"Overexposure to insecticides has bred resistance in the parasites" is the title, but the article only speaks about "exposure", not "overexposure".
That said, as a parent in the Netherlands, we nowadays use the simplest and most effective method: fine-combing the hair every morning and night for two weeks. Use hair conditioner before combing to make the beasts sticky for easier combing. Guaranteed success.
Just went through this for the first time with my youngest. I used the top rated comb on Amazon. Took all the stress away. Absolutely worked: no fuss, no insecticides.
Not a parent, as the following suggestion will probably make obvious, but why don't people just shave their kids' head when it happens? It's what I would do if it happened to me rather than do that nonsense every morning for weeks on end.
It's a tossup. If you can't get rid of your son's lice in a timely fashion without shaving your son's head, he's probably going to give the lice to his peers... and the mocking will be even worse.
Yes, I agree with your first point, but there are plenty of other ways they could survive 2 weeks worth of combing. Like the eggs could be smaller than the average hair and could last longer. Or, they could go into the scalp for extended periods of time. There are ways it could happen.
The eggs (nits) are to small to comb out, that's already the case. That's why you need to repeat this for two weeks, to comb out the new lice before they start breeding.
There are not too many jokes that are still funny enough to make you laugh out loud after you have taken the time to
go look up "alopecia universalis" on wikipedia
every once in a while i think that i might like to have my hair back... but then i remember how nice it is to rarely shower, never shave, and the reduced risk of Gattaca-style discovery when i finally decide to leave for space ;)
As the parent of a five year old, this isn't news to me! From all I read when she was dealing with lice, the over the counter pesticide shampoos in the US hardly work for anyone anymore (we tried anyway, at the firm insistence of our daycare), and the prescription options aren't that much better (we didn't bother, despite the insistence of our daycare).
The good news is that only adult lice actually spread between heads (the eggs won't even hatch away from body temperature: that's why they're attached right next to the scalp). And if you comb carefully for a day or two you'll get rid of essentially all of them. It may take longer to catch all of the immature ones (especially since they'll keep on hatching for a while), so you've got to be vigilant. But a good comb and some effective distraction for the kid while you use it will do the job, and there's no reason to isolate them after those first couple of days. (Sadly, daycare didn't agree.)
There was a scientific study done in 2004 that showed coating the hair with Cetaphil cleanser and blow drying it was very effective in getting rid of lice. It's called the "Nuvo" method. No insecticide necessary and probably more pleasant than mayonnaise. We've used this treatment successfully.
We had the best luck with an electric comb -- that is, a comb designed so that the louse completes a circuit and receives a small (but lethal) dose of current. It is difficult to build up a resistance to that.
I take my daughter to a lice removal specialist. She does a thorough combing to remove the lice. 2 weeks later you return for a follow up to check for any lice that might have hatched from missed nits. If there are any lice they are removed for no additional cost and another follow up scheduled. I have had to use the service twice over the years and neither time were there an lice at the follow up. For me well worth the $100 fee. I don't have the patience to perform the type of thorough combing required and certainly would not get them all in one combing.
We did this ourselves and it worked well. I think this is the best approach. I guess you can try combining with some other natural approaches suggested in the comments.
Another advantage of these services is that the daycares trust them, so it limits the time you have to keep your kid out of daycare. This can save way more than $100 (depending on what your childcare backup solution is)
Sorry, I'm completely lost. Daycares? i.e. schools do you mean? And what do you mean that they trust these services? I must be getting this completely wrong, but surely you're not saying there are schools which exclude children who've had nits unless they've got a receipt from a $100 hair comber?
There is a heat-treatment device that is successful in killing lice, but it's patented (earliest patent I could find expires 2029) and only provided to clinics that sign up with the owner (Larada), and they charge ~200 per person.
My wife's research revealed an important fact, lice cannot survive for more than 48 hours without a human host. So we let DD sleep on a cot in a different room for two days to clear her bed.
As for DD (and DW, I get a free pass thanks to baldness) she makes some kind of solution with tea tree oil and uses a comb. The lice can't stand tea tree oil and abandon ship.
My wife says mayonnaise didn't work, but I've heard testimonial from other parents this is very effective. Mayo plus a shower cap plus keep it in overnight suffocates the little varmints to death.
And I would like to add, though my grandfather's effective choice in treatment killed the lice instantly, getting one's hair washed with kerosene is extremely painful and I'm pretty sure it killed the top layer of skin in my scalp as I was shedding dead skin for about two weeks.
So don't do that.
And also, don't let your kid do a stage performance of "Hats for Sale", where they mix all their hats together in a box and wear them. Not sure what the drama coach was thinking, but the entire 2nd grade had a lice outbreak after that. True story.
> And I would like to add, though my grandfather's effective choice in treatment killed the lice instantly, getting one's hair washed with kerosene is extremely painful and I'm pretty sure it killed the top layer of skin in my scalp as I was shedding dead skin for about two weeks.
The anti-lice treatments like Goldgeist are equally bad.
What I found out that works well without massively hurting your skin is hair dye. No lice survives H2O2, and it’s actually far less painful and destructive than Goldgeist etc. But obviously, you can’t bleach your 2yos hair, this is just something I found out worked for me (after my little sister brought lice home once)
This is sort of an aside, but when I first became a parent 6 years ago and I started reading "DD," "DS," "LO" etc all over the internet in parenting forums, it was my first indication that all parents (myself included) have lost their minds.
Funny enough, mayo worked for me when it seemed nothing else did. Not tea tree oil or the over the counter shampoos you can buy. I guess just keep trying everything until you find what works in your situation.
You're absolutely correct, iterate until you find the solution that works. My DW made her own tea tree oil concoction from full strength tea tree oil plus coconut oil as a carrier oil. Pure TT oil will burn your skin, so yeah get informed and be careful.
As a parent of elementary schoolers, I am painfully familiar with this. But after having no success with the insecticides, I found a product called licefree (NFI) that is basically saltwater. It works great and has none of the potential health risks of insecticides so you can apply it liberally (to the whole family!) anytime there is the slightest hint that a kid might have lice. I can't recommend it enough.
That said, as a parent in the Netherlands, we nowadays use the simplest and most effective method: fine-combing the hair every morning and night for two weeks. Use hair conditioner before combing to make the beasts sticky for easier combing. Guaranteed success.