FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HEAD LICE, OUR PROCESS, AND POST TREATMENT
BEFORE THE TREATMENT
Q: Are your head lice technicians fully vaccinated?
A: Yes! All of our head lice technicians are fully vaccinated.
Q: What are your hours of operation?
A: Because head lice do not know day of the week or time of the year, we are open by appointment only 7 days a week. Our hours vary by day depending on how busy or how slow we are that particular day.
Q: I am so embarrassed that I have head lice! Should I be?
A: Don't be! You get lice from another person. Lice do not know age, income, ethnicity, gender, what you do for a living, if you have had lice before or not. All they care about is that you have hair, a scalp for them to suck blood every two hours for their food, and a warm scalp for them to lay and nest their eggs. We have treated: Doctors, Pediatricians, Nurses, Teachers, Principles, Lawyers, Actors, Famous Athletes, Singers, and any other occupation you can think of. We have treated families representing over 900 different schools and over 200 different cities.
Q: Do you treat adults?
A: Yes! 50% of the people we treat are children under 18 but the other 50% are adults over 18. Head lice is spread through hair-to-hair contact so all immediate family members are at high risk of getting head lice when a family member has it. Even if you are able to comb-out your child, it is almost impossible to comb out your own hair since lice live in places where it is warm on your scalp such as the nape of the neck or behind the ear.
Q: We got rid of the lice, but they keep coming back. Why?
A: We here this all the time. Highly likely the lice never left. Due to the lice life cycle, if you miss one lice egg, you can have head lice for days, weeks, months, and even years. A lice egg hatches within 5-7 days and becomes a live lice which mates and hatches 6-8 new eggs a day for 14-17 days before it crawls over to someone else's hair or dies. The total life of a lice is only 35 days but by that time each adult lice has reproduced over 50 eggs.
Q: I have used so many products in my hair and we still have lice. Why?
A: We here this all the time. Lice have mutated and are resistant to the chemicals in these products. Because products with chemicals do not work, are harsh for the hair, and cause even more itching, we strongly advise you not to use these products to treat lice. When you are dealing with lice, you really need to stay chemical free.
Q: My mother-in-law told me I can end our lice infestation with (fill in the blank: mayonnaise, scope, olive oil, tea tree oil, essential oil
A: Not true. All insects, including lice, have sphericals on the sides of their bodies, which allow them to breath. Outside product can kill a live adult lice some of the time by suffocating their breathing. For example, our chemical free lice suffocation oil kills lice within 10 minutes. However, an lice egg has a protective shell and does not breath so outside product cannot suffocate a lice egg. As it turns out, lice and their eggs are composed primarily of water. Our 5 step process uses controlled, warm heated air combined with our proprietary chemical free formula to dehydrate their lice and their eggs.
Q: What is the best advice for someone that has been diagnosed with head lice?
- Get your head checked by a professional as soon as possible. There are numerous cases where the person is misdiagnosed. We always head screen each person no matter what they tell us or who referred them to us
- If there is a confirmed lice infestation, have the entire immediate family checked and any other caregivers-babysitters, nannies, etc. This helps to ensure that lice is taken care of the first time you are treated.
Many of the families we have seen have been battling lice for days, weeks, months, and even years because they are not aware of the re-infestation within their own family members and have not used effective treatment methods to begin with.
Q: When I was growing up not many people I knew got lice. Do that many people get lice these days?
A: Lice is more common these days than 20 years ago as people are having more head-to-head contact mostly due to cell phones/selfies. Also, products that worked to kill lice 20 years ago do not work any more as the lice have mutated and recognize the chemicals in these products.
Q: My (fill in the blank) mother-in-law, doctor, sister, school nurse, told me that I have head lice and I need treatment right away
A: No matter who head screened you before you come to our clinic or what you tell us, we will always perform a head screen first to determine if you have an active head lice infestation. We have had many come to us insisting they have lice, only to find that it is a bad case of dandruff, sand, glitter, or a dead, dehydrated egg from a past treatment while others come to us saying they do not have lice and they do.
Q: How do I know if I have lice for sure?
A: The only way that you can be 100% certain you have an active head lice infestation is if you see a live lice crawling around. Itching is a strong indication that you have head lice as it is an allergic reaction from the lice saliva. However, only 40% of the people that have lice actually itch which means 60% of the people that have head lice do not itch. A bad case of dandruff or using chemical products in your hair can also cause itching.
Q: What's the difference between a lice egg and a nit?
A: They are one of the same. Lice eggs need the warmth of the scalp to nest on before they hatch. The adult lice secretes a glue type substance to the hair so their lice eggs can stay on the hair and not fall off before they hatch.
Q: I am 19 years old, can I come in by myself?
A: Yes, as long as you are 18 or over you can come in by yourself and sign our registration form. If you are under the age of 18, we do need a parent or legal guardian 18 or over to sign the registration form
Q: How big are lice and their eggs?
A: An adult lice is the size of a sesame seed. A lice egg is the size of a grain of sand.
Q: What color are the lice?
A: They can really vary in color from brown to gray to white to red. Adult head lice may look darker in persons with dark hair and in persons with light hair
Q: I cannot afford your treatment, What is the lowest cost option to treat head lice by myself?
A: A high quality, stainless steel lice comb and combing out every day for two weeks in order to make sure you have not missed any eggs. If you miss one egg, the infestation can continue for days, weeks, months, and even years. The lice combs sold in popular over the counter lice products are typically plastic with wide grooves. You need a high quality, stainless steel comb with close groves so that will pick up the lice eggs. We sell a high quality, stainless steel comb for $19.
Q: I cannot afford the treatment for my entire family. Do you sell a lower cost DO-IT-YOURSELF option?
A: Yes, we sell a do-it-yourself lice treatment kit for $69. This option is available for pick up at our clinic during clinic hours, at our medical box 24 hours a day, by mail, or at our drive by pick up spot in Seal Beach. While our in clinic Signature Treatment is a total of 90 minutes with a 99%+ success rate, the Do-It-Yourself option is a 10 day process with a success rate that depends on the accuracy of your comb out. This includes a high quality stainless steel lice comb, an eight ounce bottle of our lice suffocation oil to kill any live lice in ten minutes or less, and an 8 ounce bottle of comb out mousse to help in the comb out. You need to apply two ounces of our lice suffocation oil on day 1, day 5, and day 10 and comb out the lice eggs every day for at least 10 days.
VISIT OUR SHOP To view all of our do-it-yourself treatment and preventative products
Q: Do you provide any discounts?
A: Yes, we provide a discount for 3 treatments or more and charge $175 per treatment. We provide a $10 per treatment discount for teachers, nurses, and members of the military.
REVIEW ALL OF OUR SERVICES AND PRICING
Q: Can my child go back to school/can I go back to work after being treated at your clinic?
A: That answer is absolutely yes! When a person leaves our clinic, they will be lice and egg free. Our 5 step process has a 99%+ success rate and we also provide a certificate of treatment to give to your school nurse.
Q: Do you offer in home appointments?
A: No. We have found there are just too many challenges going to homes so we do all of our treatments in a professional, clinic setting where we have the right cleanliness, lighting, equipment, and the right number of head lice technicians assigned to your family.
Q: Do you go to schools/work/camps?
Yes, our certified head lice technicians can do on-site screenings and treatments. Screenings are $85 per labor hour per person with a minimum charge of two hours. Treatments are $175 per treatment, $155 per treatment if 3 or more.
Q: How long will my appointment take?
A: It really depends on your length of hair, if you have lice or not, and your level of infestation if you do have a lice infestation.
A head screen can be as quick as one minute if lice is found or as long as 20 minutes for someone that has really long hair and no lice.
Average treatment time is 90 minutes per person.
Our treatment process follows a standard operating procedure that can take a quick as 1 hour and as long as 2 hour.
We have no control if the person we are treating has come to us with long hair and/or severe infestation or challenging hair. Those 3 factors will effect the total treatment time. Sometimes a person is so infested we have them come back for a complimentary second comb-out of the dead, dehydrated eggs.
Q: Do I need to come back for a follow-up head screening?
A: No. We have a 99%+ treatment success rate. A follow-up peace of mind! head screen is not required but and not included with our full service treatment. Due to the lice life cycle and the success rate of our treatment process, unless you see live lice crawling in your hair, we do not recommend a follow-up head screen any sooner than 10 days after your treatment.
For your protection and as an additional preventative step, we do provide you with two 2 ounce bottles of our lice suffocation oil to apply 5 days and 10 days after treatment. Although our process works and we do have a 99%+ success rate, you get lice from someone else and we cannot control who you are around after you leave our clinic. Because lice is spread through hair-to-hair contact, typically, a person gets lice from a close friend or family member. Applying our lice suffocation oil 5 days and 10 days after is just an additional preventative step in case you have come into contact with anyone that has lice.
We are a one treatment solution, have a great track record of success, and have made every effort to keep our costs as low as possible for you so a follow-up head screen is not required and is not included in the price of our treatment.
However, if you would like peace of mind that the person treated is still lice free, we do provide you with one complimentary peace of mind head screen on all full-service treatments that qualified for our optional 30-day guarantee. All other follow-up head screens after that are $25.
The surest way to know for sure that you need to be retreated is if you see live lice crawling around on the head or a group of nits where there was none before. Being able to pop the dehydrated eggs is a myth and does not mean you have viable eggs.
Q: Do you take insurance?
Although we do not deal directly with insurance, we provide you with our diagnostic and treatment codes, tax ID, and NPI number for you to review with your insurance provider. Our customers get reimbursed for some, all, or none really depending what insurance plan you have. This information is on our receipts as well as the payment options section of our website.
A: We receive calls after treatment insisting the person still has lice only to find when they come back for a head screen it is dandruff. Head lice and dandruff are both indicated by tiny white particles in the hair and scalp and can be mistaken for one another at quick glance. Upon closer inspection, the differences are easier to see.
Dandruff can appear dry or oily, white or yellow-ish in color. Dandruff is easy to comb-out and falls out while lice eggs or nits attach themselves firmly to the hair shaft and are more difficult to remove. Prior to coming to our clinic, a high percentage of families have tried over-the-counter shampoos that did not work. So it is very common for us to see a high level of dandruff in people that we treat. The primary cause is excessive/multiple applications of chemical heavy over-the-counter shampoos.
You can manage dandruff with special shampoos designed to slow the skin-shedding process that might lead to skin flaking. Look for shampoos with tar, salicylic acid, ketoconazole, or selenium sulfide. Use dandruff shampoos every day to control severe flaking or weekly to manage minor symptoms.
Q: Can my pets (dog/cat) get lice?
A: No. Head lice do not live on pets. They only live on humans. Head lice need the warmth of the human scalp to live on and for their eggs to nest on before they hatch. They also need to blood of the human scalp to suck on every 2-3 hours for their food. Pets do not play a role in the spread of head lice.
Q: Should household sprays be used to kill adult lice?
A: No. Using fumigant sprays or fogs is NOT recommended. Fumigant sprays and fogs can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin and they are not necessary to control head lice.
Q: Do I need to have my home fumigated?
A: No. Use of insecticide sprays or fogs is NOT recommended. Fumigant spray and fogs can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin and they are not necessary to control head lice.
Q: Should I have a pest control company spray my house?
A: No. Use of insecticide sprays or fogs is NOT recommended. Fumigant spray and fogs can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin and they are not necessary to control head lice.
Q: Do I have to get everyone head screened or treated that lives with me?
A: No, it is optional. But getting everyone head screened and/or treated is a requirement if you want to qualify for our optional 30-day lice free guarantee. This is for your protection since we know that all immediate family members living with the person we treat full time or part time are at high risk of getting lice.
Q: Our family all has lice. My husband's ex wife has custody of his two children every other week and two children of her own. She won't come in to get head screened or bring her children in. I am afraid if we all get treated, my children will just get lice again if my husband's ex wife or her children has it?
A: You have a right to be concerned. Head lice is spread through hair-to-hair contact. All immediate family members are at risk of getting head lice. We strongly advise that all members of the person we treat living with them full time or part time get head screened. For your protection, this is actually a requirement for the person we treat to qualify for our optional 30-day lice free guarantee. They do not have to come in at the same time as you. Just within 24 hours of treatment.
A: A common misconception about treating people and homes that have had contact with lice is that the only way to get them out of the house is to put everything in the home that is made of any type of fabric in plastic bags for two weeks and have the furniture and carpets cleaned. Not necessary! Here is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says about home cleaning when lice are found: “Head lice do not survive long if they fall off a person and cannot feed. You don’t need to spend a lot of time or money on housecleaning activities.”
-Live lice do not hop, jump, or fly. They only crawl and can survive less than 48 hours if they fall off the scalp and cannot feed. Typically they will die within 15 hours or less
-Lice eggs (nits) cannot hatch and usually die within a week if they do not remain under ideal conditions of heat and humidity similar to those found close to the human scalp. Therefore, because a nit must incubate under conditions equivalent to those found near the human scalp, it is very unlikely to hatch away from the head. In addition, if the egg were to hatch, the newly emerged nymph would die within several hours if it did not feed on human blood.
-By getting your treatment and killing both the lice and eggs off the host human scalp, you will have taken the biggest step to being lice-free.
-Routine house cleaning, including vacuuming of carpeting, rugs, furniture, car seats, and other fabric covered items, as well as laundering of linens and clothing worn or used by the infested person is sufficient. Only items that have been in contact with the head of the infested person in the 48 hours before treatment need be considered for cleaning.
Head lice do not survive off the human host for more than 48 hours!
So remember the 48 hour rule in all of your cleaning!
Here are some preventative housecleaning measures you can take after you have completed your treatment:
1) All bed and bath linens that have come in contact with an infected individual can be dried in the dryer on high heat for 30-40 minutes before being washed and dried again. Use hot water laundry cycle and the high heat drying cycle. For further peace of mind, you can isolate these items in a plastic bag for 48 hours. Be sure to include any quilts, comforters, blankets, and pillows. Items that cannot be washed and dried can be placed in plastic bags and isolated for 48 hours. There is no need to throw away any items.
2) Similar to all linens, all clothing that has been worn or in contact with an infected individual may be dried in the dryer on high heat for 30-40 minutes before being washed and dried again. If an item cannot be machine dried, place it in a bag and isolate the bag for 48 hours. Dry cleaning is not necessary or guaranteed to get rid of lice, so take special care to isolate special clothing items. This includes outerwear, hats, scarves, jackets, coats, and sweaters.
3) Stuffed animals. We recommend drying in the dryer on high for 30-40 and and washing and drying afterword. Set in a plastic bag and isolate the bag for 48 hours
4) Vacuum the floor and all furniture including all sofas, chairs, car seats, large pillows, carpets, and area rugs where the infested person sat or lay. Items such as counter tops, carpets, and floors DO NOT need to be deep cleaned. The risk of getting infested by a louse that has fallen onto a rug or carpet or furniture is very small as they cannot survive off the host human head and they do not hop, jump or fly.
5) Brushes, Combs, and Hair Accessories. Take all hair brushes, combs, and accessories, label appropriately to avoid sharing, place in plastic bags, and set in freezer for 48 hours. After that, wash thoroughly with hot, soapy water and allow to air dry. Clean any containers, holders, and drawers before putting items back to get a fresh, clean start!
6) Other items to clean or set in 48 hour isolation include: Helmets, headphones, baseball caps, graduation caps, and anything else that came in contact with the individual’s head or hair.
There are a lot of things to consider when cleaning after a head lice infestation, but it is well worth the time and peace of mind. Our treatment success rate is 99%+ so getting treated at our clinic will solve your problem. However, after our comprehensive treatment at our clinic, we know that you want to have a clean, lice-free home.
A: Yes, it is possible. Everyone’s scalp reacts differently to a lice infestation. Although we have a 99%+ success rate and you will leave our clinic lice free, it does not mean you will no longer be itching. People can itch for days, weeks, of even months after having head lice.
1) A high percentage of families have tried to treat their head-lice infestation with over-the-counter shampoos prior to coming to us. Over-the counter chemicals dry out the scalp and can cause itching for days, weeks, or months.
2) Lice survive by sucking blood from the human scalp every 2-3 hours. About 40% of people that have lice are allergic to the saliva in a louse however this means 60% do not itch. The allergic reaction causes itching. Everyone’s scalp reacts differently. The people that are allergic to the saliva in lice can itch for days, weeks, and even months after having lice and beyond our control.
3) There is also an emotional factor to itching. Once you have the itchy sensation on your head or you see a family member itching it can be challenging to get rid of the feeling even when your lice and eggs are all gone.
Eventually, the itching will stop over time. Just because you are itching does not mean you have lice again. The only time to be concerned is if you physically see live lice crawling in the hair or eggs where there were not eggs before.
If you are concerned about still being itchy, we recommend applying a chemical free product such as our dandruff shampoo, coconut oil, or aloe vera to sooth the scalp after treatment.
A: It is possible and common to see a few left over dead eggs. However, the eggs that you might see are dehydrated, not viable, and will wash out over time.
On the head of any individual, there are 3 categories of eggs that could be found:
1) Viable eggs that will eventually hatch (nits)
2) Remnants of already-hatched eggs (nits)
3) Nonviable eggs (dead embryo) that will never hatch
Out of the three items listed above, only category 1-eggs containing viable embryos (nits) have the potential to infest or reinfest a host.
We will make every effort to comb-out all eggs as much as possible while at our clinic but lice eggs are glued to the hair strand and aside from cutting the hair strand at times the dehydrated eggs are impossible to comb-out. You still may have a few non-viable eggs until they wash out, get combed out, cut out, or grow out over time.
We recommend quick daily combing with a professional lice comb for up to 10 days after treatment to catch any glued eggs we were not able to get out of the hair while you were at our clinic.
However, dead eggs CANNOT cause a re-infestation and at home combing is NOT a condition of our 30 day lice-free service on our Full Service treatments. This is just our best advice as we frequently get calls from those treated thinking they still have lice or the nurse telling them they cannot come back to school only to find that it is non-viable eggs still glued to the hair.
The only two things that should cause any concern after your treatment is a
1) live bug crawling around
2) group of new nits where there was none before
These two things can be a sign of a lice re-infestation that has occurred beyond our control and cause for retreatment. Everything else you see is dehydrated, dead, and not viable. If you find a live bug please place it in a plastic bag if possible so we can check it and make sure it is actually a louse.
A: We receive calls after treatment insisting they still have lice because they can pop the egg. There is no way to look at a nit with the naked eye and determine if it is dead or alive. And although some people claim it does, being able to pop eggs does not mean you have viable eggs that can hatch!
Any nit that has not hatched will pop. That just means there is a little air in the egg case. Popping does not mean that the egg is alive, just that the cap on the end is still on.
The only two things that should cause any concern after your treatment:
1) If you see a live bug crawling around you have lice again
2) If you see a group of new nits where there was none before
A: Head lice cannot hop, jump, or fly. They only crawl. To reduce the chances of getting head lice from another person or from items that may have lice on them, we recommend you:
1) Avoid head-to-head contact. The primary way a person gets lice is when your head comes into direct contact with an infested individual. (Think selfie and hugging).
2) Use clinically proven, chemical-free preventive sprays every day. Lice sprays help repel head lice and can prevent your child from catching lice. Lice are resistant to the chemicals in over-the-counter preventative products.
3) Check your children for head lice each week with a professional nit comb
4) Wear hair in a braid or ponytail
5) Inform family and close friends. 1 in 20 children (6-12 million school children) get head lice each year. Lice do not care about age, ethnicity, day of the week, hygiene, income, day of the week, if you have had lice before or never had head lice before or what you do for a living. You only get head lice from another person that had it so there is no reason to be ashamed.
Informing the school nurse and other adults of children who have close contact (neighbors, sleep over friends, sports team friends, classmates, scouts etc…) is common courtesy and will promote their early indication and treatment of lice. If you have not told anyone that your child has been treated for lice, we encourage you to do so because it is likely that others may have lice hatching and the spread may continue and your or your own child may be at risk for a re-infestation if these children are not head screened or treated.