Lice. The word itself strikes dread into the heart of any parent.

Lice are parasites that cling to the hair shaft near the scalp and feed on human blood. The adult lice lays up to 10 eggs or nits a day, and those nits hatch in about 10 days, which then mature in just over a week and start the cycle all over again.

The thought of spider-like tiny bugs crawling around and laying eggs in your hair and your child's hair is horrific. And the elimination process and prevention of a new outbreak is often frustrating and exhausting.   

During the fall and winter when coats are frequently piled up together in classrooms and younger kids sit close together in classroom, lice outbreaks are common in many Eastside schools. But lice outbreaks also can happen any time of year and not always at schools. Lice outbreaks can also happen to kids who are members of sports teams and dance groups – any activity when kids may be close together and/or share helmets or apparel such as mesh scrimmage vests.

A doctor's advice

Getting lice often carries an unfortunate stigma based on false stereotypes on who gets lice. Dr. Steven Hall, MD has a family practice in the Tiger Mountain Center for Acupuncture office building in downtown Issaquah that combines both traditional and alternative medicine.

The father of four also has, as he puts it, “personal experience battling lice.” Getting lice, Hall said, has nothing to do with “housekeeping or hygiene.”

Lice can move from person to person, Hall said, and often travel on coats and in shared helmets and hats.

“Lice are smart and get around,” he said. 

Hall is not a fan of chemical scalp treatments for lice and points out that these treatments are an insecticide and that it appears many lice are building a resistance to some of the most common treatments. So, as he puts it, if you use a chemical treatment “you may be poisoning your kid for nothing."

As an alternative, but also more time-consuming, treatment, Hall has suffocated lice in his home by dousing a child’s head each night with an essential oil such as lavender oil,  and then tucking all the hair inside a shower cap. You need to do this every night for up to three weeks, Hall said, and at the same time practice “environmental control” to get rid of any unhatched eggs.

Unfortunately, the nits hang out on fabric waiting to hatch. Hall advises parents put all “stuffies” into a bag and toss them into a freezer for a month (that way when the nits hatch there is nothing for them to live on and they’ll die), then vacuum everything and wash blankets, bedding, coats and rugs in hot water.

Be mindful of the lice “life cycle” – you may have eliminated all the adults but could still have live nits. Continue checking every person in the family for lice for several weeks and while practicing  “environmental control,” Hall suggests.

Fighting lice with open communication

Heather MacMillian is a Bellevue mom of two kids under the age of eight who has successfully battled lice. Growing up, MacMillian was taught some of the false stereotypes about lice and is now an advocate of open communication.

She recalls calling her child’s whole sports team to announce her child had lice, to which parents responded gratefully as they did a lice check on their kids and found that several families on the team also had lice. MacMillian believes that communicating openly within schools, sports teams and other activities that kids participate in is one of the most effective ways of shutting down an outbreak.

“Lice thrive in secrecy,” she said.

MacMillian and her friends now have learned how to cross check each other’s children’s hair and are committed as a group to not pass on the stereotypes and stigma about lice to their kids.

“Kids learn from their parents what kind of attitude to have toward each other,” MacMillian said. “We have to remind ourselves of the end result — changing the stereotypes and (having) fewer outbreaks for our children.”

Woodinville mom Jenn Elder has also battled lice – four times. She says that she has become very proactive in her school community, advocating that kids “maintain personal space and try not to sit head to head,” and even successfully had the school remove some upholstered furniture that she suspected lice were hanging around on and using to move from kid to kid during outbreaks.

Elder said it can be embarrassing at first, but when your child gets lice, the right thing to do is to “contact every single person you’ve come into contact with.”

She has now become a “mentor mom” to parents in her school community who feel overwhelmed as they deal with the lice the first time.

“I tell them it is daunting at first, but you do become an expert and it is easier the next time," she said. "Remember, it is better than getting bed bugs.” 

Both MacMillian and Elder have enlisted the services of Nancy Gordon, owner of Lice Knowing You. Gordon is a mom of two and is known all over the Eastside for her effective, non-toxic lice battling services.

Lice Knowing You is the only trained and certified head lice removal expert in Washington state. Gordon and her team travels to clients' homes, or clients can come to one of her several lice treatment salons, including one on Mercer Island.

Gordon has this advice for parents facing their first outbreak: “Don’t panic, and don’t go crazy buying poisonous treatments. Lice is the second most common childhood ailment next to the common cold.  It should be treated and dealt with, but it is not life threatening.”

Future outbreaks can be prevented, Gordon says, but lice also just like some humans more than others. Regardless of your school policy, Gordon believes you should not send kids back to school until you are sure they are free of both the adult lice and the nit eggs.

“I believe a parent should treat head lice much like a cold or a flu," she said. "Don’t send your child to school with an active infestation. Make sure all live lice, nymphs and nits are out of the hair."