Got Lice?

Even the most ardent vegetarians and card-carrying PETA people among us here at the magazine have engaged in lice warfare. We’re sure lice serve some sort of grand purpose in the world, and we all strongly support their right to do so …just not on our kids’ heads.

Why lice freak us out so much, we don’t know. They aren’t a marker of bad hygiene (they prefer clean heads) and they aren’t deadly (they don’t transmit any diseases). They are, however, incredibly itchy and that alone is enough to want them gone.

Over the years, we mamas have found that the key to a quick good riddance is to treat your child’s (and your own) head several times during the lice’s 3-week nit-to-adult life cycle. Don’t believe any product that tells you it kills lice in one application: we’ve never found that to be the case. And, in fact, it has been the source of some near-insanity for some of us, who believed that our lice were invincible. They aren’t, of course, but if you leave just one nit on the head, the whole cycle starts all over again…

So….to spare you a bit of anguished frustration in dealing with the buggers this school season, below are our COOL recommendations and CRUMMY warnings for some of the better known (and somewhat unknown) treatments involving lice. As always, consult your medical practitioner if you have questions or concerns about specific products.

—Kim Pleticha, Editor

COOL

Mayonnaise
$3

Although many websites claim mayonnaise isn’t an effective lice treatment, we beg to differ. In fact, Tester Mama Nisa —our resident queen of the mayo treatment— heard about it from her children’s pediatrician. Mayonnaise works by smothering lice and making it easy to comb out their eggs (known as nits). To treat, simply buy a jar of the cheapest mayo you can find and slather it on your child’s head just before bed. (A tightly-fitting shower cap prevents the mayo from getting all over the sheets.) In the morning, comb out your child’s hair with the mayo still in to remove as many bugs and nits as possible. When finished, wash your child’s hair, preferably with a grease-cutting dishwashing liquid, which should get out the mayo in one sweep. Repeat the process a few more nights to ensure that all of the bugs are gone. The main downside of this method is that it’s kind of stinky (mayo doesn’t smell all that great in the morning!) and it requires diligence in both hair washing and combing.

Head Lice to Dead Lice
Available at most book stores or at Amazon.com
$6

This book, written by two middle-aged mamas who experienced more than their share of lice-induced hysteria, details a simple yet effective way to get rid of lice: olive oil. The program is not their own invention; it was developed by researchers in Israel who wanted a safe way to treat their children for lice. Before embarking on this treatment you must read the entire book! (Don’t worry, it’s short.) That’s because the program, while simple, involves numerous treatments on specific days. If you don’t follow them, you run the risk of it not working. This is an incredibly safe and seemingly effective method, but we’ll warn you that it’s not for people who want a quick-and-easy solution.

Lice MD
Available at most drugstores or www.licemd.com
$15

This product works in a similar fashion to the mayonnaise and olive oil treatments, essentially by smothering the lice. The main ingredient in Lice MD is dimethicone, the same stuff used in conditioners to make your hair soft. It is clear, odorless and hypo-allergenic. Best of all, it works after just 10-minutes and it leaves the hair incredibly soft. This is a godsend if your child has very long or thick hair, since proper combing is essential in removing all of the nits, nymphs and adult lice. The only real downside to this product is the cost. We found that a child’s waist-length hair requires two bottles per application, which runs $30.

Lice B Gone
www.licebgone.com
$7 for 4 oz or $16 for 16 oz

Tester Mama Rebekah stumbled onto this product after spending three months battling lice in her two daughters. She had honestly tried everything under the sun to eradicate the bugs, including the prescription-strength pyrethrin and Ovide (see below). Nothing worked. At her wit’s end, she hit the Internet and discovered this unassuming stuff. “This is what knocked them out — finally,” she says. Developed by Jim Rompel, Lice B Gone contains an enzyme that effectively eradicates lice and nits: it kills the lice and softens the glue that causes nits to adhere to the hair shaft so that you can easily comb them out. Mr. Rompel says that one application usually is all that’s necessary to eliminate an infestation, but we tend to follow the rule of continuous treatment throughout the life-cycle (usually one treatment per week). And since this product is cheap, you can do that without breaking the bank!

The Robi Comb
www.liceguard.com
$25

Tester Mama Mindy swears this thing saved her sanity. The Robi Comb is a smallish, battery-operated lice comb that zaps lice on contact. Yep, it electrocutes them. It may be pricey, but it’s reusable and that alone could save you hundreds of dollars on repeat treatments. We don’t recommend the Robi Comb for first-line treatment —you’ll need one of the above products for that— but it’s great for inspecting your child’s hair in the days (and possibly weeks) after you’ve treated it.

Tea Tree Oil
Available at Whole Foods, Central Market, and some pharmacies
Cost varies

Apparently lice hate Tea Tree Oil. That’s good news if you’re hoping to prevent an infestation! Simply add a few teaspoons of tea tree oil to your shampoo bottle to ward off the bugs. Specific solutions of tea tree oil mixed with rosemary or eucalyptus oil have been touted to get rid of lice already on the head, but we’ve found tea tree oil to be better at prevention than actual treatment — chiefly because it has a very strong smell that, when mixed with other essential oils, can cause your eyes to burn.

CRUMMY

RID, NIX
Available at most pharmacies

We lumped these two products together because, for all intents and purposes, they’re the same in our book. RID contains pyrethrin (derived from the chrysanthemum plant) while NIX contains Permethrin (a synthetic pesticide). Neither seemed to work for any of us. We aren’t scientists, so we can’t say for sure whether lice have developed immunity to these products (although some claim they have). But we can say they only kill lice, not eggs, so you have to continuously retreat. Since these products should be used with caution —yes, it says so right on the box— we decided to switch to treatments that didn’t carry such warnings.

Elimite
Available by prescription only

Eliminte contains the same pesticide found in RID, only five times stronger. It is generally prescribed when over-the-counter treatments fail. We don’t know whether our lice were immune to the stuff or what, but it didn’t do anything for our tester mamas. And, since it was expensive and carried a passel of warnings, we’d never use it again.

Ovide
Available by prescription only

Believe it or not, Ovide is simply the prescription name for malathion (0.5%). Yes, you read that correctly: the same chemical some cities once sprayed with wild abandon to eradicate fruit flies. That is, until everyone realized how toxic it was. Ovide generally is the final bomb in a doctor’s arsenal when treating lice. Sadly, it doesn’t work for everyone. One of our tester mamas used it as a last resort and said it made everyone’s eyes burn and nearly gassed the family out of the house—worse, it did nothing for the lice. They somehow managed to survive and procreate. We say avoid Ovide if you can. There are plenty more products that work better without all of the potential side effects.

Kwell
Available by prescription only

The pesticide lindane, which is the active ingredient in Kwell, has been banned by 52 countries, according to the Pesticide Action Network, yet is still available by prescription in this country to treat lice (although California banned it in 2001 and Michigan is taking steps to follow suit). Lindane is part of the same chemical family as DDT and PCBs, both of which have been banned in the United States. The problem with lindane is that it is absorbed through the skin and interferes with the nervous system. Indeed, children have experienced seizures and even died after having used it. Frankly, using this to treat head lice is like swatting a fly with a wrecking ball: complete overkill and absolutely unnecessary. Avoid this stuff like the plague it is.