.

plot twist she's a dog!

Getting rid of lice is actually much more work than getting rid of fleas. The lice eggs can live in furniture and clothing for a couple of weeks, so you need to thoroughly and deeply clean all furniture, clothing, bedding, mattresses, carpets, rugs, anywhere that you have had contact with since the infestation began. Don't forget the car! When we got a lice infestation, I ended up taking a week off from work to have enough time to clean everything.

#25 - getting rid of fleas is all of that times 10. I've worked closely with animals (shelters, barns, zoos) for over a decade, so I've had to deal with several infestations of fleas (and a few infestations of lice since my primary income is as a teacher). I'd MUCH rather deal with lice on an annual basis than EVER deal with fleas again.

Lice are a thousand times easier to get rid of than fleas are. Fleas can take a long time if you don't treat everything and anything all at the same time for days.

Actually it's not really necessary to wash all clothing and towels etcetera. Lice die pretty quickly once they're not on your head anymore, they tend to hold on tight (unlike fleas who go everywhere in your home!) If one or two do fall off and stay on your clothes or towels, they'll soon die. The only things you want to be careful with is stuff like hats and pillows, but even then I personally don't bother. You need to basically just treat your head right and you get rid of them. It's true what you say about lice becoming too strong for many of the shampoos, but I'm not sure getting extra strong chemicals is the right answer, it just makes them become even stronger in the long run, and it's probably not so good for you. When we all had lice in our home, we just used to regular shampoo, which definitely kills quite a few of them, and then we all daily combed our hair with this special lice comb for about ten days. This way you're sure to get rid of new baby lice right when they hatch from the egg, and before they can lay eggs again. My boyfriend didn't even use the shampoo, he only combed, and he got rid of them too. It's a bit of work, but honestly not so difficult. The only thing you really have to make sure, is that you treat all the people you live with at the same time, if not you're just going to pass on the lice from head to head and the whole thing will last for ages.

It is necessary to wash everything. Your hair falls out of your head, and it takes the lice along with it. Also, they like clean hair, so if yours is dirty, they tend to slip off and get on other places. Lice survive 1-2 days if they're not on your head, but that's only if they can't get food, if they're on an area that you lay your head on a lot, they'll survive longer. Still, this amount of time gives them the potential to get back on your head and lay more eggs. It is best to be diligent and wash everything.

Not washing your hair for a few days gets rid of them without any hassle. The mature lice go looking for a clean scalp and die and then the newly hatched ones can't feed because your scalp is oily and they die. You can still use the comb and wash all blankets/pillows but it's the best way to get rid of lice without any chemicals! And it works. You just have to deal with an oily scalp for a few days. I recommend dry shampoo. My daughter has waist length, thick curly hair; this is how I've gotten rid of them when she brings them home from school.

Not washing your hair for a few days definitely didn't help me, or anyone I know, to get rid of lice. About the washing-clothes-thing, I went into a bit of a panic when we got lice at home and spent a ridiculous amount of time researching everything I needed to know (and a lot of stuff I didn't need to know) about lice, and apparently there's been several studies researching the risk of lice infesting someone (or re-infesting yourself) through clothes. Turns out the risk is actually very low. The websites I checked that refered to actual studies all said that it's not needed to wash all your clothes and bedding and so on, just the stuff that comes in direct contact with your head is sufficient. While it's true that lice can survive for about two days off your head, they'll probably be too weak to move much after a few hours, so the likelihood of them getting back on your head is relatively small. Besides, even if a lice manages to get back on your head, if you do the daily combing thing for the recommended amount of time, you'll get them before they can do much harm. There's already not so many lice falling off to begin with, it's not like there's lice everywhere when you have them. Of course if you feel better washing all your stuff, then by all means go ahead, it certainly won't hurt. Just saying that if the idea of having to wash everything puts you off, you'll probably get rid of your lice perfectly fine without doing that. We definitely did. It really was much less of a big deal than I thought when I first realized we had them.

White problems. Smh

I know it isn't completely necessary to wash everything, but we have 3 kids (13, 7, and 2.) Lice spread pretty easily between kids. When my little girl brought them home, I treated her hair, washed her bedding, clothes, towels, stuffed animals, etc. I checked her hair daily for reinfestation, treated her hair again with super lice shampoo when they came back, and checked daily again for 10 days. All that time I was washing her pillows and bedding in hot water. She was the only one that got them and she didn't get them again after I treated her hair with super lice shampoo. So not necessary, but most likely they would have spread to the other kids, or me, in that time. Plus she has school, they only give you one excused absence to take care of lice, so I can't do a non-chemical method, unfortunately.

More like two fleas in a pod.