I think one of the worst things you can experience as the parent of an elementary school child is lice. Before spring break this year my daughter came home from school with lice. I was horrified when I found out she had lice.

We tried the over the counter lice medication. In my opinion it was semi effective. I spent the entire spring break combing and picking through her head for lice and nits. I would spend up to six hours everyday going over her head hair by hair.

I would wash all the bed linens and pillows daily. I sprayed and vacuumed the furniture religiously. Finally two week later she was free from lice. I would check her hair daily to make sure they had not come back. After a few weeks I relaxed a little and was only checking weekly.

A little over a month latter I had skipped a few of my checks, when I noticed my daughter was scratching her head again. Oh she had them again. I was so mad. I had done every thing I possibly could to get rid of them and here she had them again.

I was so mad I decided to vent on one of my favorite message boards. I got tons and tons of advice.

The first thing I tried that was suggested was to put conditioner on her hair dry and leave it for a few minutes then comb it with a lice comb. This was very effective in removing live bugs from her hair. The conditioner seemed to suffocate them and prevented them from moving. It also made it very easy to get the comb through her hair.

Several people suggested using tea tree oil. One woman in particular suggested I put a few drops in our shampoo. The tea tree oil helps to kill them and makes it harder fro the nits to attach to the hair follicle. I used this method also. The tea tree oil cost about as much as one bottle of lice treatment, but you only need a few drops in a bottle of shampoo.

When we put the tea tree oil in our shampoo my daughter was the only one to have lice the second time around no one else got it. The only down side is the smell even with only a few drops it is over powering. Not to mention it is all natural, which to me is preferable to using chemicals on my children's heads.

The last thing I did was more of a preventative than anything else. I was told lice did not like clean hair. One person suggested using hair spray, gel, or leave in conditioner in my daughters hair every day. I went and bought a ninety nine cent bottle of detangler. Every morning before my daughter went to school I would spray her hair with the detangeler, comb it out with the lice comb, and put it up in a pony tail.

For us these methods were more effective and less time consuming than more traditional ways. There were even more things suggested to me but since I did not try them I did not mention these. I wish I had done some research the first time around; life would have been a little easier. I hope my experience might help one of you.