Winter Lice Prevention – Tips for Preventing a Winter Head Lice Infestation
Back to school time Part 2 — January is when kids come back from vacations to school and day care — usually coincides with another lice outbreak in many communities. This is partially because families exchange more than presents over the holidays. Close contact with family members near and far can cause an easy way to exchange lice.
Lice don’t jump. So, the problem is not that lice jump from the hair onto the coat or hat and jump back to the next wearer’s head. However, they do crawl from head to head during a close hug or selfie.
Lice can’t survive without two things: 1) warmth from the human body, and 2) human blood to feed on. Yucky, but true.
What can you do to prevent a case of winter lice? Here are a few recommendations.
- Tell your kids not to wear other people’s hats and hair accessories.
- Check your kids’ heads for lice once a week for the first month or so after school starts.
- Use lice prevention products. Lice Clinics of America has a full line of lice prevention products including shampoo, conditioner, and spray. The products attack a louse’s “olfactory” nerves. In other words, lice can’t stand the smell. The shampoo will smell pleasant to you and your child, but not to lice. Since lice move to new hosts primarily through head-to-head contact, they will avoid a head that smells like this shampoo.
- Talk to your friends. Silence about head lice is one of the critter’s best friends. People don’t like to talk about lice because of their unearned connection to poor hygiene. Don’t let that stop you. Tell your friends what you’re doing to prevent lice infestations, and encourage them to do the same. Anyone who has dealt with lice in the past will appreciate it!
If your kids do get lice, keep calm. It’s not the end of the world and our treatment makes it really easy to get rid of lice and eggs. Lice Clinics of America uses an exclusive FDA-cleared medical device that is clinically proven to kill live lice and 99.2 percent of eggs in just over an hour.
There are over 150 Lice Clinics of America clinics in the US with new clinics are opening every month. Find the closest clinic near you to get rid of lice now.