Raising Children

That means you don’t have to clean your house from top to bottom to prevent lice from spreading to other members of your family. Fleming recommends freezing your hairbrush for two hours, and Sederberg suggests washing bedding and clothing used in the past 12 to 24 hours in hot water and drying them thoroughly.

To back this up, Fleming cites a 1999 study by James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, which was repeated in 2005. Researchers looked at two child care centers and found 300 individual lice on the children. They then inspected 12 carpeted areas, 21 beds, 40 pillow cases, 50 dress-up items and more. Researchers found no lice on any of those items. Their findings suggest the chance of lice living off a person’s scalp is low.

Fleming said there’s a misconception that “lice season” is during the school year, but she said her business is busy in the summer, too. When lice are suspected in school, Duluth Public Schools follows a procedure based on guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its Health Services Offices checks the student. If lice are confirmed, a parent is called but the child is not automatically sent home.

Additional Head Lice Treatments

In addition to the nontoxic approach of The Lice Lounge, pesticides are available over-the-counter and by prescription. Some are more effective than others, and Natroba Topical Suspension and Sklice Lotion are popular choices. — MDT