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What to do if your kids come home with lice

Posted at 5:25 AM, Sep 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-06 05:26:36-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Now that school is back in session, there's more for you to worry about your child coming home with than homework.

Lice will not only come home with your child and spread to the rest of your family, but it will also keep your kids out of school.

“If you can't manipulate it off the hair strand and you have to pull it, and it feels like some salt or sand and you have to manipulate it off the hair strand, that's normally a sign of lice," said Ty Alleyne with Lickety Nit.

Here's where it gets tricky. Alleyne says just because you have lice eggs or nits, doesn't mean you have lice.

She says the only way to know is to see a medical professional.

"We want to make sure kids get back to school," Alleyne said. "That is our main concern: we want to make sure families are taken care of and kids are not missing school for something that we can help them take care of."

Most schools have a "no-nit policy." Parents have brought kids in who have failed classes - or even school - because they couldn't get rid of the lice.

Alleyne discussed ways to treat lice, including how some types of lice don't respond to conventional treatments.

“It's called 'super lice', and they can build a resistance to those products," Alleyne said. "You can treat and treat and treat, and we get a lot of parents who treat with those products, and they come in saying, 'We still have lice, can you help us?'"

Alleyne suggests an AirAllé treatment. "Lice can't build a resistance to this device because it is controlled heated air, it’s just heated air," Alleyne said.

After the 30-minute AirAllé treatment, the next step is to part the hair in four and take small sections to comb out. Ty says you can't use a regular comb, it won’t remove the nits or lice.

Alleyne also suggested possible causes of lice in children.

"Taking selfies, that’s one of the biggest things. Our middle school population I would say is one of the largest populations. Moms and middle schoolers, because they are huggy."

Finally, Alleyne said there is a lot of misconceptions about lice.

"You can be rich, you can be poor. What they don't like is dirty hair. They love clean hair. They survive in clean hair," Alleyne said.

Find more information about Lickety Nit here.