Vinegar does help, but my step daughter used this once and her hair was practically ruined by usng this method. She had to cut it very short afterwards. Forunately her hair grew fast. Mayonnaise helps to loosen the nits, but does not get rid of the bug problem. With either method you still need to dig those nasty, ugly critters out. I had also read in The Houston Chronicle during last school year that Listerine (the original strong mouthwash) can be used on your child's head as a preventative, but I have not personally used this method. If I can find that link I will post it for you.

[ 09-24-2002: Message edited by: oneoldmom ]</p>

I have read where vinegar does the trick also.

Kerosene is flammable.

Please be safe! Don't use it!!

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OKAY Ladies...
Now that we are all itching at the thought of the little buggers, here is the easiest solution I've ever dealt with. My sister has 3 girls (I have boys) and they have long hair. The youngest was 3 when I did this. My sis couldn't get rid of it from her older girls' hair, and the little one wouldn't let her run the metal comb through. She had spent close to $250 on the stuff you buy from your drug store, even had the prescription kind! I spoke to our school nurse (I live in a different district - 45 minutes away) and she said, of all things, mayonaise. Put it in their hair, put a plastic trash bag (hotel shower caps work great!) on to cover the hair. Follow all regular lice cleaning instructions for your home (put all stuffed toys in a plastic trash bag, vacuum all floors, run a HOT iron over beds, wash all clothing and bedding in hot water and then dry the chit out of it in your dryer, etc. Do all of this cool stuff while your hair is slathered in mayo. When you have deloused your house, get two chairs and sit in the backyard. Take off the plastic bag and now, using the metal comb, slide it right through the hair. Drop all clothing directly into the wash from outside so as not to let any of the little varmits back into the deloused house. The mayo will smother them, but the biggest thing is that they hate it. The mayo is just slickining (?) enough to let you get the comb all the way to the scalp without pain. The nits just comb right out. I swear! Do your own hair last. As you delouse another head, send them to the shower and have them wash their hair with regular shampoo, but I added two drops of dishwashing liquid so as to cut the greasy feeling. Use a nice conditioner or creme rinse. Now, here is the Rest Of The Story... Use the mayo once a month. It not only kills and repels the boogers, but also is a nice deep conditioning application for your hair. Of course if you want, you can just shave everyone's head. That is another way. My aunt used kerosene (every bottle of shampoo she ever bought, she added 2 tablespoons of kerosene). She never had any lice problems... Come to think of it, she never had any hair... lol... just kidding... I think... well, my uncle was bald anyway... lol...

Good Luck!

This is such a problem at our school. It never seems to go away. One of our teachers actually gives each student a large garbage bag to place their backpacks in.

Education is crucial. Tell your kids not to share hats, combs, hair clips, clothing etc.

Remember that lice don't jump so you must come in contact with them.

As I recall, they can't survive for more than a couple of days off a body. So, wash the bedding, bag the stuffed animals and pillows for 3-4 days and do the combing 2-3 days in a row.

So far, we have made it 3 years without having to deal with treatment; but we deal with prevention on a daily basis.

One thing you might mention to parents is that if they have a child with lice they can go to Wal-Mart and buy the temporary hair color spray (in the stores now for Halloween, $1.49 a can) they spray the color on the hair getting it down to the scalp, then brush it out. This color highlights the nits and the bugs making it a bit easier to see them and get them all out. The orange works very well. I found out about this last year when a friend came to me in a panic because her daughter had lice. She said there was a new product from the drugstore that colors the nits. When I got to her house and saw what she had bought for almost $10.00, I told her she could have gotten the same thing at Wal-Mart a lot cheaper. The only difference is the name, the $10.00 one says Neon Nits. We just participated in our communities festival, while spraying one child's hair the live nits started to show up. I will be calling her school Monday to inform them they need a lice check.