Pile of red helmets that can spread head lice

Head Lice Tips For Your Little Athlete

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When a head lice outbreak hits, it tends to spread like wildfire if children have been playing together. A common side effect of head lice is a big headache for the parents. The number one goal is to get rid of head lice, and get rid of it fast.

In light of Super bowl LI coming up, let’s talk about some common ways athletes can contract head lice.

Sharing Helmets

If you hear about a head lice outbreak at your child’s school, a good rule of thumb is to not let your little athlete share a helmet or baseball cap with any teammates or friends. Head lice can survive in the hair long-term. They can also survive for up to two days elsewhere. This is why sharing equipment with someone who has head lice can lead to an outbreak. So… sharing isn’t always caring. Do what you can to dodge the head lice contagion.

Sharing Brushes and Combs

Your child might be a dancer, soccer player, basketball champ, volleyball star or an all-star of a different sport. Perhaps it’s a common ritual to get ready with the team before a game or event. As part of that ritual, are they sharing brushes and combs? Be careful when sharing your brush and comb because if someone with head lice uses it and then you use it after them, you will likely become infested with head lice. Also, we know you want to document these fun occasions and take lots of selfies but beware of team selfies as head-to-head contact is another way to contract head lice. All those little head lice critters want to do is find their way to a new head and lay eggs. Bring your own brushes and combs to those fun events and don’t share them. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Huddles

Huddles aren’t only in the movies. It’s a tradition that goes back to 1980, according to an article published by The Week. The tradition formed when quarterback, Paul Hubbard of Gallaudet —  a deaf college in Washington, D.C., now a university, had his team form a tight huddle so they could discuss the plays in sign language without the other team being able to see. As cool as the origin of this tradition is, Hubbard certainly wasn’t thinking about head lice when he began one of the most well-known sports traditions of all time. Kids must be careful when bumping heads in a huddle because head lice could certainly spread as soon as heads touch. We aren’t saying don’t participate in the huddle — that’s no fun. We are just saying to use caution. For instance, you can still huddle and get close without making head-to-head contact.

Bring Your Own Stuff

I’m sure your child is ecstatic about their away game coming up. They get to take a trip with their friends and shoot for victory — what an awesome experience. You want it to be an enjoyable experience for them and take our word for it — head lice are not enjoyable. Make sure they bring their own stuff. This also applies to sleepovers at friends’ houses as well. To be safe, make sure they bring their own sleeping bag, pillow, hats, scarves and jackets. It’s a safe practice not to share things that head lice could transmit from. When in doubt, don’t go without. Bring your own stuff!

Sterilize

Has there been head lice outbreaks on your child’s team? Well, you can never be too careful so sterilizing the items your child uses on a regular basis is a good idea — or make them clean it. Head lice aside, it’s a good idea to clean on a normal basis anyway, right? Because kids aren’t always the cleanest creatures. Even if there are no head lice around you, what’s there to lose? You always feel better in a clean environment anyways. Clean their sheets, blankets, pillow cases, combs, hair brushes, hats and anything else that may come in contact with head lice. When your child gets back from a sleepover, check their heads, wash their stuff, be wise and sterilize.

Don’t deprive your little athlete of having all the fun experiences that a child should have. Be aware and conscience of this common childhood contagion. Have fun cheering for your little all-star. If they do happen to catch head lice — give us a call and we’ll take care of it for you.

Head lice treatment in the New Year

Head Lice Leaving You Lost?

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As you welcome in the New Year, are you welcoming unwanted head lice? As professionals in the Lice industry, we understand the struggle your family has with failing to remove head lice. As your children go back to school and surround themselves with friends, their chances of becoming subject to a head lice outbreak increase. At Lice Clinics of America, College Station, we treat hundreds of families throughout the year. Head lice infest families like a domino effect. Your child’s friend is infested with lice and then BAM; your child contracts head lice along with all the other kids in their class. Head lice are simply a contagion; getting head lice has nothing to do with cleanliness or hygiene. Head lice are acquired by contact with someone who has them or contact with something they used such as a comb, a brush, a hat or bedding they have slept on.

Nitpicking is a Must

Many children will get head lice several times throughout the year and mothers tirelessly battle to fight the head lice and their eggs. Some families will experience head lice for the first time. Whether it’s your first time or your tenth time, treating head lice is difficult. Lice eggs, called nits, are the biggest culprit. Nits are small, yellow or tan in color and attach to the hair follicles on the head. Nits are trickier than lice because they cannot be removed by brushing or shaking the head — they must be killed and removed. They latch to the hair, very close to the scalp and will not budge unless you nitpick.

Stay Away From Mayonaise

One of the first steps to lice removal is education. As a consumer, it’s important to know which head lice treatments work. There are several head lice treatment myths floating around the web. If the thought of putting mayonnaise in your child’s hair has crossed your mind, give us a call. You might read about killing lice with mayo on the internet, however mayonnaise is unnecessarily messy and has not been medically proven as a cure for head lice. If mayonnaise does kill lice, it certainly doesn’t kill their nits. If you use mayonnaise and it kills the lice, the eggs will hatch a few days later, bringing you back to square one. The nits must be combed out one by one with a lice comb.

Many parents are misled by the internet and apply mayonnaise to their child’s head with the hope that if they wrap the head with plastic and leave the mayo on overnight, the lice will be gone by morning. If you haven’t been convinced that mayonnaise doesn’t work, there have actually been reports of children suffocating from this method or receiving food poisoning from the mayonnaise. In essence, many home remedies are messy, dangerous and not guaranteed to work.

How Do We Do it?

Here’s another tricky fact about head lice removal: head lice have recently evolved into super lice and are now resistant to the pesticides used in many head lice treatments and shampoos.

So, how do we get rid of head lice? By using a newly-developed, FDA-cleared device called AirAllé that dehydrates and kills lice and their nits. The AirAllé uses controlled, heated air and is a comfortable process for children. After approximately 30 minutes of the AireAlle treatment, follow up with a topical treatment and combing, all within 90 minutes.

Repetitively treating head lice with no success might just bring you to tears. The only thing worse than going through the hassle of head lice is going through it twice.

At Lice Clinics of America, College Station, we focus on a guaranteed, one and done service that will keep your children lice-free and itch-free. If your family would like to make a New Year resolution to be lice-free, our head lice clinic will ensure your success. Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.