Kids bring all kinds of things home from school with them. Report cards, projects, books — and head lice. School season means lice season, and your kids might be at risk. Take a look at this article to find out how you can get rid of lice, and keep them out of your home for good.

 

If your child has been sent home from school with lice, there's no need for immediate panic. These wingless parasites will cause your child's head to itch, but they aren't dangerous and they can't spread any kind of disease. The one thing to watch out for is a possible bacterial infection. Children with sensitive scalps may develop a rash, while other children might not itch that much at all. If a small red rash appears on your child's head, it's a good idea to bring your child to a doctor. If a rash has occurred, your family doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics.

 

It's true that lice can't fly, but they can crawl. Lice have special claws that allow them to cling to piece of hair with amazing force. Sharing hats, hairbrushes, clothing, linens, towels, and any other personal item will help lice to climb from one person to another. Since children often play closely with one another (and share lots of things), lice are more apt to attack children than adults. The good news is that while lice can claw their way from one person to the next, they can't attach themselves to pets.

 

Lotion, cream rinse, or medicated shampoo can all be attained by visiting with your child's family doctor. While some over-the-counter remedies do exist, it's best to speak with a medical expert. This way, the type of lice infestation that your child is dealing with can be eradicated right away. Once you have obtained the proper treatment, it's important that you follow a product's directions carefully. Most lice treatments are nothing short of insecticides, which means that overusing a product can cause serious irritation. But, don't worry — all of these products are easy to use.

 

Following a medicated treatment, it is wise to remove any remaining lice by hand. This is also true if the affected child is less than two years of age. Hand removal should be done every day for four to six weeks following initial treatment. Go through all of these steps to remove lice by hand:

Lice die almost immediately after being removed from hair, so there's no need to worry about fallen lice crawling around. Still, you may want to discard the towel that you have used, or wash it directly after you remove lice.

 

Unfortunately, lice can live inside of bed linens, towels, and other household items. This means that you will have to spend a day cleaning your home inside and out. Here are the things that you'll need to do to keep your home lice-free.

Since lice can crawl from person to person, all members of your family should wash their hair with medicated shampoo. To be on the safe side, it's also a good idea to comb through each family member's hair using the hand removal method mentioned above.

 

Sometimes we try so hard to protect our families that we wind up causing more harm than good. Lice are finicky creatures that may thrive off of your hard work. Here are some things to avoid at all costs:

To try to avoid lice in the future, teach every member of your family not to share hair care items with other people. Most of the time, lice is unavoidable. Still, it never hurts to share as much information about lice with your family as you can — sometimes, prevention is the best possible course of action!

 

This article was reprinted with permission. It originally appeared here on Networx.com.