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teachingmyown
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Sure-fire, chemical free remedies?
I thought we had conquered it before we went on vacation. Now after being gone from the house for over ten days and swimming in both the ocean and a chlorinated pool, we have started over again.
Help!
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Tami
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Molly, it sounds like it could be in the house (assuming you didn't see any while away?)? I'm not sure how long they live off of a host?
The only thing I know is heat: everything in the dryer! Except the kids, of course. 
I'll be praying for you, Molly. I hate this type of thing!
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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Paula in MN
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Prayers here Molly. I think it's in the house - aren't there bug bombs for lice?
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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teachingmyown
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I thought I had read that they couldn't live without a host. So, I thought being gone we would be free and clear when we got back. I had washed everything in hot water before we left!
I hate this too. There are much worse things though. I just seem to get one small annoyance after another and it wears on me. Ugh.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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momtokea
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We had this problem last year. It was very hard to get rid of them. There is something called a Robicombe that I've heard works. I don't have a link handy. Try to google it and it should come up.
It can be anywhere in your house that the kids lay their heads ... the couch, the rug, etc and it is so hard to get rid of it. We eventually got rid of it when we went away for two weeks.
Good luck and I'll say a prayer for you.
Maria
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JodieLyn
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what's the time frame on nits hatching? you may just have not gotten rid of all the nits.
All the non-chemical remedies I've heard of involve the fine tooth comb to get rid of the nits.. and watching for another hatching.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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florasita
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first off let me say how much I feel for you ! what a chore ! I had to deal with lice when pregnant with our last and I was exhausted .
as kids my mum used vinager always to get the lice eggs off . My aunty claims beer works too , this may make the job more enjoyable for you
I also remember my mum did my hair first , my sister was not so lucky being second in line , she got a hair cut.
in MX we always saw kids , girls & boys with shaved heads
vacum vacum and vacum . dryer or freezer work . I vacumed all the kids beds matresses , headboards even base boards around them .
our friends borrowed our head clippers for thier ds and my dh made me throw it out when it was returned
it was Indigo who caught the lice he was 3yo at the time . we'd visited a nieghbour and all he had done was sit on her couch the whole time while there so it must've been the couch .
I thought just regular shampoo kils the actual bugs ? thought it is the eggs that are hard to get rid of ?
anyway I must have done something right in the cleaning because we've not had lice again . That was 10 yrs ago now .
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JodieLyn
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oh.. adding tea tree oil to shampoo.. that's supposed to help kill them off and keep them away.. the bugs.. not nits though.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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hylabrook1
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Nit picking is VERY important to getting rid of them. Dip tweezers in white vinegar and methodically work your way through each person's hair, layer by layer; very time-consuming and tedious for both picker and pickee. They tend to concentrate around the backs of the person's ears and the back of the head hairline. Run things through the dryer on hot for an hour. Bag up stuffed animals, pillows, anything that anyone might have laid their head on. Keep them in a tightly closed plastic garbage bag for 2 weeks. Sprinkle Borax on mattresses, the floor around the beds, inside drawers. Leave it and vacuum it up in half an hour. Soak combs and brushes, barrettes, etc. in tea tree water. Apply mayonnaise liberally to the head, from the scalp outward, cover with a plastic shower cap and leave it on overnight. You'll probably have to rinse with vinegar before shampooing, because it makes one mega-greasy mess.
I'm sorry for your ordeal, and I'm sorry that these suggestions sound burdensome (they are). As a veteran of numerous lice infestations, I've found these are the things that work.
Peace,
Nancy
Peace,
Nancy
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Courtney
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My friend just went through this. I don't know where she found directions (somewhere online), but she bagged every pillow, stuffed animal, comforter for 21 days and put them in a closet. I think the idea is to suffocate any eggs that may be on those items. Next, she put mayonnaise in their hair and slept with it in(not sure what she covered their heads with..I can ask) and then combed it out with a fine tooth comb in the morning. She did this several days and washed every piece of clothing, bedding and towels every single day. Now, I do believe she was in a bit of overkill, but she tends to be that way anyway...plus she only has 2 kids! Hang in there! I think the mayo or I've heard cetaphil lotion in the hair can really help suffocate the eggs on the hari.
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JodieLyn
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If you're where it's still good and hot outside.. you can bag up and put things into a closed car and the heat will kill 'em.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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PDyer
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I've heard drown them in oil and comb, comb, comb until every nit is gone.
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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teachingmyown
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It was 18 days from when we treated them to when I discovered the bugs again today. My redhead is the one who had it before and she is the one that I found them on today. I can't see any nits in her hair and couldn't last time, either. I used a homeopathic treatment kit and then a spray for several days which was supposed to prevent reinfestation. I had also been washing their hair with tea tree oil mixed into their shampoo.
The lice are only supposed to live 24 hours off of a human host. So, it must just be that the nits took that long to hatch.
I knew I had gotten off too easily when I thought only one child had it and the treatment worked the first time.
This is going to be fun. I have five girls with LONG hair!
Thanks for the help.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Mimip
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Oh Molly,
Saying a prayer for you and this situation! I had lice when I was a child and had very long hair. After two bouts of not being able to get all the nits out my mom had to finally cut it to above my shoulders 
WE did get rid of them after that but it was a very long process 
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Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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teachingmyown
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mimip wrote:
Oh Molly,
Saying a prayer for you and this situation! I had lice when I was a child and had very long hair. After two bouts of not being able to get all the nits out my mom had to finally cut it to above my shoulders
WE did get rid of them after that but it was a very long process |
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Cutting the hair is not an option. For at least two of my girls, it would be too traumatic. It would have to be a last resort. 
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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doris
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I've heard that a liberal coating of conditioner combed out with a fine tooth comb are the thing.
We always use tea tree shampoo as a preventative measure. (Please God!)
Much sympathy and a prayer -- we've never had lice but we've had problems the other end...
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
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Martha in VA
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Molly,
We dealt with this two summers ago. All 4 of our girls (with thick long hair) had pretty bad infestations by the time we caught it.
It took us a good 10-14 days to be free of it but here's what worked for us:
*bag up all stuffed animals, special pillows - including pillows/cushions on your couches, etc. into large trash bags where they will live for a few weeks
*close off their rooms if you can for at least three days (You're right that lice need a host to survive. The didn't live in your house while you were away at the beach.)
*wash all linen the first day and then everything goes into the dryer every morning. (We had them sleep on the floor in sleeping bags to make this easier.)
*After using Nix, we combed through every hair on every head twice a day. It was all I did for those 2 weeks.
*We did end up cutting all their hair because it was just too much to get through.
*boil every comb/brush after every use (I kept a pot of hot water on the stove at all times.)
I hope this helps. PM me if you need more information.
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teachingmyown
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Well, day one is over. I ordered a really good lice comb overnight from Amazon. We washed everything, washed hair with tea tree oil, and combed everyone's hair, including mine. The comb did seem to work really well. The girls are camping out on the air mattress in the living room. We will keep this up for the next few days.
Thanks for the tips, especially about throwing the bedding in a hot dryer in the morning. My septic tank can only take so many loads of laundry a day!
Courtney, thanks for the information you pm'd me! I will look into it. I really want the quick solution!
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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Jamberry77
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Just hear-say on how to keep them from coming back once they are gone...
my friend said they like really clean hair with no stuff on it, so one option is don't shampoo kids' hair often. Another option is to put some type of gel or leave-in conditioner on after hairwashes. (Does anyone know if these things don't work?)
Friend also recommended regular usage of a shampoo with coconut oil.
I'll be praying for you, Molly, and your dear children.
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Kelly, mom to 9th and 5th graders
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Lice
