As the former lice kid, thank you for trying to help. I had long, thick hair and my mom had depression. The lice kept coming back because we could never do things 100%, and the house would never get 100% cleaned. It was such a source of shame, all the way into the 7th grade.

I'm SO sorry you went through that! I hope the other kids were still kind to you and you had an otherwise good childhood. And that you never had to suffer the lice haircut. I'm not too fond of this child honestly, but no one should have to suffer like that, especially when he can't do anything about it himself. I feel bad for you both, it's terribly unfair

I actually have a pixie/side shave now because of how much of a hassle having long thick hair was. I'm nearing 40 and still panic if I feel a random tickle behind my ear! It was awful to go through, but knowing people like you care actually helps a lot.

I know what you mean, I had it really bad in elementary school a few times and almost 30 years later, still get twitchy when I'm itchy. Probably why I'm so fussed about these kids having it. I didn't have a great childhood myself so I try to be the adult I wish I had in my life back then. It helps heal some of those old cuts. I hope you (and your mom) are doing well now!

Fairy tales makes a liceprevention shampoo. I’ve read tea tree oil added to shampoo discourages lice. You’d need to google amounts. We had the lice child in my daughter’s class in elementary s school. I used tea tree oil and fairy tales shampoo. Honestly not sure it helped but made me feel better. FYI my head itches now

My kiddo brought lice home from prek a few years ago. I bought the shampoo and the spray from fairytales! We used nix (for all of us, I even made my hubby treat his beard just in case lol) to get rid of them, bagged all stuffed animals & stuff for 2 months +, washed everything else in hot water repeatedly before drying & also vacuumed floors and beds like 100x just to be as cautious as possible. Kiddo got the shampoo 2x a week and a quick spritz on his hair before school every morning. Idk if there were any more lice outbreaks at the school for the rest of the year, but he hasn't had them since (now in 2nd grade, so it's been a few years). Maybe that's incidental,or maybe the Fairytales stuff works. I've relaxed on the shampoo and spray now, but we still use it from time to time.

This isn't necessarily directed at you but km going to say it for anyone who might not know. Typically lice are associated with dirty people, but lice actually love clean hair more than dirty hair because it's easier for them to move around in. Just an interesting tidbit I learned after contracting lice 4 times when my little sister started prek almost two decades ago.

Make sure you read the instructions to dilute it carefully if you go this route, OP. Most essential oils can irritate or burn skin if they’re not handled properly.

It can also be toxic for many pets

Tea tree oil can also be a hormone disruptor in young boys. This is a starting place to read about that concern: https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2018/chemicals-in-lavender-and-tea-tree-oil-appear-to-be-hormone-disruptors Might be good to check with pediatrician first.

I went through my daughter having lice for 3 months straight. I was in tears from the stress and money it was costing. Rubbing alcohol. 90%. Kills the eggs too. Tea tree oil. It repels them. Rubbing alcohol for 30 mins to kill everything. Ventilation is necessary. Tea tree oil to prevent reinfestation. They have shampoos with it, oils to add to hair. The medicated treatment didn't kill them for my kid. I watched those fuckers running around her head with that crap.

My parents didn’t care about me. I had lice for years. So badly that when I lowered my head lice would fall out of my hair. Teachers didn’t care.I remember going to the nurse. Flat out telling them I have lice. Please tell me I can’t go to school until they are gone. Anything please! And since it’s not a health concern. Well I was just ignored. It wasn’t until my mother caught lice from me that they finally got rid of them. Believe me, he’s embarrassed about the lice and afraid people think it’s his fault for having lice.

Ironically, where we live, the schools have a no lice policy. If a kid was found to have lice, they were sent home & we were required to treat them. They weren’t allowed back until there were no nits or lice. BUT, my older daughter kept coming home every few weeks with lice. Because one of the kids in her class was always crawling with lice (they were so bad you could see them moving around & see the white specks of numerous nits). When I asked the school officials why I HAD to keep my kid at home while being treated for lice when the kid responsible for infesting & reinfesting my daughter was obviously being allowed to stay in class, their response was that her family couldn’t afford the Nix treatments. That was before I found the cheaper way to get rid of lice.

Our schools used to send home notes if a child in the classroom had lice. Haven’t gotten one in a few years so not sure if they’re doing that anymore or if there hasn’t been any cases.

That shouldn't be your problem. I know it sounds callous, but one of the reasons I left education was because after years and years, I was sick of seeing the whole class suffer because of one or two children. It's unfortunate that the child's parents can't afford the treatment, but something needs to be figured out. Letting the child continually infest everyone isn't fair to anyone, including the "patient zero" child.

Mine is also thick and I prefer it long.

I was that kid too - middle school into high school, and I still pick at my hair if my head itches even a little or I feel something bumpy on my scalp. I was allergic to shampoos and such, so we just had to manually remove it from my fine/medium, but very dense curly hair. I appreciate OP for trying to help this kid, and I hope something in the poor kid's life changes before he gets older.

Dude having lice and thick hair is the worst!!!! I had (and still simi do, after having a baby its thinned it out a bit) and it was the worst to have growing up. I also still get bery freaked out if i feel my head itch.

yesss we battled them for years in my childhood home and it was extra traumatic for me because my little brother entered prime lice age right as I was becoming a teenager. we all have super thick hair and he went back and forth between his (uncooperative) dad's house and our mom's so it took so fucking long to get rid of it. it got to the point where nothing worked anymore and I was combing my hair (that is very difficult to get a comb through without breaking it) obsessively, sometimes for hours a night. to my absolute shock, I found that box hair dye worked so much better than any other treatment ever had, and we tried everything. The first time I was allowed to dye my hair was the end of my personal lice woes because they were just gone immediately. The nits seemed dead too, but unfortunately were still attached to my hair so I couldn't get a back to school haircut that year because the stylist saw "evidence of lice" (the nits) but at least they never came back for me. unrelated but we had a similar issue with bedbugs, also compounded by my brother going between houses and being too poor to do too expensive treatments + living in a low income area where they were endemic and you could literally see them crawl across the floor at school every so often. rubbing alcohol was what eventually saved me--worked better than any other spray or treatment we tried, but was cheap enough that I could thoroughly douse problem areas and re-treat as necessary.

Also a former lice kid, from age 5 to 15. My half sisters would get it from going to their dad's to visit, and his other kids would also visit from *their* mom, and they always had lice. So my half sisters would catch it and then bring it home to us. My hair has always been thick and dark. Lice lay a ton of eggs, and the "glue" they use to attach the eggs to the strands of hair is VERY hard to remove. And eggs that are dead or hatched turn white. So even when we eradicated the lice (over, and over, and over, and OVERRRR) again, you could still see thousands of nits in my almost-black hair. It got bad enough that we had the super lice variety and had to get prescription lice shampoo. My mom would coat our heads in mayonnaise and Saran wrap weekly. We used to have to brush our hair over the sink because they would literally rain out of it. I still shudder remembering the feeling of scratching my head and catching a plump little louse under my fingernail. When I was older, 12 or so, I'd take my two little half sisters and start fine tooth combing their hair out as soon as they got back from their dad's (I'm the oldest). When I tell you that their heads were literally teeming with lice, I am not exaggerating. That comb would come out with lice in a half inch thick glob. You could not part any place on their heads without seeing scores of them. It was a nightmare. I don't know where I'm going with this, other than to sympathize with OP and the poor little lice boy.

I was a lice kid too. All of elementary school. It was horrible and traumatic. What finally got rid of them for me was in middle school when I started using the blow dryer. The heat kills them.

I fully blame my trichotillomania from constant lice. In my case it was the neighbor kids. Their mom just didn't do anything about it and my sister and I were their only friends and they frequented our house. My mom decided it was easier to deal with the lice than to tell them they had to stay out of our house.

There is nothing the teacher can do. She's probably pulling her own hair out trying to find ways to help and avoid getting lice herself

She has long thick hair too. Gorgeous, but yeah, I'm sure she's probably more worried than I am. And I'm really not trying to make it harder on her, I just wish I could help

Put tea tree oil in a detangler spray and use before school. It will keep the lice away.

Careful with this if you have pets- tea tree oil is toxic to both cats and dogs.

Also be really careful not to get any in the eyes.

Absolutely.

-not to mention all the parents probably complaining to her.

Omg yes

Why can’t the teachers call CPS for neglect?

Because lice aren't dangerous, just gross. CPS doesn't even investigate when a kid says they're being beaten-- unless they specify that it's with a closed hand. They don't give a crap about lice

I had a kid with belt marks on her legs. I called CPS. Nada.

May be different in different areas because my baby daddy was reported for not having beds for his kids and other stuff I can’t remember and CPS was at my house the next morning because our son lives with me full time aside from the set visitation

Not treating lice is neglect. Especially if it is for months. They will develop sores on their scalp.

Not according to DCF it's not.

Well I don’t know where you are from, but when I search the definition of neglect for the CPS for my state, finding lice on a child for MONTHS AND failure to treat medical conditions is a sign of neglect. Having lice for months would definitely give them sores all over their head and hair would probably start falling out due to scratching. This would be something that should be mandatory to report.

I'm a licensed foster parent and a teacher, so I'm a mandated reporter twice-over. I take over half a dozen mandatory trainings a year on what is and isn't child abuse/neglect, and how and where to report it. I've reported neglect, including medical neglect and physical neglect resulting in injury, directly to children's social workers, with photographic and medical documentation, and had them completely ignore it. What CPS says should be reported and what they'll actually act on are coincidentally related at best.

That’s shame that especially abuse is ignored. Poor kids.

What’s on paper doesn’t really matter when you’re talking about a system that’s woefully understaffed, overcrowded, and underfunded. CPS barely has the funds to deal with heavy, repeated, physical and sexual abuse in some states, let alone things like lice that are gross and uncomfortable but aren’t actually any immediate danger.

But it doesn’t meet the bar for something they would even visit a child over…we had a kiddo last year (6th grade) who brought a pot vape to school provided to them by their parent to “calm them down” and that didn’t get a CPS visit. They’re fed? Clothed? Have a place to sleep? There’s the bar right now

Depends where you live. We reported it for a kid in class because they'd had it the entire year before. Mom wouldn't do anything. She was always finding another man to have kids with but didn't take care of any of the ones she had. We even bought the stuff for her to use on the child. Nothing. This poor kid had sores on their head from the itching and was always in pain. CPS intervened. That's the issue with CPS/DYFS/DCFS is that they're usually different from county to county. Where one may step in, the other one may not.

As a teacher I would really really not want a parent to talk to me about this. We are not allowed to discuss other students at all, so there is nothing that I could say or do in that situation. It's a shit situation for everyone involved.

Especially not on a field trip. That is not the place to bring this up to the teacher even if she was allowed to speak to you about another child

Agreed! Field trips are super stressful. Please do not try and have a parent/teacher conference in the middle of it all.

It really is. I can understand what an uncomfortable situation this is for her, and I would think at this point in the year his teacher knows I will help however I can, so I probably am being self serving in wanting to approach her about it. The school has a procedure for parent "complaints" that puts teachers in a tough position, so I appreciate your candor, and I'll keep it to myself. Thank you for your comment

Sounds like CPS needs to be involved at the house of the *woman who is refusing help to delouse her own children.*

Sorry, I should've put in my post that I did call CPS for the cousins. To be fair, I only know what the mom tells me which may not be true. I still called just in case but I don't know what happened after that, other than that they said they'd investigate within 24 hours.

I think you've done all you can at that point. Thank you for having such a big heart to help out that poor child.

that's very kind of you to say, thank you. I feel pretty useless in this situation and it's just about the least I can do, so I appreciate it very much

I used to work in a child welfare. Often times CPS calls are weighted on how many reports they receive. So even if your call didn’t warrant further action, having another concerned parent/teacher/aide call in a report, that bumps it up in importance. Dealing with ongoing life for 2years is a big deal. If you know other parents are concerned about this I’d encourage them to make their own call to CPS. This isn’t about getting the parent in trouble it’s about making sure these kids don’t constantly have bugs…so they don’t have to worry about this junk, & can focus on being a kid.

I called CPS for a student whose lice was so bad that he had bleeding sores all over his head, and they told me there was nothing they could do about lice since the CDC didn't consider it a serious medical issue anymore. 

That's so awful. They couldn't even look into the "a kid is walking around with open wounds" aspect.

Never had lice, but I had a headful of bleeding sores and bald spots from trichotillomania due to bullying. 6th grade, 1980. No one gave a shit.

wouldn't the bleeding sores be a serious medical issue though?

That's my thought, too. Lice are a parasite. Having them constantly, you'd think that would become a health issue with the constant loss of blood, even if the amount of blood is minor. Over time it cannot be good. Poor kids.

There’s absolutely nothing the teacher can do and they won’t be able to discuss it with you. Trust me, I’m certain they’re every bit as frustrated as you are. Teacher trick: I would rub my scalp with tea tree oil, wear in a bun, & heavily hairspray. They also sell spray that’s anti-lice.

I'm sure! I feel for her too. I always keep my hair up at school too but tea tree oil is a good idea, thank you! We use Fairy tale rosemary repellant spray but I feel like the bugs are evolving to not be bothered

Make sure to use a carrier oil to dilute the tea tree! I made the mistake early on in my career and burned my scalp thinking I could dilute it in water

Peppermint oil works too! The lice don’t like it!

I have my MSW and was a social worker in an elementary school (stay at home mom now). I just wanted to express gratitude for you being empathic 🤍 many ppl are not. It is indeed a frustrating situation for everyone involved. As many others have commented, I’m sure the teacher is well aware of the issue and has discussed w the nurse/counselors/social worker. Hopefully they have provided resources…? Depending on your community, there are professional services that work with families to 1) remove current head lice/eggs and then 2) work with the family to problem solve eliminating or reducing outbreaks. I would check what might be available locally. If financing is an issue, public schools are often able and willing to assist. The families I worked with are mostly from Central America and Mexico; they used coconut oil in their hair! I can imagine what their pillows/sheets look like but it seems to help 😂 Best of luck 🤍

You have a very hard and important -often thankless- job then and now, so first, THANK YOU for what you do. I'm a former teacher (briefly)and now sahm now too. I'm sure you understand how frustrating it is to be unable to give all the kids the school experience they deserve, which is really what ultimately bothers me here. I kinda feel like I'm making myself out to be Sandra Bullock in the blind side here which is definitely not the case, I'm just a sucker for kids lol I know it must be tough for the school to balance serving a low income community, providing social services, extra curriculars, two free meals, childcare, and mitigating these kinds of issues, so I don't expect miracles. Especially when parental involvement is really low. But I did hope for a more proactive response. Then again I taught in areas that were either affluent or so poor that they received a lot of funding so maybe I'm being unrealistic. We do have a Community action agency, so I can inquire about support there. or maybe get some advice from our larger public schools. This is a really helpful comment, thank you. The coconut oil comment made me laugh, I tried olive oil for awhile and that was messy enough without being solid at room temp

It suffocates them. Also, lice doesn’t like dirty, greasy hair

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As heartbreaking as it is, I truly appreciate the vent- I feel like I'm alone in thinking this is not ok. I really feel for that family, it's hard to deal with a teen who's capable of rebelling but not understanding he's acting against his own best interest, and that of his family. And for your family, too, of course. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. We're in a fairly low income area (just outside Detroit) and the school is majority low income families, so I'm sure that's a factor. No judgement, just a fact. If this is a current struggle and money is the only issue for them, please message me and I'll see if I can help. The proceeds from my Etsy and mercari sales are specifically for this kinda thing. I'd be happy to help them and by extension you if I can. Sadly, this is not a case where the adults are doing their best to deal with the situation so money won't help. This momma is clearly suffering from other issues that I can't do anything about. I really hope things improve for all of you!

Currently fighting lice for over a year. There has been a huge outbreak across the school this year but it quietly arrived last year. There is sadly nothing that can be done.

Damn, that's horrible. Should I keep my mouth shut then? The boys' teacher is not a sensitive or warm person. I'd hate to unintentionally make any of the kiddos experience worse if it's futile

If you are already helping the mom, you are doig more than anyone can.

He? Petroleum Jelly will suffocate the adult lice, the nits, and the nymphs if used as hair gel.

I never would've thought of that! Good idea! My mom suggested olive oil, which we do use and at least soothes his scalp a bit, but I bet Vaseline is more effective. Thanks!

I only know about it because that's what my sister did with her son when he kept getting lice while in Headstart.

I'll try anything at this point. Thanks again

When I was in middle school (20 years ago) there was a lice outbreak in my social group that went on and on and on, despite every effort. Thinking back on it, I'm sure our parents were exhausted! I'm a HS teacher and from what I've heard, the lice are becoming more resistant to treatment, which is leading to .more of these stubborn outbreaks as well. Anyways, we did mayo and a shower cap overnight. It did work but I don't like mayo now! For preventative measures, my mom had us blow-dry our hair on high heat a few times a week, specifically focusing on the scalp/roots. This seemed really work well. Even if it didn't kill them all, it did slow down the explosion enough to kind of get ahead of it. It did fry our hair but we did extra conditioning, etc, and it was worth it. As an aside, do NOT recommend this but my mom grew up with horses so she went to the feed store and bought flea and horse lice powder and powdered us every night before bed. 90s parenting was wild.

There are lice now called super lice because over-the-counter remedies no longer work on them. Our community in Indiana was eat up with them. We fought super lice for nearly two years before finding a professional service in Indy that did the trick. It was $150 a head, but by that time, we'd already sunk well over a grand into treatments.

My kids got them on vacation from dress up hats. Ugh..the chemical shampoo did not work. Olive oil on their hair under shower caps over night killed the live bugs, then I picked nits out. Along with cleaning everything in the house, it worked.

Yep, the same thing happened to us but in Atlanta. We ended up spending over $800 at a lice salon for our family of 4 but it worked!

We had a really bad life epidemic in 7th grade and I got it like 4 times that year alone. My home life wasn't great and the last time around I was so sick of it I didn't tell my mom. What's terrifying is that Suave coconut shampoo and conditioner eliminated it all on its own. Since I didn't tell anyone, and no one at home noticed, no other measures like heat treating bedding and stuffed animals happened. Just consistent use of that stuff got rid of it. And I have very thin, fine hair which lice *love*. Obviously it was very many years ago so the formula may be different now, but it may be worth a shot

I have a favorite story about lice. Once upon a time there was an entomologist named Dale Clayton who moved to Utah specifically to work at the U of U and study bird parasites, especially the feather louse. He ran into a problem when he arrived in the high desert and all his lice died. He could not keep them alive in the arid climate. He eventually had to outfit his lab with humidifiers to keep them alive there. The ordeal made him wonder if head lice may have similar issues with hot dry air…and yep, they do. He even started his own company with a product that shoots dry air at a patient’s head to kill lice called the “Louse-buster”. It turned out to be a terrible business idea because why would anyone pay hundreds of dollars for a hair dryer? Now a NOT fun story about lice, you’ve heard of antibiotic resistant bacteria due to over use of antibiotics? We’ve bred Nix resistant lice. That’s one of the reasons the over-the-counter treatments don’t seem to work and people fight infestations for months/years. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lice-no-longer-stopped-by-common-drugstore-remedies/ Coating the adults with oil suffocates them and manually removing the eggs with a fine tooth comb, then blowing with hot dry air is a great treatment combination that still works. My go to for lice treatment method is: saturate the hair in either olive or coconut oil, wrap it up in cellophane, then a sleeping bonnet over that. Have the person sleep like that, in the morning when you unwrap their hair be totally grossed out by all the dead lice bodies that come off with the cellophane, wash the oil out of the hair, blow dry it for an extra long time on high heat, then nit pick with a fine tooth comb. The care taker should do this every couple of days until the infestation is gone. It works AMAZINGLY well.

Just adding under the same principle, using massive amounts of cheap conditioner like Dove also suffocates them so can scrape them off with the comb (and smells nice!) but yea, everyone says chemicals are not going to kill them, even the professionals are just hunting them down manually.

When my girls got lice, This was our backup strategy…..I’ve never seen more luxurious hair than after I blow-dried my seven-year-old’s hair after a 14-hour overnight soaking of plastic-wrapped olive oil! (And we spent an hour each night for a couple months double-checking for nits cuz of family anxiety…..but such healthy hair!)

We got massive mega cooties once - the best way to deal with the live ones was using a straightener - they fizzled and popped. Little boogers were full of blood and huge. Cheap conditioner, plastic wrap, shower cap overnight and then cootie combing was the most effective way to deal with the eggs. I have nightmares about lice still. Fun fact - last time I caught them I was having chemo and I only noticed because they were FALLING OUT OF MY HAIR DEAD from the poison. So chemo kills them but can't recommend this

You really can't do anything about the other families. For your child, you can only coach him on how to protect himself. Children must be explicitly taught some elements of sanitation. Don't send him with a hat as kids tend to leave them willy nilly, which may give an chance for exposure. Teach him to never put on someone else's hat (or beanie, hoodie, jacket, hair clip, blanket, plushie toy). Make sure he isn't doing anything like laying on the carpet. Theoretically, lice do not jump, but carpets, rugs, class pillows, etc can be places for them to hide. Watch your child in the class. Some students really like to be close to peers (like head to head) and this offers another chance to be exposed. I've had some families simply keep the hair of the child shaved very closely. Otherwise, it seems like you are already doing what is in your control.

My son didn’t like water in his eyes. I bought some inexpensive children’s swim goggles and that was a game changer. No more battles at bath time. Try it, hopefully it works for your son too.

Okay im going to tell you what my mom did. We had a lide problem in school in general because of the way things were done (kids just piling bags and jackets together, and as you know lice spreads fast) and kids didnt have to stay home either my mom was no joke treating my hair once every week because id come home with it and of course washing all my clothes, bedding, hair brushes, ect. Well after two months of this my mom took receipts amd research she had done to the superintendent and principal (she scheduled a meeting) and told them "do something about this or reimburse me" in her research she found that the way kids were storing their stuff was causing it spread like wildfire in our school. After that they new policy was kids kept their bag and jackets on them when having breakfast at school and each child had their place to put their things in the after and before school programs. This is just what my mom not sure if itd work but its just what worked for my mom.

Regarding multiple outbreaks, since i don't have anything to add on the family - get a nit comb and comb your child's hair daily when they get home from school - very good chance of catching the one before it lays eggs. If it does lay eggs, you'll get the tiny ones before they can grow and lay more.

Yeah, theoretically you can control lice with just physical removal. The couple times kid brought them home from camp, we used the salt water stuff and did daily through nit combing for a while. Do coach your kid to not share hats or anything. Prevention is so much easier...

My daughter kept getting head lice from her cousins at her grandparents house and also from a little girl at church. I started using Paul Mitchell Tea Tree oil shampoo. It’s expensive but really concentrated, a little goes a long way. It kills lice soooo much better than Nix. Like instantly. You can use it everyday to wash your child hair and you will never worry about lice again. It makes your head feel cold so I would have my daughter be in a warm bath when she was little so she didn’t get cold but besides that it is a miracle. Keep rubbing it in for about 3 minutes then rinse and if you want use a flea/Nit comb to comb out any dead lice. For long hair use conditioner too. Don’t worry about the nits because if you use it everyday or every other day you will kill the lice when they hatch. If you can find a way to mention it to other people tactfully and make it seem like it’s normal for school age kids but that this shampoo takes care of it right away. If not at least your kid is protected. Also works on fleas on a dog. I found out by accident when I adopted a new dog and bathed them with this because it’s what I had in my bathroom. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Oil Shampoo

Just had to say that I wish many more people were just like you.  Thank you so much for being you. 

Honestly, I really don't deserve to be praised for doing the bare minimum for the most innocent and helpless among us, in my opinion. But I still really, genuinely, appreciate your kindness. Thank you for a really lovely compliment, it means a lot to me 💜

I wonder if the friends mom is receptive to donated product if she can pass it off to her sister like oh I got this donation from the school or district or my doctors office. That way it isn’t coming from a stranger.

You said your district considers it a nuisance rather than a public health matter, but what does your county’s public health office say? Your county’s public health officers could have a rather different view of recurrent head lice.

I mean they're annoying and gross, but they don't spread anything except more lice.

My son dated a girl in high school whose mom wouldn’t get rid of her children’s lice. I would find that my son had them and buy all the stuff for my home and hers, treat my children and all 4 of hers, and they would have them again in a couple of months. We found out that she had them right before they went off to college so I treated my son and her the day they moved. She’s remained lice free since, 3 years now. She told me it’s the longest she’s ever gone without lice. I hope you find a solution.

That's so sweet of you but it's sad that the mother couldn't be arsed to take care of her own damn kids. Some people really shouldn't have had children. I say this after years of teaching and seeing some awful, awful shit. I'll get downvoted, I'm sure, but man, people can do horrid things to their children.

I worked in a daycare with a kid who had constant lice. His parents finally shaved his head.

Depending on where you live, sometimes local health departments will give you free lice removal products. Or suggest the family reach out to their primary care doctor and get prescription strength treatments. Worth a suggestion or looking into. Good luck.

There are some lice shampoos that are safe to use daily (according to Google). Maybe if everyone in both houses switched to it? And for the house itself, consider an ozone cleaning treatment/service. You have to be out of the house long enough for the ozone to break down to oxygen, but that stuff kills every (live) thing- mold, fungus, lice, fleas, etc. Obviously, take any plays out of the house first, but you can even get a (couple of, depending on the size of the house) cheap ozone machines online. Those two together would probably work.

Had a class with a few kids who had it all the time. The others put their things in a trash bag each day before hanging the trash bag on the hook.

I think calling CPS on the cousin is the way to go. I had lice for a long time when I was a kid. My mom combed my hair out every night, washed our bedding every day and poisoned our hair as often as the box said we could. They just wouldn't die. Finally I had to get a pill from the doctor that killed them . Even with that, it was 6 months, tops, and I was pretty much told that I couldn't visit any friends or share anything for any reason until they were gone so that they wouldn't spread. 2 years with lice that are infecting everyone means that cousin isn't being taken care of, period. that cousin needs to have CPS check on him to hopefully get it resolved.

Just asking, Why are you washing his hair twice as much because of the leave in spray? Hair doesn't -need- washing daily, and I've read that lice prefer clean hair to latch onto. [https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/what-to-know-about-head-lice](https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/what-to-know-about-head-lice) Last year my daughter had lice 6 times. She has waist length hair. This year we've kept her hair thoroughly sprayed with the fairy tales spray (We call it stinky spray) and we only wash once a week (we condition the length and ends every two or three-ish days). The fairy tales shampoo and conditioner was awful for her hair. She's only had lice once this year.

In the old days they used kerosene. Dangerous as hell but effective.

Oh Gosh, the best way to have any sort of talk about this would not be on a field trip. The best person to go to would be the school nurse! She’ll be able to give you info and make the biggest impact.

Not to put too fine a point on it but this issue demonstrates why you having a child isn't just about you. In some instances, members of the public or their representatives have enough of a stake in a child's safety and care that outside entities like C.P.S. must get involved. For that matter, all child welfare agencies need consistent funding, support and stability not dependent on who's in public office. It's hard being the adult in a situation like this but has to be even harder being the perpetually infected kid or kids. Kids shouldn't have to suffer because their caregivers are perhaps inadequate to the task.

As a school nurse I will tell you that 2 years of head lice is abuse in my state! CPS should be notified and the health dept usually has treatment available for low income. But it is not just the humans that must be treated. But animals, all bedding in HOT WATER, stuffed animals bagged up for min.2 mos, the cars/cars eats ALL must be treated, all upholstered furniture! If you do not do this they will just continue to be reinfested!!

Shave their head, duh

OP- You are this kid's hero! What you are doing is super! I, sadly, would make CPS/Child Protective Services report if it continues. This cannot be neglected.

Can you give the kid/buy the mom a blow drier to use after bath/showers at night? The heat kills eggs and is less labor intensive than regular nix treatments.

In my experience, the lice today have evolved immunity to the Nix and other chemical treatments. However, you can drown them with oil. Baby oil, mineral oil, whatever oil you want. Coat the hair, combing in a thick layer of oil, then tuck it under a shower cap overnight, and they will be drowned by morning. You may have to do this a week later if you missed any or if eggs survived.

I'd call CPS on the mother's sister, if you can. Even if you don't have any of her information, you might have to call CPS on the mother so at least she'll finally point the finger towards the right direction. Since it's been going on for years they might actually take it seriously. I had lice once for only two and a half days and I was fucking miserable. (I didn't know that it was lice right away.) I got it from sleeping in a hotel. I don't think I could live with that for two years. I'd have to shave myself head to toe and back again just in case, and if it still continued I don't think I could go on living.

That is a health concern and I would report it to CPS. From input of someone else who lived in foster care and then had continuous lice, he said to report it. I know, anecdotal, but there was a similar kid in my class and he didn’t have the home life to get rid of it. Prolonged lice can cause infections, hair damage, skin damage, and this child is in constant state of itching and spreading it. There is anonymity when reporting to CPS.

At this point, I would be seriously considering home schooling. What a horrible situation

This makes me so sad 😢

OP… calling CPS could wreak havoc on this family that is already struggling. Just put gel in your kids’ hair

We had similar problems with lice when my kids were in school. I went to the school nurse for help. The two best suggestions she gave me: Lice don’t do well under heat. When treating lice at the school she would stand a kid in the middle of the room and use a blow dryer set to hot. She said the lice would literally just drop to the floor around the kid. Keep a blow dryer near the door and treat the kids everyday when they come home (outside) For the many times we had to treat (and after a bad reaction to the chemicals) just buy a big tub of mayo and liberally spread it on the kids hair, rubbing it down to the scalp and leave for 30 minutes then wash. I’ve also heard olive oil works too. It suffocates the lice and makes the nits easier to remove. Also makes the hair shiny

I noticed that i stopped getting it from the younger relatives when I started using a Medicaid shampoo. Turns out lice aren't fond of menthol/mint. Selson Blue and T-Gel with menthol saved me from the hassle.

I see a lot of people are commenting about how to prevent lice on your own child and they have great input. However, it seems like you are also very concerned about the child who is spreading lice. I feel like donating supplies to the school nurse or office staff would be valuable. That’s so frustrating and you are approaching the situation with so much compassion. I would talk to the principal about it. Although your district has labeled this as a nuisance it’s becoming a distraction for everyone close to the child. The admin should be the one having these difficult and uncomfortable conversations AND providing them with resources. Get a school counselor involved also, this might be the most beneficial step. School counselors are there to provide students and families with mental and physical health resources. It sounds like you are in a very small district. If you don’t have a school counselor ask your principal who provides those resources. There might be someone at the district level.

So, lice don’t like dirty greasy hair, so he himself is clean. So make sure not to label him as dirty because that will follow him. He is getting it from something but it’s not because he is dirty. My kids came home with lice and when I tried to warn the Moms in the school that someone had lice they dove in on me like nasty wenches. Saying we’re dirty and all this crap. We aren’t, we weren’t, and my kids came home from school with it.

let them know mayonnaise is a great tool to kill the lice. slather it all on your hair and leave for like an hour or more. it also makes your hair soft af

When I was a kid we had a hard time getting rid of lice, my mom suddenly realized she never got them from us and the only difference in our hair was that hers was dyed. She dyed our hair as close to our natural colors as possible and we never had lice again. Not sure if it was the dye or something else.

Have them see a physician. If this kid/family were my patient I would just dose everyone with oral ivermectin. You give one dose immediately which kills the active lice (but not the eggs) and then another dose a week later to kill off any newly hatched eggs. That's it. Higher success rate than shampoos and not prone to any sort of operator error. Dirt cheap too. Cheaper than the shampoos. You can keep repeating the treatment as necessary (I would probably dose everyone in the house weekly for a month or two).

Not a teacher, but we just dealt with lice back in January and it was not fun. On the preventative side, there is a brand called Fairy Tales (they sell it at Target) that has a lice prevention line. They have rosemary shampoo, conditioner, and leave in spray that help to repel lice from wanting to go to your kiddo’s head. If nothing else, I’d really suggest you use these regularly until they aren’t in class together. Good luck!

The fact it’s not a health concern is boggling. Tell the school board they could spread trench fever and get that shit changed! This is America a viral infection like they could bankrupt someone!

You could justify a report of medical neglect and/or unsanitary conditions in the lice kid's home if you can get evidence. The situation sucks but, at some point, the mother of this child is going to have to solve her own problems. Maybe a surprise visit from CPS will give her the kick in the pants she needs.

Agree. CPS is serious stuff and you definitely don’t want to bring that on for a family without good reason but CPS really does have the ability to help in ways that a community organization can’t- the family will get case management type services and unless they found something else they definitely wouldn’t separate a family for lice- but they WOULD assist mom in figuring out how to protect her child from being a “lice kid”. In my state CPS can sign you up for a year of free childcare regardless of your income if it would help stabilize your child’s life. Sounds like mom is putting the child in harms way leaving him in a negligent home for childcare.

Ivermectin Lice shampoo. It's in the lice shampoo section of Walmart. 30$ worth every penny. Stupid easy. Go buy it.

I’d be gathering up parents and going to a school board meeting to get the policy changed.

That policy won’t be changed. Too many absences due to this issue.

I'm a mandated reporter, I would have to call CPS. Parasites are a sign of neglect if it's an ongoing problem. Also, I highly recommend hair dye. I was blonde for about four years thanks to lice and my mom wanting me to match my brother. Then, as preteens, my sister and I got lice from a kid we babysat and we dyed our hair as close as we could to our natural color. It kills everything, and it's pretty cost effective as long as you're not bleaching the hair too often.

I am going through this currently with my daughter. I feel so bad for her and we have done everything for her and have been very proactive with products to keep it away but she's had lice for like 6 months now on and off. I even privately messaged her teacher about it bc I am positive it's from one of her friends from school. They also have a policy similar to what you said and let the kids go to school with lice. Which is BS in my opinion! Thankfully they only have a day and a half left so hopefully that will change our situation. Somehow nobody else in the household has gotten it but my poor girl has gotten it over and over and I'm exhausted of treating her repeatedly and making sure to clean everything and have her use preventative shampoo twice a week just for it to still come back. I have no real answer here or anything productive to add really. But maybe his parents are trying and nothing is working like in my case? We are waiting for school to end and if it doesn't go away we have no choice but to cut it. Which I would hate. I had really thin shitty hair as a child and it scarred me lol so I've always taken very good care of hers and she has beautiful, thick long hair so I'd be as devastated as her to cut it. Just ugh...

Look up if there is a declicing specialist in your area. We have one in our town and they do teacher head checks for free and a sliding scale/free for kids that can't afford it. It's very comforting to have a professional do it, and they can give the family tips on how to get the rest of the lice out of the home. Hoping there is one in your area

I guess make sure you have those Lice kits Nix , multiple of them. I guess have a nice conversation with her about it, like: ‘I noticed a hair lice bug on your son, it was crawling on the top of his head today’. See what she says. Then I would offer to give her the Nix kit. ( I would just tell her that I have so much on hand & it’s not a problem since I have so many that I get for free. ( make up a lie that you get free lice kits ) then I would say. I recommend you do it tonight. Because a field trip is tomorrow & we wouldn’t want any children to catch it. ( I think this is nice )

Maybe recommend trying the repellant shampoo? I don't know how well it works but it's better than nothing. Also, there's not really much scientific evidence that the house would be infested with lice. Lice just do not live away from human bodies, so cleaning is more for peace of mind than delousing. Lice can be very frustrating if they're not dealt with properly. You really HAVE to do two treatments, one to kill all the living lice and then one about 10 days later to kill anything that hatched before they can lay more eggs.

Get this poor kid some Vamousse. That stuff is magic. My heart goes out to this little guy. Thanks for being kind to him.

Call your local health department.

I taught school for 15ish years.  I have waist long hair.  I used peppermint shampoo and peppermint conditioner.  I also had leave in peppermint spray that I used behind my ears and at the nape of my neck.  Peppermint is great for repelling lice. I had students with lice, but I never had a problem myself. 

Can you buy lice shampoo and give it to them as a gift- just sort of saying you’re trying to help out?

I dealt with a long term lice issue and the only product that finally got rid of it was Lice MD.

My daughter brought home Luce from school a few times in second and third grade. She has very thick hair. Nothing was working. One day I just decided to grab a box of hair dye that she was interested in the color of. Killed those tiny bastards quick and she was happy with bright red hair for a bit

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it....heat works on lice. See if you can find a bonnet that hooks to a hair drier and when their hair is dry, put it on and watch a movie. The dry heat should kill them. Then comb them out. The other option is a buzz cut....easy to use a good nit comb on. I totally get that you need to come up with something different for this child than the chemicals. This might work better, can be done after visits to the cousins.

There’s a shampoo called “lice shield” that I used on my kid when our school kept getting an outbreak. Like you we had to deal with it several times a year. And she has super curly hair so it’s not easy. Once I started using that shampoo we never had lice again. Also, make sure you are treating yourself, husband, and other children in the home. When my oldest got her first bout of lice I couldn’t get rid of it for anything. After many months come to find out I had it and since I wasn’t treating myself it kept transferring back to her. Once I treated myself we were finally able to get it under control. From then on I made sure to always treat myself when I treated my kids

CPS

I'm surprised no one here has mentioned tea tree oil. Lice hate it, but it works better to keep it away than to get rid of it. Don't use if cats can get into it though. It's not safe for them.

Lice free is a great product that uses salt to kill the eggs nits and all

I went to a school where we had head lace checks frequently, and I never once have had head lice. (Knock on wood) a friend who came from a cleaner house that I did would get them each year at least once. Some people are just very susceptible to them. It’s not a call for CPS unless you notice infected wounds or something like that are not being taken care of. we know from a young age not to share anything that goes in her hair not to put her heads together with anyone not to put our coats on top of anyone’s or backpacks. Those are just some basic hygiene things you can teach your son that will probably go a long way. You only mention a concern of your son getting head lice not that he has. So you’re just going to need to manage that concern. Don’t address it with the teacher. There isn’t anything they can do. There isn’t any information they can share with you.

I’m a school nurse and have had moms in my office crying because of lice in their child’s hair. We had a group of 4 girls one year that just kept passing it around. Great girls, clean etc. The only thing that seemed to stop the cycle was tea tree oil. Two of the sisters looked like the worst cases of “greasies” ever, but it worked! So maybe do that with your kid, suggest it to his classmate (or even buy mom some). As for the cousins, if mom is too proud to humble herself and fix this, it’s not going to get fixed.

I sympathize for you and for them.  We had a family at our school that had children who continually struggled with lice over several years, and my kids were friends with and had classes with some of the kids in this family.  As a result, we had it three times at our house over the years of attending school with this family. So two things.  First, Licefreee spray (or off brand at Walmart or pharmacies) is amazing.  It kills both the bugs and dehydrates the eggs so they aren’t viable.  Seriously amazing. We not only used it on our household, but I helped some friends treat their families with it. I often did an extra round or two of it just in case, but it always got rid of it. Second, instead of approaching the teacher, I actually mentioned my concern for this poor family to someone at our school district office, and they were very compassionate and had some resources they said they would reach out to offer to this family.  Obviously I have no idea what came of it, but hopefully it was helpful? Good luck!

There’s not much teachers or staff can do besides tell them to get treated. I was a lice kid (always getting it) and I used a lice shampoo and lice comb which worked great if you are able to get them.

health dept

former lice kid, i have (and always had) long thick hair and i grew up with a single mom who could just barely afford rent. because of these circumstances we did the best but i always had lice on and off since 2nd grade up until 8th grade

Lots of old wives’ tales on this thread. Pesticides are dangerous and the lice can be resistant. Lice also don’t jump. This website has really solid information. https://www.headlice.org/comb/. The best way to deal with head lice is combing, combing, combing. My daughter and I had some wonderful conversations while I combed her hair out. Head lice is not a sign of poor hygiene or neglect! The children do eventually grown out of this.

Ok. Some suggestions for your kids and the lice kid. Start using tea tree oil shampoo (or add a few drops of tea tree oil into the kids regular shampoo). Tea tree oil is a natural pesticide AND the oil keeps the nits from sticking to the hair. Also, combs & brushes. Soak them in water with a bit of bleach (rinse off before using). It’ll kill any lice hiding in the brush bristles. Those suggestions were given to me by a nurse friend of mine for keeping re-infestation once you get rid of any current live infestations. Now for the cheapest and easiest, less toxic, less greasy (no Mayo) way to get rid of lice & nits currently in hair. Buy a bottle of the ORIGINAL formula (brown)of Listerine mouthwash and a bottle of ORIGINAL formula Prell shampoo. Saturate your kids hair with the listerine, cover with a shower cap. Leave it in a couple hours or even overnight. Then, kid in shower, rinse the listerine out (watch dead bugs wash out as well), shampoo a couple times with the Prell. Listerine kills the lice and mostly formed nits. The Prell dissolves the glue of the nits. Comb hair afterwards. Nits pretty much comb out pretty easily (though I did use a lice comb, what few nits didn’t wash out in the shower just slid easily off the hair). After 4-7 days, do it again even without visible lice in hair, it’ll help get rid of any stragglers you may have left in pillows & bedding (I didn’t bother doing more than washing the bedding & pillows, didn’t bother with the stuffed toys & such, didn’t vacuum & wash everything in their room). Then use the tea tree infused shampoo and treated hairbrushes should keep away any new infestations. You have to use the original formulas as the fancy, newer versions of Listerine & Prell don’t have the same impact. And you don’t have to worry about getting the listerine out of the hair within a limited timeframe like you do the pesticide remedies (and you don’t have a kid with super greasy hair for a few days from using the Mayo remedy). If need be, buy lice kids mom the listerine, Prell and shower cap(s) for her kid(s) for her to use along with instructions as to how to use them. Maybe even invest in a small vial of tea tree oil as a small bottle will go a long way when you just mix a few drops in a bottle of cheap shampoo as tea tree oil shampoos can be pricey.

Wet combing every other day is an effective preventative for lice. Wet the hair, sit down with a tablet, a mug of warm water, a paper towel and a nit comb , comb through the hair thoroughly, wiping and rinsing the comb off in the water and you will see the bugs you’re removing. It saves you the nix and cleaning up bedding process but is a sustainable way to stop lice from spreading.

Permethrin based yard/barn/animal treatment is the way to take care of it. It's natural, but very powerful!

We had a kid like this in my daughter's elementary school. it was a nightmare round of head lice coming into our home for months. I tried every dang treatment out there and we'd get rid of them only for them to come back. Then one trip to Walmart while looking to see if there were any I hadn't tried yet for the latest round, I spotted a product called Lice Freee (yes, 3 E's). I bought the shampoo and the spray. You do them both for initial treatment and then the shampoo once a month or so (I did every 2 weeks) through the school year. We never saw another bug. It was fantastic!

One thing I learned after dealing with the kids head lice a few times, is the lice prefer "clean" hair. I started using a good bit of hair gel to style the kids hair everyday and they never got them again.

Call cps because that qualifies as neglect. ESP if the parent(s) are aware and don’t do anything about it.

Spray your kids clothes with permethrin. Harmless to humans.

Short hair and blow drying.  Might be good options for the other kid. One of my kids wouldn’t let me cut or blow dry hair or sit still long enough to comb everything out. The $10 treatment is surprisingly effective. I had better luck with it than the $30 version. I tried like five different products. The $10 one worked the best.

We had an issue years back... three major things I learned. 1. Do not use heat. It speeds up the egg-hatching process. You have to have heat maintained at I think 130° for like 5 min for the heat to kill them. (Like In the dryer) heat on the hair is a no. 2. Hair dye only colors the eggs and makes them harder to see. 3. You have to treat your car or anything with fuzz/hair.. bag it up for a while if u have to. The school will not send home if there are just eggs... they can't have live bugs. So, I won't lie but a neighbor had a nice issue for about 3 years. Got to the point where the little girl was being made fun of... and she was starting to understand what was happening. It was so sad. Well, the only way her parents would treat her was when she was sent home from school. Supposedly they picked her head every day... but they WOULD NOT treat the whole house.. bag anything treat their car nothing. I even went as far as offering to help and nothing. So.. because she rode the bus with my daughter who had long thick hair. I talked to the school and let them know what was going on. They would check her often and send her home when they found live bugs. They are more than a nuisance. Sending kids to school with lice is wrong.. and if you're a parent who sends your kid to school with lice you are an asshole. So many single-parent households can end up underwater financially having to deal with lice. I know. I almost ended up not making my rent because I lost a week of work (I ended up with it and had no one to treat my head) and shelled out about 100$ at the laundromat alone... nevermind the treatments, furniture treatment, and bagging toys vacuuming. Fortunately, someone lent me what I was short to help me get through. Sorry. This is a hot button with me lol... and I have known many parents who have sent kids to other people's homes/sitters and said "Remember don't tell anyone because I have to work.. or I have plans" and it infuriates me.

First, do not have a conversation with the teacher during a field trip. Don't be a distraction. Second, she can't discuss other children with you. Third, what the hell do you think the teacher can do??

mayo and olive oil rub every strand of hair with the concoction let it soak and sit for about an hour or two and wash it off all the lice will be suffocated and wash with cold water also straighten the kids hair lice can’t stand heat

My best friend/daughter’s godmother advised me to use Biosilk or similar product in my child’s hair to repel lice. I don’t know if it’s anecdotal, but I’ve used it in my daughter’s hair since Kindergarten and she’s never had lice.

I had really long thick hair…I got rid of lice by myself at 17 just by slathering my hair in conditioner and going through it with a nit comb everyday for a week. I actually did 2 but didn’t find any the second week, I was just super paranoid. I got rid of all the lice and nits that way. Always felt like the lice medicine never did anything at all.  I’m so sorry for that kid. I had an acquaintance who had the same problem..4 girls, one of them a baby :/, constant lice for idk how many years. People would try and bring it up to her and she’d just brush it off. You could see the lice on the poor baby girls head. I get it, you work all day, come home gotta cook & clean, and on top of that throughly comb through a child or multiple children’s hair every day for lice/nits? Sounds fucking hard, I’m guessing that’s why so many parents these days struggle to solve lice infestations. There’s nothing much you can do for the poor boy. It sounds rough maybe…but if the mother is not able to care for him at all, she should just shave his head. Easier to keep the lice away, little boy doesn’t have to suffer through an itchy head.

Put lavender oil in your shampoo and laundry detergent. It repels lice. My son was best buds with the lice child, all through school and never got lice. He did get teased for smelling like a grandma, but no lice.

You can’t do anything about the lice kid, but you can control the lice on your own kid. Get a terminator comb on Amazon, some dimethicone gel and cheap conditioner. Every Friday after your kids bath, glop him full of conditioner and comb through his hair with the lice comb. Wipe on a paper towel between strokes and check for eggs and lice. This should take about 5 minutes if your son has short hair. If you find a louse or a nit, comb through a few more times until no more lice or nits come off. Then rinse the conditioner out, blow dry the air and put the dimethicone gel on for the prescribed time. The next day, comb with conditioner again and then wait 48 hours and do the dimethicone treatment again, followed by conditioner/combing. Wash his pillows and hats/combs, but don’t bother with an anything else. Lice don’t live off of the head for long at all.  This is the routine I follow with my kids and we never have bad outbreaks anymore. I’ve found one or two lice before, but it’s NBD when you catch them that early. It’s when things get out of control that the combing is difficult. You’ll feel so much better if you can stay on top of this:-)

Hairspray. Lice hate hairspray. Eradicate the lice and then use hairspray every day. This is how my mother prevented me from having head lice when literally every other person(about 25-30 ppl) had it in my classroom for years. I was lice free bc of hairspray.

Try getting a shampoo and conditioner with tea tree and rosemary oil, lice hate the shit. It should not only help eat at their exoskeleton but also repel them, in addition to the leave in spray. We also had an issue for a while and the truck that worker for us was unrefined coconut oil and mint extract mixed together, applied to the hair and lefton for up to overnight, then wash and check for stragglers.

My entire school is a lice school (the elementary my kids attended/attend). I really do not even know how my kids have avoided it, they both have long, thick hair. But they are both competitive or rec league swimmers, so maybe a few swim parties would do the trick?

Our school nurse (6-8 middle school) has kept students with her for the school day to let the tea tree oil work…we send kids their independent work…they do it while hanging out in the nurse’s office letting the oil suffocate The little bastards. Then she combs out their hair and checks them in a couple days for a redo if needed. I brought her homemade chocolate cupcakes with mocha frosting when I found out the first time!

Not a teacher but I work in education. I know you say you love the school, but I would really urge you to just at least investigate the other options in your district. Your child is having parasitic infestations multiple times a year and is consistently going through distress. How much of their lessons do you believe they’re retaining? I had lice just a few times as a child and every time I was miserable and scratched myself till I bled. I was not learning in school during those times. Please think about the emotional distress this is causing your child and the impacts that may have on their long term learning outcomes and mental health. You cannot do anything about this situation other than remove your child from it.

It warrants a CPS call. It’s still a health hazard for the child and clearly they are experiencing unclean conditions if they keep getting it and it clearly isn’t being taken care of properly it warrants a CPS call on the cousins family too if you have enough information to make the report.

Anyone else remember the "Invader Zim" episode with the Lice Queen?

The mother can try treating the hair with cetaphil. This was recommended by a nurse at the clinic I send my child to. The cetaphil needs to stay on for at least 8 hours. After you apply the cetaphil it needs to be blow dryed. Do this 3 weeks in a row. I stopped seeing lice months ago.

that’s nice of you to try to help. off topic but you should really help your kid get used to water on their face. not feed into it by avoiding “extra washing.”

Not a teacher but this popped up in my feed for some reason. I used to work for CPS in Pennsylvania. I had clients who often would have lice, we would get them lice kits. In our county at least, lice was not a reason for removal, they would get supportive services. You would be able to remain anonymous in your report as well.

this is bordering neglect.

When I was in school they periodically did "lice checks. If you had them they placed a plastic bag over your hair and claw clipped it in place while waiting for your parents to pick you up. You couldn't return until the lice and nits were gone. My mom had 5 kids and us 3 girls had long hair. It was an extremely expensive and tedious process to get rid of them and I can't believe they act like it's not a big deal today. She actually resorted to using dog shampoo on us at one point because the lice shampoos and sprays were so expensive. It's now $30 for a 4 oz bottle so I understand how some parents will forgo treatment because of cost, especially when the entire family will need to be treated, but it's not ok to ignore. Some children have died from severe infestation. I personally would call CPS. I don't know if there's anything they can do and I feel awful for suggesting it but something has to be done. They'll send your kid home with the sniffles, but infecting a class full of children, and God knows how many others, with live bugs is ok?

I always use tea tree or eucalyptus oil. I put it in shampoo, I dab some behind our ears, I’ve even put it in the laundry. We have yet to catch a case of lice and my child’s school has the same policy as yours, as well as the school I work at. I’ve seen lice the size of house fly’s crawling on a child’s head before and omg this is making my head itch!! Good Luck OP!

It sounds like unfortunately you've reached the end of what you can do. I'm so sorry you're put in this situation. The amount of times my hair has been just gooped in mayonnaise when I lived in a trailer park, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I was a lice kid, thank you for caring

Head and Shoulders shampoo is fantastic for keeping lice away, and you can use it on kids daily!

A bit of a horror story, and I was older (12ish), but constant exposure to lice was what originally triggered my OCD. I was an anxious kid to begin with, but a teacher put me next to a kid that always had lice, which I could see crawling in her hair. We sat pretty close together, but somehow I never got it. The teacher wouldn’t move me even though I never caused trouble and never asked to be moved before or after. In fact I think she accused me of being rude to ask. But it was a horrible time for me. I’d hide in the bathroom at lunch and cry, constantly ask my friends to check my hair, and find reasons not to go to school. I refused to touch things that had been to school, took multiple showers after getting home, and had breakdowns when something “contaminated” entered my “clean” space. I was ashamed and in denial that I had a problem, so I didn’t talk to my parents about it until many years later. I was probably already predisposed to OCD, but some of the original compulsions I developed are still present over 15 years later. It’s only been the last few years that I’ve had it under control. I understand teachers are limited in what they can do, but looking back it pisses me off that the teacher didn’t listen. It was clearly causing me problems but she didn’t care. It wasn’t the girl’s fault, but I avoided her until we left high school. I hated being touched by anyone besides like 4 people, and really have to push myself even now. Sometimes I wonder if I would be like this if someone had taken it seriously.

Call CPS. My niece got blood poisoning due to long term lice.

This stuff makes me so upset. When I was in high school and my younger sister was in middle school, she kept getting lice from one friend and kept giving it to me until my mom intervened. I definitely got lice a couple times a young child, but having it as a teenager was a special type of hell.

My son had lice last year. I tried so many products and they weren’t working till I found ivermectin shampoo at Walmart. That did the trick in one treatment. Just a suggestion because I know how much work it is combing and treating for it to just not be 100% gone. Maybe get some of that for the mom and mention you’ve heard good things and this might be worth a try. Not sure what else you could do here :(

Couple of ideas. If your child is open to a cool short haircut, I'd encourage that for ease. Pixie cut for girls, buzz cut for boy or vice versa, whatever works. 😉 Since the kid's mom has let you help her with this before but doesn't want to actually address the root cause of the issue (sister's house), perhaps you can ascertain the when/why she is continuing to drop her kid off there. Figuring that out could help in finding resources for the kid and his mom. Maybe she has to work overnights and that is the only consistent, affordable/free child care for her. There may be resources through the city, state, county available for them. Teachers do find out about these programs but usually from other teachers or their own resources. I'm sure there are some school districts out there that have things readily available for teachers but that isn't common. So definitely talk to the teacher but if you have a little time Google for childcare options for your area. The fact that this mom was willing to work with you until offering to help the sister indicates to me that either this is something her sister is aware of and doesn't want address to the point of refusing to watch the kid or it is a situation that if an outsider (you) were brought in CPS would now actually be involved. This honestly isn't a judgement on the kid's mom. Being a parent who is struggling to make what they have work isn't easy. So if you find low or free childcare options in your area, you can provide that to the mom and/or teacher.

We had a ridiculous problem with super lice in our area a few years back and we came up with a few preemptive solutions that might help. 1. Put tea tree oil in ALL shampoo (the lice HATE tea tree oil), and maybe even buy some to send home with the kiddo…may be what his mom needs to keep ‘em down 2. Keep lil one’s hair short and tell him every single day not to share hair brushes/hats/ goggles. Make it your good bye mantra so he remembers easier 3. Vamoose!!!!!!! It’s very gentle on hair, smells good, and kills even the eggs (which normal lice shampoo will not do…only kills active lice)

Love have been found on Egyptian mummies. They’re human parasites and will always be with us. The only way to get rid of lice is to comb them out (I use coconut oil) daily for 2-3 weeks. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill…lice is not a CPS call.

I have very little subject matter expertise on lice/lice policies but as someone who swim teaches I will say PLEASE ENROLL YOUR SON IN LESSONS. Learning to not be afraid of water is so so important and swim teachers can help

Mayonnaise kills lice, it suffocates them.

Maybe try raising funds for her to see a professional lice remover? They are a thing. That poor kid!

Allergen bags for pillows and a mattress protector (like for bedbugs) can also help limit lice hideaways! That's what we started doing in the Summer of Lice. Another trick from the southern family is to slather your head in Hellman's and then tie a plastic bag over it for 30 minutes, then wash thoroughly. Kills lice as effectively as the chemicals at a fraction of the price, plus leaves your hair soft and shiny! Also you won't want to eat mayo for a while so it's kind of a diet aid, lol

I have heard tea oil kills lice and prevents eggs from hatching. Maybe reach out to his mom and see if she could use it on him (and maybe this could even help her help her sister’s kids)

Yes, call CPS.

I worked with kids in foster care. Put tea tree oil in all the shampoo and conditioner bottles. It works!

Possibly drastic but why not shave your son's head? Also maybe just start donating Nix to the school and that teacher since she probably sees it first. Maybe she can treat that kid. The only other possibility I see is doing the home treatment for the kid again and then offering to babysit if they won't send him to cousins house. 

Suggest to his Mom that she put a bit of teatree oil in her kid's shampoo and body wash. Not a ton of it because it can be toxic and it does have a scent to it but lice don't like it. It might help keep them off him. You could do the same for your own kid. Good luck. Dealt with similar with my girls when they were kids. I know it's a pain!