When I got the call from the school nurse informing me my daughters had lice, I had no idea what to do. Ewwww…. did I need to burn mattresses? Throw out pillows? For sure EVERYTHING needed to be disinfected, right?! I did my quick google education of lice and found a ton of suggested ways to rid my kid and house of these nasty little creatures.
I went to the store and bought the over the counter pesticide shampoo kit and stripped all the beds in my house and started doing loads and loads of laundry. My mother-in-law (Bless Her!) did the shampoo and combed through Lucy’s hair with the nit (lice egg) comb attempting to get out all the eggs. Seemed like we were on the way to being lice free. That wasn’t too hard–until a week later my head starting itching!
I was freaking. NO!!!! Did I have Lice? I went and found that comb that we had used to get the nits out of Lucy’s hair. I combed close to my scalp, and when I looked at the comb, there it was: A LOUSE!!!! A nasty little bug was squirming in the comb. GROOOOOSSSSSS! I went and found the shampoo we used on Lucy a week ago. I followed the directions and left the pesticide shampoo in my hair 10 minutes. The smell was awful, and the fumes from the chemicals burned my eyes. I combed through my hair a bazillion times digging into my scalp as hard as I could to try to get every last louse and nit I could (a feat that is hard when you are doing it to your child, let alone doing it blindly on yourself).
I then went and checked out my daughter’s hair again. Yep. She still had lice, and although I couldn’t tell if my son had it, I was pretty sure he must have it too. We all had lice. I felt defeated. I went back to the internet to do some more research.
I remembered my friend mentioning that a mom at her child’s preschool had started a lice removal business. You heard right, a lice removal business! I went to their website and was so relieved at what I found. Freshheads, a mom-owned lice removal service, treats your case of head lice all naturally with no pesticides and with a 30-day guarantee. I went to bed that night with the hope of being lice free and with a plan to call Freshheads first thing in the morning.
At 7:55 am I called their number expecting to leave a message. The owner, Mandy, answered, and although she was getting her two boys ready for school, she still took time to answer my questions and get myself and both my kids appointments for that afternoon!!
When we arrived at the “salon,” we were greeted by a super friendly staff. The kids waited and watched TV while others were getting their lice issues resolved. Freshhead’s schedule was packed as there have been major lice outbreaks at the beaches and in San Marco as of late.
When it was our turn, each kid was taken back to their own “salon room” and given Kindles to play with. The first step to the all natural lice removal process is the “Lousebuster.” The device is a revolutionary new way to kill head lice and their eggs without using pesticides or other chemicals. Clinical studies have shown that the treatment, which uses only controlled heated air, kills all stages of head lice safely, very effectively and very quickly! Turns out those pesticide shampoos that were burning my eyes are starting to become useless because lice have built up resistance to them. Also, the pesticides might kill adult lice, but they do absolutely nothing to the nits, and if you don’t get all the nits, you are still going to have lice. This is a picture of my son having the Lousebuster treatment. He wasn’t a huge fan of having to sit still for the treatment, but I have to say it was a pretty relaxing experience for me. Kind of like someone massaging your head when you are getting your hair done.
The second stage is nit removal. A natural nit loosening enzyme is sprayed all over the hair, and the hair is sectioned off and combed through with a fine tooth comb. This pulls out all the dead lice and nits. You can look at them too. Totally gross or cool depending on how you stomach that stuff. This is my daughter having her hair combed through.
Finally, a silicone oil treatment is put on the hair for 10 minutes. This smothers any remaining live lice that may have escaped the heat or comb through.. And Voila! We were lice free! Thank you, baby Jesus!
They were also great at educating me and how to prevent lice in the future and take care of all the stuff in the house as well! Each Lousebuster treatment (including comb out and oil treatment) is $145. It may sound a little steep, but trust me, it is worth it. When you think about all the time, energy, and money you will spend doing it yourself, you will wish you called Freshheads in the first place! Worth. Every. Penny.
Freshheads also offers head checks for $25 for other people in the family who aren’t sure if they have lice or not. My mother-in-law came and was checked. She was lice free, but they did give her the oil treatment as a preventative. Freshheads is located off 295 between Gate Parkway and Baymeadows. Check out their website to learn more about them and their services.
Most importantly, don’t freak out too much. It’s annoying and gross, but remember that besides being a nuisance, lice is totally harmless and does not carry any disease or pose any real health risk.
Facts of Lice:
Head Lice is Highly Contagious!
- 80% of the time the head lice culprits pass the infestation on to their siblings
- 90% of the time mothers contract head lice from their children
- 20% of the time fathers contract head lice from their children
- 35% of the time nannies contract head lice
- Head lice shampoos can be highly toxic for your child, and many strains of head lice are immune to the chemicals anyway
- A family of four spends an average of $800 on pesticide type products that don’t work
- Head lice cannot jump or fly
- Head lice cannot live on your pets
- Head lice cannot live and breed unless they are on your head; it is highly unlikely that you would contract head lice from your environment i.e. couches, carpets, cars, movie theaters, airplanes
- Only 50% of people are itchy from head lice. People are itchy from lice bites not so much from the bugs crawling around, and it may take four weeks of an infestation to become itchy
- There is no season for lice; it is a year-round problem
- Lice can only live for 8-24 hours once they are off of a human head.
- Head lice know no economic or social boundaries, everyone is at risk!
Home Cleaning Recommendations:
The key to getting rid of lice is removing them from your head. This process is HARD. I cannot recommend enough finding a guaranteed service to do this part for you. It is so worth the money and piece of mind that comes with it. People get lice mostly from head to head contact, so treating your whole house is unnecessary. There are a few things you should take care of, but a treatment of the home can be minimal.
- Wash all linens and clothing that have been in contact with the infected person in the hot water cycle.
- Throw any pillows stuffed animals and other things that can’t be washed into the dryer on high heat for 30 minutes. This will kill any remaining nits
- Run brushes through the dishwasher
- Vacuum carseats, carpet, and upholstery that infected persons might have sat or laid on. Lint brushes do the trick too!!
We had the same great experience at Freshheads, except that we had dealt with recurring lice for nearly a year before I found them. $145 may seem steep, but honestly when you think about the constant process of the shampooing, laundry, combing, picking your kids up from school and or staying home with them, as well as the cost for NUMEROUS home remedies suggested on the web as well as those suggested by the Doctor and pharmacist…. I promise you, we had wasted much more than $145 trying to deal with lice. And more than anything else, the treatment offered complete and instant relief from the mental anguish that lice had been in our home. I would HIGHLY recommend Freshheads and will gladly do it again if we ever get exposed again.
Mandy at Freshheads is the best!!!! Worth every penny. Saves time and a busy mom’s sanity!!!
It’s really bad when YOU are the school nurse who has to send the kids, including your own, home with the head lice. It was during baseball season and those helmet kept passing those little cridders back and forth no matter how much we sprayed them. I am glad we did not have to shave heads like they did at the little country school I attended as a child.