It’s that wonderful time of year again. You’re pulling out the camp trunk and looking at the extensive packing list. 24 pairs of socks (as white as snow)—check. 24 pairs of underware—check.

Sleep away camp is a unique and exciting adventure for your child. She will gain independence and form friendships that can last a lifetime. You want her to have the best possible experience—with as little hardship as possible.

My twins went away to sleep away camp last year for the first time. All-in-all they absolutely loved it. My daughter actually cried for three days when she returned. I tried not to take that personally! My son liked the new activities he was able to participate in—fencing, archery, riflery.

On the day they got home, there was one thing that shocked me—the condition of their bodies… they were a mess! (I won’t even tell you what the once-snow-white-socks looked like.) My mom, who is a retired nurse, was in town visiting. She helped me soak, scrub and disinfect each of them. My daughter had been eaten alive by mosquitoes, and some of the bites were so open that they had started to look infected. My son had some kind of nasty rash on his thighs—I think from wearing wet clothes for too long. And, we had to soak his feet in epsom salts several times before his natural skin tone started to resurface.

Truly, nothing terribly serious. However, it left me feeling a little uneasy and sad. Their mama had not been there to look after them… and no one else had stepped in to look out for their little “needs.”

Last year, I saw a whole lot of other campers on their return from sleep away. I checked hundreds of heads for head lice and nits. Unfortunately, I discovered many, many cases of head lice. Head lice are a huge problem at sleep away camp. All it takes is one or two cases to “slip by” the head checks that are performed upon arrival, and bam!… they spread like wildfire.

In my estimation, summer camp (including day camp) is the number one cause of head lice infestations during the school year. Kids come back in August and head to school. And once it’s in the school, it is being battled all year long.

You can’t be at camp to check your child for lice and nits—and the camp can only do so much to help prevent lice outbreaks. You can add one more very important item to your kid’s trunk this summer—Happyheads. Send her off this year with Scootie-Cootie Repelling Shampoo and Detangler (use regularly) AND Happyheads® Bye-Bye Lice Nontoxic Treatment Shampoo (use once a week). Happyheads offers the most protection against head lice and the safest head lice treatment formula available.

She’s going to have a great time. And you are going to feel like you’ve done all you can to be sure of it.

So, talk of head lice is circulating… seemingly all of the time these days, right? And your blood pressure soars over the thought of it. But what the heck is it, anyway? And what exactly are you supposed to be looking for? Well, grab those reading glasses and some really good light (sunlight is excellent) and let’s get serious about how to properly check for head lice—because treating it early on is A LOT easier than treating it later on. (Please don’t count on your school nurse to do this correctly, even though she means well!)

Before we go over the step-by-step, here are some cootie clues you should be looking out for all year long:

THE ITCHIES: If your child has lice, chances are, the first sign you’ll see is a lot of scratching. But don’t bank on this clue, because I’ve treated plenty of incredibly infested children who promise me that they weren’t the least bit itchy.

THE EGG HUNT: A more reliable clue is an egg sighting (aka NIT). The female louse lays 3-10 of these tiny, white-ish, almond shaped eggs a day. She deposits them about 1/8” away from the scalp on the hairshaft. To help you distinguish an egg from other hair debris, picture the stem of a flower (that would be the strand of hair), and then picture a leaf on that stem (that would be the egg). The egg is actually attached on an angle to one side of a single strand of hair. And it is stuck there like nobody’s business—meaning you will not be able to blow or shake it off.

You can remove the egg by sliding it to the end of the strand of hair with your fingernail. When you take it off and lay it on a white paper towel, you will notice that it is actually a tan color, not white. It looks white-ish in the hair because the shell is clear and it reflects light.

Important: Nits never wrap all the way around a strand of hair. They are always attached on one side.

THE CULPRIT: The bug itself. If you’re like me—and ignore the itching, miss the eggs and say Hail Marys, it may just present itself. We caught one on a piece of tape, Googled it, and declared it a match (and then cried, of course). It’ll be grayish to brownish in color, have six legs, no wings and at its largest size, be a little smaller than an ant.

THE CHECK: Try to do this once a week during the school year. Always use direct, bright lighting, and a magnifier helps, too.

For long hair: Divide into two ponytails. Take one side and halve that ponytail. Have your child rest her head on a flat surface with sectioned ear “up”. Unclasp the exposed back section and hold it in your hand. Use a fine-toothed plastic comb and feather through—starting at the nape and slowly working your way up the hairline to the back of the ear, letting small amounts of hair fall slowly as you fan through. Once the back section is checked, re-clasp it and have your child sit upright. Release the front section and hold it in your hand. Slowly fan through the front section, releasing hair slowly working from behind the ear up the hairline and across the
forehead. Repeat this process on the other half. See video demo.

For short hair: Have your child rest his head on a flat surface face down, resting on hands. Use a fine-toothed plastic comb and slowly “back comb” his hair from the hairline of the nape up. Make sure to follow the hairline all the way around to the back of each ear. Once you get to the ear, have your child sit upright, facing you and slowly “back comb” his hair from his forehead to the crown of his head. Follow his hairline from ear to ear in the front. See video demo.

How to Get Great Results Using YOUR HAPPYHEADS Home LICE Remedy FAMILY KIT

Make sure to carefully follow all directions on the inserted card. Getting rid of lice can be tricky. Never expect “a cure” with one treatment. It is imperative that you re-shampoo with Happyheads Bye-Bye Lice Shampoo every 3-4 days for two weeks and comb and check for nits daily during this period.

Treat the whole family and even caregivers. No one gets left out of this party!

Find a spot with great light. Sunlight is the absolute best light for seeing nits. Otherwise, use a bright spot light if possible. Section hair and look thoroughly.

Blow hair dry after each combing. This tip is key! Lice AND eggs are killed by dry heat. Kids scalps are sensitive, so be careful… but think heat! Moms and girls that like to flat iron their hair should go for the straight look.

After the two-week period, continue using Happyheads Bye-Bye Lice Shampoo once a week instead of your child’s regular shampoo. Now that your ordeal is over, never experience head lice again! Keep ahead of another infestation by shampooing weekly and using our other lice removal products. Tea tree oil aids lice prevention and can be found in Happyheads conditioner, oil and spray repellent and GelRepel. Anything that visits your child’s head won’t live long enough to do any damage.

Combing tips:

1. After every few strokes with the nit comb, dip the tips of the metal pins into a bowl of baking soda. Baking soda helps to fill in the little gaps of the pins and also serves as a gripping agent.
2. Keep hair damp (use a water spritzer) and re-apply combing solution when necessary to avoid painful tangles. Always wipe comb on an all white paper towel so you can examine what you are removing.
3. Check eyebrows (and even eyelashes). Yes… it is possible to find nits here, although not very common. Bangs that hang over eyebrows can be the culprit. Check brows and lashes well with a bright light. If nits are discovered, apply Vaseline to these areas.

Effective head lice removal with Happyheads tea tree oil lice prevention products. Our shampoo is FDA registered and a pediatrician recommended home lice remedy.

Dear God, please don’t let my kids get lice.

Several years back, my darling little twins, Olivia and Luke, were scratching their heads. And scratching. And scratching. True, I did get a few of “those letters” home from school mentioning head lice in their classes. But I’m from Ohio, and we never had lice there (ha!), so thoughts of my children with this “condition” was, well, unthinkable. In fact, when I took “those letters” out of their backpacks, I pro-actively dealt with the threat by whispering to myself: “Dear God, please don’t let my kids get lice.”

Turns out, 12 years of Catholic school was not going to save us—and getting rid of head lice nearly brought me to my knees. It was exhausting, frustrating and even a little scary. I got so turned around by the experience that I started by own head lice removal service and then my own natural, non-toxic head lice treatment and prevention product line called Happyheads.

I’m hoping that through this blog, you can avoid some of the hardships we dealt with. I’ll continue to regularly add information, videos and tips—so you’ll have access to the right information, the best tools and the most effective products available to deal with the ever growing problem of head lice—safely and easily. Amen.