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Has your child been scratching their head more than normal, having trouble sleeping, or complaining about a tingling feeling on their scalp? If so - and we know your mind is already there - there’s a chance your child has lice. There’s no need to panic; lice are extremely common, affecting 6-12 million people in the US per year. What you need to do, however, is take action. Here, the Hair Whisperers - the trusted name in lice removal in Cheviot Hills - will break down the steps you need to take if you think you have a case of head lice. These steps go as follows:

1. Confirm that it is, in fact lice
2. Create a plan for treatment
3. Call Hair Whisperers
4. Check Family Members for Lice
5. Clean Items of Direct Contact
6. Contact Your Child’s School or Daycare

Confirm Your Head Lice

Before starting treatment, make sure the problem at hand is head lice

The truth of the matter is that there are a variety of reasons your child may have an itchy scalp. Children have extremely sensitive skin, meaning they are susceptible to rashes, irritation from skincare products and the environment, or issues like dandruff that cause a dry, itchy scalp. Confirm that your child has lice by carefully looking through their hair for tiny insects about the size of a sesame seed or nits - which are lice eggs that look like tiny white or yellow specks. Additionally, the lice and nits are often accompanied by small red bite marks that become minutely infected from scratching and reopening. Keep in mind that lice don’t carry diseases, and your child is completely healthy even if these bites exist.

Create a Treatment Plan

Take a moment to make a plan of action to care for your child

First things first, you must make a plan to take care of your child -- which is probably why you’re reading this! When it comes to treating lice you have a few options, but they’re not always good options. This includes:

• Lice Shampoos: Lice shampoos not only contain harmful chemicals that are considered carcinogenic, but most strands of lice have developed an immunity to the active ingredients in lice shampoos. This means you’re gambling on your time, money, and the safety of your child.
• Natural Remedies: You may have have heard of natural home remedies for treating lice, but the truth of the matter is that most of these don’t work. While the scents of certain oils repel lice, they are not FDA approved to treat an existing lice infestation.
• Self Lice Removal: The best technique for lice removal is the combing method, which involves combing through your child’s hair and picking out lice and nits by hand. However, these can be hard to identify with an untrained eye. Additionally, leaving just a single nit behind can cause your infestation to continue.
• Professional Lice Removal: As the best method for lice removal, look for professional lice removal in Cheviot Hills that use all-natural lice removal methods. These professionals will be able to provide you with thorough treatment and peace of mind with your lice treatment.

Call Hair Whisperers

Contact professional lice removal in Cheviot Hills and the surrounding LA area

Once you decide that professional lice removal is the best course of action, get in touch with Hair Whisperers. With more than 15 years of experience treating head lice in the Los Angeles area, Hair Whisperers is trained to thoroughly remove head lice and have your child back to school, in many cases, the very next day. Hair Whisperers treat lice in the comfort of your own home, allowing you to take the necessary steps in making sure the rest of your life is in order and not disrupted by a lice infestation. Often able to be at your home in just a few hours, Hair Whisperers is the trusted name in responsive, thorough lice removal in Cheviot Hills.

Check Family Members for Lice

Gauge the Degree in which the Infestation has Spread

After making the all-important call to Hair Whisperers, take a moment to check the entire family for head lice. Since head lice spread exclusively from direct physical contact, it’s possible that the lice was spread during family movie night, a bedtime story, or a hug goodbye before school. If you find this is the case, give Hair Whisperers a follow up call so they can prepare to treat more than one family member. Additionally, do the families of your child’s friends a favor and give them a call if they had a recent playdate or sleepover.

Clean Items of Direct Contact

Provide Yourself with Peace of Mind and Stop the Lice in their Tracks

Keep in mind before cleaning that lice cannot survive off the host scalp for more than 24 hours, meaning you don’t have to clean every surface of your home. However, it can help to clean pillowcases and sheets prior to bedtime to make sure that a straggler louse does not find its way onto your child’s newly lice-free scalp after treatment.

Contact the School

Tell Your Child’s School to Provide Lice Checks

Since lice are spread exclusively through head-to-head contact, it’s likely that your child could have gotten lice from another child at school during recess or naptime. Be proactive and inform them of your child’s case of head lice, notifying them that you contacted Hair Whisperers and your child will be lice-free after treatment. The school should then conduct lice checks on students to ensure that the lice are stopped dead in their tracks.

Ready to tackle your child’s case of head lice? Get in contact with Hair Whisperers - the trusted name in lice removal in Cheviot Hills. We’ll come to your home and get the lice taken care of so you can get back to your life as scheduled.