Head Louse Prevention Tactics

Designated as a measure for head louse prevention, the ‘No Nit’ policy that has been adopted by many school departments across the country prevents children who are being treated for head lice from returning to school until their heads are free of head louse nits. The National Pediculosis Association supports the ‘No Nit’ policies as a uniform guideline for preventing head lice.

Opponents to the "No Nit" policy view it as being an overzealous measure that forces children to miss school unnecessarily. Children who suffer from other contagious conditions such as strep throat are allowed to return to school within twenty-four hours of being treated with penicillin, and opponents feel that once treatment for head lice has begun, adequate measures have been implemented to allow a child to return to school.

Regardless of which side of the debate you fall on, there are certain head louse prevention measures that you can take to help prevent your children from becoming infested with, and from spreading, head lice to other children and adults. Since head lice have been around since the beginning of time and have a rapid rate of regeneration, their total annihilation seems an unreasonable expectation.

The first step in lice prevention is instructing children to limit the personal items that they share. By discouraging children from sharing items such as hair brushes or hair accessories, they will be promoting prevention.

While establishing such a policy will help with controlling lice outbreaks, it can seem contrary to teachings that encourage sharing as a means of acceptable social interaction. By drawing a comparison between sharing certain personal items and sharing a toothbrush, establishing this policy for preventing head lice is more digestible. Most children would not willingly share their toothbrush with a classmate, and as a tool for louse prevention, not sharing personal items such as hair brushes and hats could be viewed the same way.

Another step is evaluating and improving the storage areas for items such as jackets, hooded sweatshirts, hats and scarves. Older style coat closets generally have an inadequate number of coat hooks that force overlapping or insufficient spacing between coat hooks that allow contact between items do not help with head louse prevention.

Re-infestation can also be prevented by using Nix lice treatment products, which protect the hair shafts up to 14 days after the initial application. Nix headlice products are recognized by the U.S. Government as being “the most effective of the chemical treatments”*. Nix is recommended for killing lice and their eggs by healthcare professionals nationwide.

Perhaps the most effective means of preventing lice is education and proactive screening of children by parents, particularly in the early months of the school year when strong head louse prevention measures are the most warranted.

Visit the Nix head louse prevention page and print off the handy “lice-free home” checklist. Then you can be sure your lice elimination efforts are thorough.

* http://www.metrokc.gov/health/prevcont/headlice.htm

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