One Mom's War Against Head Lice

Ellen Swadley is a Licensed Practicing Nurse, but she didn't know how to get rid of the blood-sucking head lice that infested her daughter's hair. Ellen did know one thing: lice were an epidemic in her daughter's elementary school in Key Largo, Florida. As a second-grader, Ellen's daughter Francine had been infested 4 times, she had been infested 5 times as a third-grader, and now, as a fourth grader, she was infested again.

"I didn't know what to do," said Swadley. "We tried everything: Nix, Rid, even Mayonnaise. We could get rid of the lice temporarily, but they kept coming back."

"Francine was missing school because of the 'no-nit' policy, and she was falling behind in her work. Also, parents were telling kids not to play with other kids, friendships were ruined, and the school was in a panic. It seemed like every day they were finding lice on one or two kids in each class."

Even worse, Swadley believed that the chemicals in the head lice products she tried were damaging her daughter's health. Francine was asthmatic, and Ellen thought the lice products she was using were making her asthma worse. "I hated putting those chemicals on her head all the time," she said. Francine was getting headaches, stomach aches and asthma attacks.

After two years of almost constant infestation, Ellen Swadley was fed up. "I was so frustrated. I felt it the school wasn't living up to its responsibility to deal with the problem," recalls Swadley. She called school district Superintendent Michael Lanon to complain. "I told the Superintendent that I had done everything to get rid of the head lice, but they kept returning," said Swadley. The Superintendent had coincidentally been planning to allow a University of Miami entomologist Terri Meinking to conduct a test program using alternative lice treatments at another of the district's schools, but upon hearing Ellen's' story, decided to shift the program to Ellen's daughter's school.

"I know I was ready to try anything," says Ellen Swadley. "I was tearing my daughter's hair out trying to get rid of these bloodsucking pests."

At Lanon's suggestion, Swadley called Professor Meinking. Meinking explained that she had been interested in testing alternative lice treatments, and had developed a study to test the validity of home remedies such as olive oil and mayonnaise and compare them to the drug store brands Nix and HairClean 1-2-3. Meinking suggested Ellen become a volunteer and help execute the study.

"My personal experience with mayonnaise and Nix was negative," Swadley remembered. "But I was very excited and hopeful that this scientific approach might actually solve our school's lice problem."

Lice Immune to Standard Treatments

Meinking told Swadley that she wasn't surprised that Nix hadn't worked for Francine. Nix and Rid simply don't work as well as they once did, Meinking explained. Why? Some lice have developed resistance to the pyrethroids in these products. "The active ingredient in Nix is permethrin, and the active ingredient in Rid is pyrethrin," Meinking said. "They are chemically very similar, and we've found that if lice are resistant to one, they tend to be resistant to the other."

How did lice become immune to these treatments? Meinking explains: permethrin was introduced in the U.S. in 1989. This chemical is the synthetic version of an older lice product, pyrethrin, which is derived from chrysanthemums. The advantage of this new chemical was that it had a "residual" effect - even after it had been washed off of the hair it could repel and kill lice.

This "residual" effect is important because none of the "lice killer" products kill all of the eggs (or "nits"). As a result, any eggs that hatch create a new infestation. But Nix (the permethrin product) had a "residual effect" that would kill most of the baby lice as they hatched.

Unfortunately, this residual effect was not 100% effective. The result: soon only those few lice most resistant to the effects of permethrin survived and bred. Within a few years, some of these lice were resistant to full strength permethrin. "I've seen head lice running around in prescription strength permethrin - and it doesn't even slow them down. They were having it for lunch," reports Meinking.

Alternative Treatments to the Rescue: Pass the Mayonnaise?

"Unfortunately, head lice have become a fact of life for millions of school children," says Meinking. "Lice have developed resistance to certain products, and a frustrated parent will try anything to get rid of the lice so their children can get back to school. Some people try unsafe alternative remedies such as kerosene and veterinary products."

Swadley helped Meinking screen over 1000 students in Key Largo and Homestead for lice, and 53 were found to be infested.

These 53 were treated with mayonnaise, olive oil, Nix, or HairClean 1-2-3 Lice Remover, an alternative lice product made from essential plant oils. The mayonnaise and olive oil were found to be ineffective - live lice were discovered in the hair after overnight treatment.

HairClean 1-2-3 Lice Remover: the alternative that works

Meinking's study found that Nix was 89% effective at eliminating head lice after two treatments, one week apart. HairClean 1-2-3 Lice Remover was 98% effective.

"It's important to help people understand which treatments work, and which treatments are safe," says Meinking. "HairClean 1-2-3 has proven to be one of the best of the new, non-pesticide products I've studied."

HairClean 1-2-3 is one of a new wave of head lice treatments that rely on natural oils rather than chemical pesticides to get rid of lice. An Israeli physician developed the formula, and the product was studied for five years in Israel before being introduced in the U.S in 1998.

Other alternative lice products include Lice-Free, Lice Away, and Not Nice to Lice. All are touted as safe and natural - but for many parents the attraction of such alternative products is that they may work better than the established brands, especially on resistant strains of lice.

Ellen Swadley Wins the War on Head Lice

"I helped with the screenings and treatments in Terri Meinking's study," says Swadley. "When we applied the HairClean, the lice would run off of the kids' heads, squirm for a minute, and then die. I'm glad Terri was conducting that study, and I'm glad it was in the Key Largo schools."

"Once we put HairClean on the kids' heads, it was easier to see the nits and comb them out," continued Swadley. "Also, the HairClean was cosmetically superior to Nix. It made my daughter's hair shiny, and I felt good that it was a natural product."

"Now, lice infestations at the school do not occur nearly as frequently as they did before. Francine went from having 4 or 5 infestations a year, to the point where she has been lice free now for almost a year. As a nurse, I discovered that if the standard treatments aren't working, there's no point in reapplying them time after time after time. Look for an alternative. I did, and I tell everyone about it."

"We need more research on alternative products," says Teri Meinking. "Reapplying Nix on immune, resistant lice is like beating a dead horse."

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Head Lice Facts:

" Head lice are wingless, six-legged, highly specialized insects. They live only on human heads, and feed exclusively on human blood.
" Head lice can't jump or fly. Infestation occurs through direct contact with and infested person; through sharing hats, combs, or other items of clothing; or through contact with furniture.
" Lice must suck blood or die. Most lice die within 48 hours without a meal of human blood.
" Girls are infested more often than boys, kids more often than adults.
" Lice glue their nits (eggs) to shafts of hair. Pediculicides, which kill live lice, do not necessarily kill the nits.
" The easiest way to tell if someone has head lice is to spot the tiny, white or brown nits in his or her hair.
" Will good soap and water get rid of 'em? Hey! You already tried that! It didn't work.

How to Treat Your Family for Head Lice

1) Use a tested lice product. Follow directions. Repeat treatment after 7 days.
2) Comb nits out of hair with fine-toothed, metal nit comb.
3) Clean house. Wash bedding. Vacuum furniture. Wash or bag stuffed animals. Wash or bag all headgear - including hats, hairbrushes, bike helmets, etc. Vacuum car seats. ("Bagging" means to put in a plastic bag and either place in a freezer, or leave in bag for four days.)
4) Examine heads of all family members daily, and for one week after final treatment. treat anyone who is infested.
5) Advise school nurse or administrator, family and friends.
6) Don't reuse products that don't work. Lice may be resistant and health issues may arise. Switch to an alternative.