406. Lice explained: How to treat it, stop the spread, and skip the shame, from a registered nurse

Theresa (00:00):

So when we’re talking about little kids, it’s usually past head to head. They were hugging a friend or something like that. Their hair touched somebody else’s hair and that’s how life is usually passed. They don’t jump, they’re not hanging out on furniture, things like that. And that’s pretty contrary to popular belief.

Dr. Sarah Bren (00:23):

Did you just get that dreaded message from school? And now your child is scratching their head. You feel itchy all over and your mind is already racing with everything you need to do. If your child has lice, it can feel overwhelming, uncomfortable, and honestly just really stressful. And I know this firsthand because this summer, just two days before the start of the school year, I found out my child had been exposed to lice and I panicked. And that’s when I was frantically Googling what to do and I came across a resource called My Life Advice, which was created by a registered nurse who truly knew what she was talking about. And when I found there it didn’t just tell me what to do. It actually helped me calm down, feel more in control, and realize this was something I could handle. But what I didn’t expect was that it also helped me realize that I was feeling ashamed and that I really did not need to be. And so I knew I needed to get her on the podcast to help other moms, dads, and caregivers who were in the same spot as me.

(01:23):

Hi, I’m Dr. Sarah Bren. I’m a clinical psychologist, mom of two, and the host of Securely Attached. Each week, I sit down with leading experts in psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and child development to translate complex research into practical, grounded parenting insights that you can use to help you in your daily life. And this week, I’m joined by Theresa, a nurse and the founder of My Life’s Advice. Theresa has spent years helping families navigate life with clear evidence-based guidance and just as importantly, helping to remove the stigma and shame that so often comes with it. In this conversation, we’re going to talk about what life actually is, how it spreads, and the biggest myths that keep parents stuck in unnecessary stress. We walk through what actually works when it comes to treatment, what you can safely ignore, and how to know when you’re truly in the clear. But we also talk about the emotional side of this, how our own anxiety can shape the way our child experiences something like this, and how we can approach it in a way that keeps our kids and ourselves feeling safe, supported, and unashamed.

(02:29):

In parenthood, life is just one of the many curve balls that you can get thrown. It often seems like there are an endless amount of decisions, worries, challenges, and moments of uncertainty to navigate, but you don’t have to do it alone. I hope this podcast can be a trusted resource you can turn to. And if you want even more personalized guidance and support, I also want you to know about my group practice, Upshur Bren Psychology Group.

(02:54):

We support parents, children, and families in feeling more regulated, more connected, and more confident in the face of everyday challenges, just like this one. Whether you’re dealing with behavioral challenges, family transitions, anxiety, or simply trying to show up as the parent you want to be, we offer in- person and virtual therapy, as well as parent coaching to help you move through those moments with more clarity and confidence. If you’d like to learn more, you can schedule a free 30-minute consultation by clicking the link in the episode description wherever you’re streaming this podcast. Or visit upshurebren.com to learn more about how we can help you and your family. That’s U-P-S-H-U-R-B-R-E-N.com. All right. Now here’s my conversation with Theresa from My Lice Advice.

(03:38):

Hello, Theresa. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Theresa (03:49):

Thanks. I’m happy to be here.

Dr. Sarah Bren (03:52):

I’m really looking forward to this conversation, but I feel like we should probably say a tiny little trigger warning because it’s like we’re going to be talking about lice and that could be a little bit squeamish to people. And I do think it’s important that this episode, if you are squeamish, save this and come back to it when you need it because you might need it. And that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about today.

Theresa (04:18):

Right. I think that’s good. I mean, I am like a lice expert. I’m a nurse that’s kind of devoted theirselves to helping people with lice. And I will say, even if I just tell people what I do, because people ask, say, “Oh, and I help people with lice.” And it actually has a psychological effect on people. Probably people listening to this podcast right now, their head is starting to itch. And it’s not because they have lice. It’s just a totally psychosomatic thing. It’s extremely common. That’s what our brain does to us. So as we have this conversation, that might be happening to people, but lice is the kind of thing that I think the more we talk about it, the more we know about it, the more we’re empowered for it not to be something that’s so triggering, so overwhelming and so anxiety causing.

Dr. Sarah Bren (05:14):

Yeah. And that’s exactly why I was hoping that you would come on the show because I myself had an experience where my child had lice, I freaked out, I was panicking mostly because, I mean, for all the reasons that we’ll talk about today, but also because I had a time crunch issue because I found out the day before, the day before school started, and I was like, “I have to deal with this, like ASAP.” And I went online and I found you and your videos and I was immediately like, “Okay, one, now I know what to do. Cool. Definitely something I can actually handle and I didn’t know that I would be able to do this on my own, but I feel good and confident about that. ” But two, I felt so seen for all of the panic and anxiety and shame I was experiencing and I was like, “Oh man, that was profoundly important for me in that moment.” And I was just like, it made me realize it’d be really nice to have a conversation with you on this podcast and you were so gracious to come on because I just feel like that’s, I think that’s really the experience that so many parents have when their kid gets Lyce and spoiler alert.

(06:33):

If they haven’t already, they probably will at some point and it’s okay. And I felt that from your videos online, I was like, “Oh, thank God someone’s here to help me with this, not make me feel bad about it. “

Theresa (06:48):

And that’s so much of why I even, I mean, why I do what I do. I had gotten into, I mean, I’ve been a nurse now almost 20 years, but why I even got into this was to help people to reduce the shame, et cetera. I was helping individuals, I was working with government agencies, et cetera, but then when it comes to the online portion of it, there’s so much misinformation out there. There’s a lot of, I don’t know if fearmongering is the right word, but a lot of kind of care- There’s probably plenty of that. It’s the right word. And so the more and more knowledgeable I became about lice, the more passionate I got about being like, “How can we just empower parents here?” So it just started with me writing lots and lots of articles about it and then creating lots of videos about it.

(07:35):

And then eventually I decided to make a course for people that wanted to follow along for me. I mean, most everything on my site is free, but I do have a course like if somebody wants to follow along with me or have me be more of a coach. But the purpose of all of it was just to eliminate and put everything that with real research altogether, right? This is the real research. This isn’t just what somebody tried one time because that’s what you’ll find when you look up something, right? But to put all the research in one place, to eliminate the fear, to eliminate the shame, and then just to be somebody that cares, right? So it’s just like, let’s just talk mom to mom here or father or whoever is taking care of a kiddo in this situation and eliminate that shame. And so that’s kind of what I’ve been called to and what I’ve devoted my life to. So that’s what we’ll be doing today is more of that.

Dr. Sarah Bren (08:34):

I love that. I love that because it really, it takes someone with some real fortitude to dedicate their life to this. And I believe it is a legitimately critical mission. And if you didn’t do it, I don’t know that the void would be filled by all that many people. So I appreciate that a lot.

Theresa (08:56):

Thank you. Yes, it is a very unique calling, but somebody’s going to do it. And I do feel like in old times, in biblical times, whatever, you would have somebody with leprosy or you’d have something with whatever that kind of felt like this shunning. And that’s what I want to eliminate with lice. And so a lot of my mission is just like, “Hey, this is something that happens and now we’re going to deal with it and let’s eliminate all the shame and just like, here’s what to do. Let’s take care of it.

Dr. Sarah Bren (09:30):

” Yes. And like truthfully, I think one of the biggest things about this is the shame piece. So maybe we start there.

Theresa (09:40):

Yeah. I think really thinking about it, it’s bizarre that we think of head lice as if we did something wrong, but we don’t think of that with any other cold, any other virus because when our kids are young, they get all sorts of things that are contagious, but we don’t feel like that’s like a reflection on our cleanliness. We don’t feel like that’s a reflection on our parenting. And lice is just the same exact way. You just pick it up from somebody else. It has nothing to do with your cleanliness, nothing like that, but for some reason we feel like it’s a reflection on us as a parent and it’s just not. It’s just the exact same thing as picking up a cold, picking up the flu, whatever. And that’s the way we really should be thinking about it and changing that culture. Yeah.

Dr. Sarah Bren (10:29):

I wonder too, maybe this is a good time to like just bust some myths around what do we think is actually driving some of the shame and stigma around it that maybe actually is like completely unverified. There’s no validity to that at all.

Theresa (10:45):

Yeah. So I think the number one myth that I would want to debunk right off the bat is that it really is not a cleanliness thing at all. I mean, there’s even some stats that like the cleaner the hair, the more likely you are to get lice. So I mean, that’s so strange, but lice are just attracted more to certain people than other people. So again, sometimes people be like, “Oh, how is it that you’ve gotten lice more times?” But lice are just attracted to some people more than others, just like mosquitoes. So there’s certain like blood types, et cetera. So some people never get lice and then some people just, you know, they get it more often because they have that blood type and there’s nothing you could do. It doesn’t matter how much you wash your hair. Sometimes people will think, “Well, if you washed your hair enough that lice would fall out or something.” And it’s just, that’s not how it works.

(11:36):

You can clean your hair all day and night and that’s not how you get it. That’s not how you get rid of it. That’s not how you prevent it, et cetera. So it has nothing to do with cleanliness. That would be the first one. And then the other thing is it’s usually passed in the same kind of idea when we’re talking about cold and flu, it’s passed from person to person just by close contact. So people often are like, “I know I got it on the airplane that one day,” or whatever, but it’s usually passed from a close friend. So when we’re talking about little kids, it’s usually passed head to head. They were hugging a friend or something like that. Their hair touched somebody else’s hair and that’s how lice is usually passed. They don’t jump, they’re not hanging out on furniture, things like that.

(12:20):

And that’s pretty contrary to popular belief. So it passed in the same way that you would think about a cold or flu being passed, just from somebody that you had close contact with. And again, they could be the cleanest person in the world, and so could you and still get it. So that would be the top one that I would want to bust. The other thing is that it’s totally doable. It is definitely something that anyone can do. Now there are lots of professionals out there nowadays that do these kinds of treatments. You can go to a professional. It’s usually like $200 to take care of this at a professional. My specialty is that I just teach people online how to do that. And the reason for that is because as I did mention, lice do have certain blood types that they prefer. So if this comes up again two years from now or something, three, four years from now with your child, I’m one that would prefer to be empowered to know exactly what to do and have all the tools and do it right then.

(13:28):

So I think where some people would want to have somebody just do it and go to a professional and I mean, that’s what I have done in my career, of course. I also really think that this is something that moms can feel empowered by and I can totally handle this and we all can. So that’s a lot of what I do.

Dr. Sarah Bren (13:50):

Yeah. I appreciated that because that was my thing. I was like, yes, could I hire someone to come and do this? Yes. Am I down for that? Absolutely. Did I have time to do that? No. And I didn’t want to spend … I was like, I had to figure this out in 24 hours on my own. And I was like, that was the lot I had drawn in that moment. And so I also felt, I had the thought like, “There’s no way I can do this. ” And then when I took the course that you … And just for the record, I’ve been no way compensated. This was like, I just literally did this. I found you. I paid for the course. I did the course. It’s not that … It’s very, very reasonably priced and accessible. And I did it. I watched your videos in like, I don’t know, how many hours does it take to get through it?

(14:42):

It’s a quick and then proceeded to follow your steps. And I got there before the deadline of … My kid went to school and I was like, “This is good. We’re good. We’re in the clear.” But I felt, and that’s, as a busy parent who has a lot of things going on, yes, you could totally outsource zero shame in that game, but I now know like, oh, because my kids are still in school. I get alerts on the regular being like, “Oh, someone in the class has lice, check your kids.” And I’m like, “I know how to do that. ” And not just like I know how to do it, but I feel confident that … Because that’s the other thing, is the anxiety, the doubt, the, “Okay, I might do it, but did I get it all? How do I know? ” And that’s the thing, the confidence to say, not only do I know how to treat it myself, but I also know how to check and I know that if I see nothing, I know I can trust it because I feel empowered and educated and the thing is it comes up so often in our lives, the need to probably check. And I think you also sort of, I’m pretty sure you recommend now that you know how to do this, you should be checking weekly.

Theresa (16:01):

Yeah, because then if you check it and you find it early, it’s really not a big deal to get rid of life. If you already know what you’re doing, which if people have watched the course, they already know what they’re doing, so it’s no big deal. And I think when you get those alerts from schools and things like that, I think the best thing one can do because we have a bit of a culture of a panic culture and a blame culture. So one approach when you get an alert like that is to think it must be the dirty boy in the classroom or the dirty girl in the classroom, stay away from so- and-so, as if that’s going to protect you from getting lice or something like that, right? Instead, we can take the approach in all things in our lives where we just are like, “Okay, I’m empowered.

(16:54):

I’ll be checking my child.” It’s nobody else’s fault. This is just something that happens just like people get the cold or people get the flu, I’ll check my child and then if it ever comes up, I know what to do, we’ll just deal with it and it’s no big deal. And I hope that’s the approach that people take with their kiddos too. I mean, as we’re talking about the psychology of what’s going on with their children, and like I said, everybody tells me just like, “You have a birth story, everybody has a lice story.

Dr. Sarah Bren (17:23):

Mhmm.

Theresa (17:23):

And yours is a happy one, but so many people do have really traumatic experiences both as parents and as children because of this anxiety, the stigma, et cetera.” So as parents, how we handle this really, really affects our children. How they feel about themselves, how they feel about their cleanliness, how they feel about everybody around them. Nobody wants to feel dirty and we don’t want our children to feel that way. We don’t want them to feel shamed. We don’t feel like they’ve done anything wrong. We treat it as if they got a cold. Nobody did anything wrong. It’s just a cold. And in this case, I mean, in this case, we treat it this way and we’re going to take care of it. It’s no big deal.

Dr. Sarah Bren (18:10):

And because you’ve been doing this for so long and I’m sure you’ve worked with so many families and kids directly, like parents directly, but also the kids. And are there ways that you would recommend talk … What are some ways to talk about it with a child to help them understand? Because I’m a big believer in naming what’s going on and helping … I always say, if you leave too many blanks, your kid will fill them in with like fears and egocentric or magical thinking about themselves. And it’s best to leave no blanks, to name what’s going on, be clear and really explain, but doing it in a way that is developmentally appropriate, shame free, and also open to answering questions they might have, but also not projecting onto them what you’re feeling on the inside, because they might also just be pretty neutral about it and we can create a bigger problem by having a massive reaction. So what are some things that you recommend parents actually say to their child or help their child say to maybe think about when they go to school the next day or whatever, if someone in their class has it?

Theresa (19:26):

Yeah. I definitely would use the analogy of any other kind of sickness because it is something that’s contagious, right? Just like sometimes you pick up the sniffles from somebody else, lice is very similar to that. We just treat it differently, right? So, but if you have an ear infection, you do take antibiotics, right? With lice, it doesn’t go away on its own. We need to treat it. We need to do certain things to get the bugs out, to get the eggs out so that we don’t keep having it, but nobody did anything wrong. Nobody was dirty. Nobody’s done anything wrong. It’s just something that we take care of and then we move on with our life. Just like any sickness, just like an ear infection, anything else.

Dr. Sarah Bren (20:16):

Yeah. I think that’s so important. And I think it’s important both to, if your kid has it to help them feel like you get it, you know what’s going on, but this is something we can all handle. It’s no big deal. And also when your kid is, someone else in their class has it and you’re same kind of like sort of normalizing that and de- shaming that as well is super helpful and important.

Theresa (20:47):

Yeah. And I think the way that we talk in front of our children, they pick up in here. So if you do get a slip that says somebody has lice, you’re not saying, “Oh, I bet it’s so- and-so or something like that. ” It’s like, “Oh, okay. Well, I’ll make sure I check you. ” That’s it. We don’t need to get anxious. We don’t need to start pointing fingers. And the other thing is we would like to know. So when we put a bunch of shame among parents, among mothers or fathers that are caring for their children, whatever, when we have shame, then people are keeping it all secret and quiet, right? And so our children are actually more likely to get lice from each other because we didn’t communicate, whereas we could have let somebody else know they could find it right away, get rid of it, and everybody could move on with their lives a lot faster if we didn’t have so much secrecy. And I understand people wanting to protect their child with not saying anything. And I understand mothers wanting to protect themselves to their own reputation and things. So I always leave that up to parents. I’m just saying if we did have a society that was better about it, we would have less of a problem. And so it is what it is, but …

Dr. Sarah Bren (22:05):

Yeah. And I agree. I think it’s like this is how we start to destigmatize it is by talking about it, pulling back the curtain on it, and also empowering people to solve it quickly. Because that’s the other thing I wanted to ask you about is what are some strategies for people who are listening to both prevent? I know there’s some things that you can do that are preventative measures, and it won’t necessarily mean you’ll never have to deal with it, but it’s helpful. And then a little bit of things that we could talk about in terms of what to do if you have it, or if you find it, that keep you from panicking, and also give you a roadmap to deal with it.

Theresa (22:51):

Yeah. So the first thing, prevention, I really believe that knowledge is power. So the first thing I would recommend if you have any children is to just know what you’re looking for. When one is going to check for lice, you’re looking for lice eggs. They’re also called knits. And really, I mean, obviously I provide tons of resources on my website and things, but that’s something you can look up pretty easily on Google. And there’s lots of pictures of what knits look like. You think you know something, but most people don’t have any idea what that actually looks like in the hair. And I can describe it here on the podcast, but just Google what knits actually look like in the hair so that way when you’re doing a check, that’s what you’re looking for. You’re not looking for bugs. You’re looking for these little lice eggs.

(23:45):

Look it up and know what you’re looking for is the first thing. As far as prevention goes, there is no sure way to prevent getting lice, just like there’s no sure way to prevent getting a cold. So if your child ends up getting lice, you have not done anything wrong. You could have been doing all the things and they still get it, just like cold, any other contagious thing. But things that can help is, like I said, it’s past head to head or hair to hair. So if you have young children that are likely to be doing lots of hugs or head to head activities with other kiddos, I would recommend putting their hair up when they’re at school, unless of course they love their hair down. That’s up to you, right? This is your child and you want them to live a full life.

(24:31):

But if they like their hair in braids or they like their hair in a bun or a ponytail, then that is going to help prevent lice just because their hair won’t be touching other people’s hair. In addition to that, there are several scents that lice don’t like. So tea tree oil is one that lots of people know about. You could get a tea tree shampoo or something like that, but the scent in the hair, like lasting on the hair, has a lot more protective properties because lice really are drawn to you by the scent of your blood. So if you have other scents on you that deter them, they’re just less likely to come your way. And those are really anything in the mint family. So there’s lots of things over the counter you can buy that are these prevention sprays, which is what I’d recommend over a shampoo or something, because the scent stays in the hair. And I would really recommend this to people that their child’s already gotten lyce a couple times or they’re getting the notes all the time. Then I’d say, start putting your child’s hair up, braiding it, putting the sprays in their hair, right?

Dr. Sarah Bren (25:37):

Because they just might be one of those kids that smells better to the life.

Theresa (25:42):

But I would hate for anybody to live their life in this panicked way, but if you’re getting those kinds of letters or your child’s had it before and you want to prevent it, that’s what I would recommend. Mint sprays, so anything, and there’ll be lice ones and you’ll find lots of different ones with lots of different scents, but you’re really looking for the mint family. Teach free oil being one of those, and then putting the hair up and then really checking them regularly because if you know what you’re looking for, those little lice eggs and you catch it early, I mean, getting rid of it is significantly easier. Plus then it’s only one child because we talked about it being contagious, just like a cold. So if one of your children were to have a cold, it’s likely that one of your other children will catch that same cold. But if you were to take care of it really soon, that’s why I say to check once a week, if your daughter got it or whatever, and you caught it really quickly within a week, then your other daughter isn’t as likely to catch it because you’ve already taken care of it.

(26:43):

Those were my main things as far as prevention. People want to focus a lot on items, backpacks, other things like that, but that’s just really not how lice is spread. You don’t need to be spraying things. It’s just not on items. It’s head to head contact. So those are the things that really make a difference. Even if the other things make you feel better, I don’t care if you do them, but they’re just not really doing you any good.

Dr. Sarah Bren (27:10):

Yeah. One of the things I found so reassuring too is that they only can survive on when they have access to a food source, right? So they’re going to be on a head and that is it, right? In the sense of you don’t have to worry because I remember being like, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to … ” We were away camping when I discovered the lice and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to have to clean everything and it’s going to be so overwhelming.” And you think bedbugs. I lived in New York City for a really long time and it was like, oh my God, if the idea of getting beg bugs means you have to just … It’s so overwhelming because the amount of stuff you have to bag and get rid of and whatever. And I think a lot of people associate lice and bedbugs and think it’s similar.

(28:10):

And the reality is, if the lice is not on ahead, it dies relatively quickly. And so you don’t actually have to worry about clothes and sheets and everything, but am I getting any of those facts wrong?

Theresa (28:27):

Yeah. So it’s really old and you’ll still see this on different websites that you would think would be reputable, but it’s very old science, old thinking, this idea of like bagging things up. I mean, you’ll see things like two weeks, you’ll see six weeks crazy stuff, but the science, the actual research shows that almost all headlights were dead within like 18 hours. So it’s usually the 24 hour rule. Anything that you haven’t been in contact with within 24 hours, nothing going to live on that. I usually will tell people 48 hours, just if you want to be really cautious, then just say two days, because everything’s going to be dead within 24. And so yeah, I mean, if your child hasn’t worn the jacket in the last week, nothing to be done. You don’t need to do anything. And then the reason for that is that lice need very precise temperatures.

(29:19):

So do their lice eggs, need really precise temperatures. And then yes, as soon as they hatch or if they were there, they need a food source. And you are that food source. So if they’re off of you, it’s not going to happen. And they’ve done tons of, they’ve done studies even of classrooms, kindergarten classrooms where they had so many kids with lice and then they went in and they vacuumed everything and they gathered everything and they couldn’t find a single bug or a single egg in the entire classroom. And that’s just because they’re not on objects. They’re not in those places. They’re only on the children’s head. So that’s what it shows. As far as sheets, bedding, things like that where it’s directly on your head, I do recommend that people wash those, but more importantly, that They dry them in the dryer if their child has had lice.

(30:05):

I have a very specific, these are the things that really matter. They’re things that are in direct contact with your hair. So your hairbrushes, your pillows and your bedding, and anything that you’ve had direct contact with your head within the last, you could say 24 to 48 hours. Those are the things that you need to get at high heat. So usually I just say put them in the dryer. If you’re talking about hairbrushes, you can put them in very hot water, things like that. Things that have had direct contact with your head within the last 24 to 48 hours. But as far as the couches and things like that, I have lots of other things on the list that you can do. I usually tell people to just use a lint roller. If there’s anything on that couch, you’re going to get it off with that lint roller.

(30:47):

You would see if there was anything, but there isn’t. There’s never anything on the other furniture. Like I said, they’ve done studies. Nothing’s there.

Dr. Sarah Bren (30:57):

Yeah. I found that to be very reassuring because again, I thought initially that I was going to be in for days and days and days of labor. Like, oh my God, I’m going to have to be doing laundry and vacuum deep cleaning my whole home. And I would have done that. And you saved me so much stress and time and energy because you were like, “This is what you need to know and this is all noise.

Theresa (31:21):

And that’s what I find that people get really caught up in the noise of the deep cleaning and things. So I am really straightforward about please just focus on the head, your child’s head and getting the lice bugs and the lice eggs out of your child’s hair because that’s how you actually get rid of lice because people do run themselves ragged doing lots of other things. They get on Google, they ask their mom, whatever, and they are spending so much energy and so much time and not doing the things that actually get rid of lice because they’re so caught up. And again, I think it’s because they’re feeling dirty. I think it’s because people feel like, what have I … And so if I clean the house, that’s going to make a difference when it’s really about focusing in on actually just getting the lice eggs out of the hair, getting all the bugs out of the hair, which is what I go through in the course.

Dr. Sarah Bren (32:18):

Yes. And can you share too, what would parents want to look for or know to see a treatment has worked? How do you help people say, “Yes, I’ve done this correct and I’m in the clear.”

Theresa (32:34):

Yeah. So let’s talk about different kinds of treatments. So in the past, the traditional was like the pesticides. I probably shouldn’t name companies or something, but that we kind of grew up with and it’s this idea of putting a treatment on the hair. And then sometimes people would do nitpicking and things like that. In the past, those were a lot more effective than they are now. Most lice today have developed an immunity to those kinds of pesticide treatments. So it’s not that any parent has done anything wrong. They just don’t know that those treatments don’t work anymore. And so oftentimes it comes back over and over just because they put the treatment on the head just like we did in the 70s, but now the lyce are immune to it. So they’re in a tough spot. So these days, the better treatments are dimethicone oil based and you can get lyce treatments that are dimethicone oil based.

(33:30):

So if somebody’s listening and their child does have lice, obviously they can go to my site and I’ll walk them through some of these steps, but if they’re like, no, I want to buy something, I would recommend looking up what the ingredients are. Dimethicum oil based are much more effective because lice can’t develop an immunity to this kind of oil. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s like a suffocating of them. We won’t get into the science of it, but they don’t develop an immunity to that kind of thing.

Dr. Sarah Bren (34:05):

Because they can’t develop an immunity to suffocation.

Theresa (34:08):

Exactly. So yeah. And so it’s kind of like this suffocating squeezing, but it works. So those are the ones that I would recommend. If somebody were to get my course, I also say, “Here’s some other things that work just like dimethicone oil that you could just get from the store right now or whatever.” And then it’s getting the eggs out of the hair. And that is the part that a lot of people really struggle with. I always recommend getting, there’s one comb that I would recommend and that’s called the knit free terminator comb. I’m very specific. I don’t get any commissions on that or anything like that. I just don’t mess around with any other junk comb. They just don’t work. And so I always recommend getting that knit-free terminator comb and then combing through the hair to get the dead bugs and the eggs out.

(35:02):

The problem when you don’t get the eggs out is that they hatch and then you end up with it again and again and again. So oftentimes if people go the route of where they used a pesticide treatment, so it wasn’t effective, right? And then they don’t get the eggs out. Sometimes the itching might go away for a little bit of time. They might not see bugs for a bit, but that’s pretty common even if you still have lice because it takes some time for those little bugs to grow into adults and then the itching starts again. Most people, even when they’re in the early stages of lice, don’t have any itching. Usually you don’t start getting the itching until you’ve had it for about a month. So for me, this is a long answer, but for me, how you know if you’ve gotten rid of lice is if you are checking the hair and you do not find any bugs or any eggs.

(35:54):

That is what I teach people that will help you to know you’re truly in the clear and every time hereafter, you know that you don’t have lice because there’s no bugs and no eggs. Some people go the approach of like, “I’m going to leave the eggs in the hair because this treatment will take care of it or something.” But then next week when you find eggs, are you just asking yourself, “Are they old? Are they new?”

(36:19):

So it’s really difficult to know if you really got rid of it. So I never go with the approach of ever leaving anything in the hair. I want every bug, every egg is out. And so that’s what the course is about, is about a step by step process of how to do that. But if you have a good comb, the one that I already recommended, and you are using that dimethicone oil or another oil based treatment like that, those are the things that are really, really important to get the eggs out, to get the bugs out.

Dr. Sarah Bren (36:53):

Yeah. I mean, if you hire someone to come to your house or take someone to those, that’s what they’re doing. And so again, we’ll put a link to your website and people can go, because you have a lot of free resources and I will be very clear, the course is an accessible price point. I think you have done a very nice job of like giving people a lot of resources and a lot of encouragement and reassurance and things that they can use very easily because that was the thing for me when I was like, I felt so vulnerable in this moment of like, “What am I supposed to do? ” And can I handle this because it’s squeamish and yuck, but I don’t know, you take a very matter of fact tone and you’re like … I don’t know. There’s something about the way that you bring like the nursing side to it and the science side to it and the sort of like research information that I felt like, “Okay, I can handle this.

(38:11):

This is really not that complicated. It’s simple.” And I understand, that was the other thing I loved is that you understood, I understood how it worked. Like you explained the mechanism by which they get in the hair, their life cycle, and how to just remove them and then know you’ve done it. It’s like, that’s it. It’s pretty simple.

Theresa (38:38):

Thank you. And that’s what I hope, regardless of where people get their resources or what if they were to end up with life, I hope that that’s what they would do would just be like, “This is handle, this is doable, right? This is doable. I can do this. Nothing’s wrong with me. Nothing’s wrong with my child.” Now that they’ve listened to this podcast, I’ve already told them what oil to use and what comb to use. They’re welcome to follow along with me. That’s what my videos are about. It’s like, this is exactly how to do it and I’ll explain everything in detail, but it’s doable. It’s doable and we oftentimes get stuck in the overwhelm, and this is supposed to get people out of the overwhelm and just to business, just get to business and get it done, right?

Dr. Sarah Bren (39:26):

Yeah.

Theresa (39:28):

Which I think is important in a lot of different aspects of parenting, right? It’s just like, okay, we have this and we have a grief factor, we have stages of grief, denial, this can be, but then it just … I know I say it too much these days, but it is what it is. This is the situation we’re in, we’re going to move forward. And I think when we take that approach with our children, hopefully they pick up that same attitude. Yeah. We’re moving on.

Dr. Sarah Bren (40:00):

It is. It’s fantastic. If people want to get in touch with you or learn more about your work, get some resources if they’re freaking out right now because they’re like, “I have to deal with this. ” And they need some reassurance, where can we connect them and send them?

Theresa (40:18):

Sure. Yeah. So my life’s advice. I have a YouTube channel, so all sorts of preventative and all sorts of how to check for life, things like that. They’re all on the YouTube channel. So if you’re in the prevention area, you can read any of the articles, you can see it in my website about, “Hey, here’s ways you can prevent it, et cetera.” If they do have lice, in addition to that, I have a paid course, which is just me walking you through. And then in addition to that, if you have questions, you can email me. I mean, I think that is a big aspect of it, is that you have overwhelm or you feel like you have a unique circumstance, then those are … You just like to have somebody to ask directly, because who else are you going to ask? Something can ask me.

(41:06):

I’ve done this for so many years and we’ll be fine. Just create a plan for unique family circumstances or whatever. So that’s all included with the video course, and it’s on myliceadvice.com.

Dr. Sarah Bren (41:22):

Thank you so much. It’s so funny because talking to you, I feel like I’ve spent a very vulnerable and intimate couple days with your videos. So I’m like, it’s funny that I’m only just meeting you now because I’ve been like, oh, I know you because you were with me that day.

Theresa (41:44):

Tha’ts how everybody feels with listening to your podcasts. I was like, “Oh gosh, I’m like a star.” I was listening this morning and I was like, “Oh gosh, okay.” You know what I mean? You have a listening podcast and then they see you in real life. That’s so good.

Dr. Sarah Bren (41:56):

Yeah. It is funny, I’m like, “Oh, I feel like I know you.”

Theresa (42:01):

Thank you.

Dr. Sarah Bren (42:02):

Well, thank you so much and I will hopefully talk to you again sometime soon, but not because my kids have life. Because I know how to chat board and keeping things happening.

Theresa (42:14):

You’re good.

Dr. Sarah Bren (42:16):

Bye.

Theresa (42:16):

Take care.

Dr. Sarah Bren (42:16):

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