Once you’ve dealt with lice, you’ll do just about anything to stop it from happening again. After dealing with 3 cases of lice in 10 months, we quickly learned which techniques did not work and which ones are actually helpful. Learn how to prevent lice during the school year and you’ll save yourself hours of trouble.
Step 1: Keep long hair tied back
The most effective thing you can do to prevent lice is to ensure your child’s hair is styled in a bun or tight braid every day of school. Flowing, wispy hair is easier to make hair-to-hair contact with another child which is the leading cause of lice contagion. By keeping hair tied back, you reduce the chance of accidental exposure.
Step 2: Use Fairy Tales lice prevention spray
We tried homemade tea tree oil concoctions and they failed. We tried another preventative spray from a local lice company, it failed. This Fairy Tales product has helped keep us lice free since we started using it. But, please note that NOTHING will prevent your child from getting lice if they have direct head-to-head contact with another child with an active infestation. The Fairy Tales lice prevention spray acts as a deterrent and will help decrease the likelihood of catching lice from less direct exposure. We spray the entire head, shoulders, and backpacks or coats every morning before school.
You can buy Fairy Tales lice prevention spray here.
Step 3: Use Vamousse lice prevention shampoo once a week
Vamousse daily shampoo has been shown to kill lice bugs in lab studies. If used once a week, it should continually break the life cycle of any lice infestations that might have snuck under your radar. It isn’t powerful enough to use for a full infestation. You’ll need treatments for that scenario. However, we use this as part of our lice prevention tool kit throughout the school year.
You can buy Vamousse lice prevention shampoo here.
Step 4: Be Vigilant
Daily checks of your child’s head will stop a lice infestation in it’s tracks. It is far easier to treat a lice infestation when there are just a few eggs. Every morning when combing your child’s head, take a peek at their scalp along the neckline, behind the ears, and around the crown of the head in particular.
If you’ve tried all the prevention techinques and you’ve still discovered your child indeed has an active case of lice, don’t panic. We are here to help you every step of the way. Our comprehensive book “Uninvited: a mom’s guide to killing lice” will review the entire lice removal process. You can read more about the book and get your copy right here.
