation from happening, to begin with as well.
It’s best to check your child’s head periodically throughout the school year, so if they do pick up lice from a classmate you can get ahead of it quickly and before they have a chance to multiply.
