Cleopatra's Comb (formerly Lice Help 4U) - Head Lice Removal

Cleopatra's Comb (formerly Lice Help 4U) - Head Lice Info Central Cleo keeps kids in school!

Head Lice Removal at Cleopatra's Comb

Each treatment is also a training session; we ask the parent or caretaker to watch carefully as we treat the hair and explain to them at every step what we are doing and why.

Of course, sometimes the parent or caretaker also has lice. Then it is nice if a family member or friend comes in also to watch the process while we treat that adult's hair.

We tell our clients, "If you check hair regularly you can get rid of a few lice before they become so numerous that you feel overwhelmed. It's not hard to pick out two or three of them. But it's important to check often so they don't get out of control."

One important point is that head lice multiply rapidly, so the sooner they are taken care of, the fewer there will be of them to remove; therefore treatment will take much less time and be significantly less expensive.

We encourage people to just accept that head lice are around and that anyone can get them and so not to be shy about seeking help. We find that clients are so relieved to rid themselves and their families of those pesky bugs that they often say they are very sorry they waited so long to get professional help.

Treatment can take from one to five hours or even more in worst cases of infestation. Lice will not leave on their own little claws, so hesitating to remove them just allows them to increase in number. Lice infestation is definitely a situation in which getting treatment soon after the first louse is seen will save time and a substantial amount of money.

Treatment Steps

The first thing we do is to inspect the hair under a lighted magnifying glass so we can see if there are any head lice or nits in it.

If there are, we estimate how long it will take us to remove the lice and nits from the hair and scalp and how much it will cost.

If the client accepts the estimate, we then provide a smock for the client and we massage a non-toxic conditioner into the hair

Then we comb the hair with a regular comb to loosen it up.

Next, we section out the hair and comb each section carefully with a special lice comb until we see no more lice in that section. We pin that section up and continue with the next.

After combing all sections, we wash the hair in regular shampoo.

We blow-dry the hair.

We section the hair out again and look at it through the lighted magnifying glass.

We manually remove any remaining lice or nits we see.

We then look at the hair through the lighted magnifying glass and ask the parent also to inspect the hair through it.

An important fact:

Lice and nits are very tiny. We comb the hair small-strand-by- small-strand and use a lighted magnifying glass. We clean the hair thoroughly during treatment.

We tell our clients that lice are always in the environment, and can be acquired again, so weekly head checks are necessary if the clients wish to maintain a lice-free head.

Weekly, they need to comb the hair strand-by-strand, looking for and removing any lice or nits.

With this weekly maintenance, if any lice do try to use the head as their new home, they will be found during those weekly inspections.

They will be easily manageable because they not have time to multiply. It is simple to remove two or three or so lice.

If clients do not follow our advice about weekly maintenance, and do not remove those few new lice, the lice will breed, and within a month or so again there will be a lice problem in the family.

We feel quite frustrated when a former client calls us and tells us he/she/the household has uncontrollable lice again!

There is no need for that! Weekly inspections would have gotten rid of the lice before they became numerous!

All we can do is advise, we can't force weekly head checks!

Very frustrating!

Our Volunteer models

At the shampoo bowl

Getting the comb-through

One of the inspection steps

We strongly oppose using any pesticides (pediculicides) to get rid of lice. Do your own research and talk to your doctor.

We believe the old-fashioned way is best: manually removing lice and nits is the safest way for your child.

Also, believe it or not, we've heard stories about people using lamp oil, gasoline, flea shampoo & powder, kerosene and other dangerous home remedies. (We SAID you wouldn't believe it, right?)

This repeat is no mistake! The message to the left is so important I'll put it in here TWICE!