“Oh head lice, how I love you so”, said no mother (or father) ever.

In the clinic, we are frequently asked if Head lice are “more popular” in the winter. First of all, nobody likes them so they are surely not “popular” ???? but to answer this question, no. Lice is a year round issue but awareness throughout the seasons changes. For example,  at the end of summer and during the time that kids are returning to school, we are ringing off the hook and have tons of people showing up with “light” cases. This is the result of heightened awareness among parents due to the time of year. On the other hand,  in the dead of winter, our phones are much more quiet. The difference here is that people are coming in with extremely heavy infestations that have been existing and spreading throughout a household for months because live simply just wasn’t on their radar so Mom or dad never thought to take a look.

So the REAL question is how can you as a parent prevent head lice becoming a real conundrum? We recommend using a repellent spritz daily (shameless plug for our organic tea tree and lavender spritz, $15) and performing a quick screening once per month on your child using a lice comb. Visual screenings are not sufficient and are the reason some cases of lice go on for month unnoticed.  If you are not comfortable performing a screening yourself, I recommend getting a professional one so that you can learn how to do it at home properly. Lice is NOT a health issue, it is a nuisance but we are here to help!