Four Steps To Ward Off Lice When One Person Gets Infected

If one of your children gets infected with head lice, it becomes easier for the entire family to contract the lice. Lice can get from one head to another through pillows, using the same brushes, and when heads are too close in proximity when one person has lice. If you get the dreaded call from the school nurse that one of your children has lice, you will need to act quickly to make sure that nobody else contracts lice inside of your house. Here are some steps to ward off a possible head lice infestation in your home. 

Take everyone to get lice treatments

Head lice treatment can consist of lice shampoo and liquid treatments being added to the hair. After any sort of chemical lice treatment is put into the hair, it is important to comb through the entire head to make sure that no lice are found. Any lice or nits that are found in the hair after the treatment must be manually removed for the treatment to be effective. A lice treatment specialist can come to your home to do the treatments and checks, or you can go to their salon location to get this done. Everyone in the family, from the youngest to the parents, should get lice treatments and a thorough lice inspection to be sure no one else has lice. 

Use heat

Heat can help to kill any lice and nits in a variety of hair textures. After the family gets home from the lice treatment, put the hair in several braids to do a reinspection of the hair shaft for lice. Go over the braids with a flat iron to kill any lice.

Bag all toys and pillows

Make the night after a lice treatment and inspection a night to camp out in the backyard. This will give you the chance to wash and dry any sheets, blankets, and bedding in extra hot water and hot air to get rid of any possible lice. Bag the pillows sans pillow covers and bag all toys in gallon garbage bags. This will suffocate any remaining lice to make sure none survive. 

Start the brushes and combs over

Since brushes and combs are affordable and easy to find, throw away any of the old brushes and combs that your family was using when the infestation happened. This will make sure that any lice that are lurking inside of the hair brushes won't make it back onto any head. You can also throw out any scrunchies or barrettes that were worn by the persons who had lice so that there is no possible reinfestation.