How to Rid Your Family of Head Lice - A Firsthand Account

It's that time of year, again. The days are getting shorter. Leaves are beginning to fall. Children are coming home from school with their scalps itching from head lice. Parents are scratching their heads, hoping it's not lice on their own heads, trying to decide what to do to eliminate their children's misery.

I vividly remember what I refer to as the year of our discontent. My two daughters were in the 6^th grade and the 2^nd grade. About a month after school started, that year, my oldest daughter came home from school one day complaining of itching at the base of her skull. I thought it was probably just dried shampoo that didn't get rinsed out of her hair. Her complaints went on for about a week. I looked closely at her scalp and saw a small bug crawling in her hair. It was then I realized she had lice. Her head was covered with them. I drove to the store and bought an off brand shampoo for lice. We followed the directions. We even placed all of her stuffed animals into plastic bags to remain in quarantine for three weeks. I washed all of her bedding and instructed her not to use anyone's combs or brushes while at school

The next day, she came home with another head full of lice. Within a week, her little sister also had a head full of lice. Back to the store we went. This time, I invested in the higher priced store brand of lice treatment shampoo. At home, her stuffed animals joined her big sister's in a plastic bag. The girls missed their stuffed animals and the itching continued, unabated.

At this point, I came to two possible conclusions. Either the lice treatment shampoos were not working or the girls were picking up new lice at school. It was time for another approach. I began having them flip their heads, upside down, over the bathtub. Then, I would brush their hair and watch, in agony, as dozens of black lice would drop onto the white, ceramic, surface of the bathtub. Next, I would use tiny scissors, going strand by strand, cutting single strands of hair. Each hair that had a lice egg attached, near the base, would be snipped and put into the trash. It took roughly two hours to complete this nightly ritual for both the girls.

After spending almost $100 on lice treatment shampoos and countless hours cutting eggs out by hand, the itching continued, still unabated. We were all at our wit's end. The girls were miserable. I began to dread the evenings, knowing I would be spending several hours cutting strands of hair while my girls patiently sat, waiting for me to finish. Oh, the misery didn't stop their. Now my own head began itching. My oldest daughter was enlisted to begin cutting lice eggs out of my hair. My husband and our son were not affected with this plague that had befallen our house. They both had very short hair. My girls and I all had longer than shoulder length hair. We even tried washing our hair with mayonnaise. I was beginning to consider the possibility of shaving all our heads.

Finally, someone told us about a solution to our infestation. I was fall-on-my-knees grateful because it really did work. It's called a Robi Comb, a registered trademark of Epilady. It's basically an electric comb that runs on a AA battery. It has metal teeth. When combed through the hair, an electric current shocks the lice and nits (eggs) and instantly kills them. Robi Combs are available at Walgreen's, and other drug stores, and sells for around $30. Magicomb is another version of this type of device, but I personally have not tried it. Thirty dollars may seem like a great deal of money but the one I bought was well worth it. I had wasted much more than that on shampoos that did not work. I used the Robi Comb on myself and my girls every day for a week. We were lice free. Using it once a week, thereafter, kept us lice free. I still have the Robi Comb I bought fourteen years ago. It still works. I keep it just in case I ever need it again.