Head lice from school: how to get rid of them in a week without chemicals

Every school year, in almost every school in Spain and Portugal, the same note arrives: there are lice in class. It is not about hygiene: lice prefer clean hair and pass from child to child by direct contact. What decides whether the problem lasts a week or three months is the method.

First: confirm

Check in good light behind the ears and at the nape. Lice are grey or brown and move; nits are whitish dots stuck to the hair less than a centimetre from the scalp that do not blow away (dandruff does).

The 7-day protocol

• Day 1: dry, detangled hair. Run the electric comb strand by strand from the root; the sound changes when it catches a louse. Clean the comb with the small brush. Then a fine nit comb on damp hair to drag out the eggs.
• Days 2 to 7: repeat the electric comb daily, 10 minutes. Any remaining nits hatch during those days and the comb removes them before they lay eggs.
• Day 7: full check. Nothing found, you are done. Something found, repeat 3 more days.

Why no chemicals

Permethrin lotions are losing effectiveness because many lice are already resistant, and repeating them irritates children's scalps. The electric comb works by contact, can be used daily and serves the whole family year after year.

Check the whole family

Siblings, parents and grandparents who look after the children. The most common mistake is treating one child and having a sibling re-infest them.

The house

• Wash pillowcases, hats, scarves and towels from the last 2 days at 60 degrees.
• Combs and brushes: 10 minutes in very hot water.
• Anything that cannot be washed: a sealed bag for 48 hours.

No need to fumigate or wash the whole house.

So they do not come back

• Long hair tied up at school.
• No sharing hats, brushes or headphones.
• A quick pass with the electric comb every Sunday while the school notice is active.