It is stated very clearly in Parshas Bereishis that
man has lordship over all the animals, including all the
creepy crawlers. Maybe outside of Eretz Yisroel, the head
lice have read this and behave a bit subdued and civilized,
but here in Eretz Yisroel, they are a chutzpadik scourge in
the girls' schools. At least twice a year, women come to the
schools to check the hair, but in between these visits, you
see girls in the playgrounds gleefully sliding down the slide
while one hand scratches the head. It is known that the air
in Eretz Yisroel was not contaminated by the Flood which
affected the rest of the world. This pure air is the source
of the extra wisdom that is bestowed on all inhabitants, and,
unfortunately, even on the lice. Therefore, a mother has to
really be on top of things here to outsmart the strong Eretz
Yisroel type of lice.
It is possible to learn middos from the animal world.
Lice are no exception. They teach us tenacity, determination,
and an ability to work long and hard without seeing the
reward. It is incredible how creatures so small are endowed
with such sense. When you open a new part on the hair, you
may think you see lice running, but on closer inspection, it
appears to be nothing. Really, the louse is hiding under a
piece of hair, pretending he isn't there.
Having eaten the same scalp material that nourishes the hair,
the lice that are hatched from eggs laid on that head are
naturally camouflaged by having the same color as the hair.
Now he waits until there is no more movement of the hair and
no changing of the lighting, that is, you've stopped looking,
and then he then makes a mad dash to a new place that is not
exposed to the light... Cunning . . ..!
Lice are also naturally tszniusdik and avoid the
limelight. They have no interest in honor or applause —
only in doing their work. They are so successful at their
work that the English slang word 'lousy', originally meaning
a person infested with lice, is now synonymous with the bad
feeling that comes when a human being is overwhelmed by any
difficult situation.
Lice go about their business laying eggs with a single-minded
determination. Not all of the hundred eggs they lay will
produce new lice. Any egg that is not laid close to the scalp
or is moved away by combing will probably never hatch, but
this doesn't prevent them from going about their work. They
don't rest and they don't sleep. They lay their eggs at night
while the child and even the most vigilant of mothers sleep.
They never give up.
They will probably never live to see the hundreds of
descendants that their egg-laying efforts will bear but it is
of no concern to them. They just do their work. They lay
their eggs with no worry of who will give them food. The
Gemorah cites lice as the prime example of Hashem's
providing livelihood for even the smallest, seemingly
insignificant creatures. Rav Shlomo Alkabetz, (author of
"Lechah Dodi") composed a prayer that he recommends
saying daily for parnossah, based on the ease with
which lice find their food. Our own parnossah should
be as successful and as easy to acquire as the lice's.
An individual louse appears to recognize that he is just a
link to the next generation as the great chain of life
unfolds. Even when picked up by a fine-toothed comb, lice
will lie inconspicuously between the teeth of the comb, just
waiting to go back into the next piece of hair that the comb
picks up, in order to begin their proliferation anew. They go
from head to head to start new families there. They always
find fresh, healthy heads as new sources of food. A new
immigrant louse to a new child stands out because he may be
black on a blond head, but he quickly integrates as the next
generation will all come out the color of the host's hair.
In Loshon Hakodesh their proliferation is recognized
in that there in no word for the singular of kinim.
Because regarding kinim where there is one, there is
always more than one.
With such an enemy, how can you win? Probably not with the
harsh chemicals that are on the market, such as pyrethin,
permethrin or malathion. These products can only be used at
infrequent intervals, they don't kill every last one of the
lice (as some are already immune or hiding well), they don't
kill all of the eggs, they are poisonous, potentially harmful
and expensive. Five years ago, in the UK, it was already
reported that head lice were resistant to them. They may kill
many of the lice that a child is infested with and give the
appearance that they work, but they leave behind many
resistant lice that will quickly generate a new
infestation.
One should also be suspicious of any product that claims to
dissolve the glue that the lice produce for the binding of
their eggs to the hair. The public health authorities
reported that, in laboratory experiments, they have not yet
found any substance that is capable of dissolving the glue.
In addition to not working well, the chemicals are very
combustible and there is a real danger, of spontaneous
combustion on the hair, particularly when used near electric
heaters. According to Dr. Pollak of the Laboratory of Public
Health Entomology, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston,
"Well-intentioned parents treating their children (for head
lice) with toxic or flammable substances have caused several
deaths and poisoning."
While lice are a nuisance, socially unacceptable and can keep
a child awake while they lay their eggs at night, they aren't
actually at all dangerous (as are body lice, a completely
different breed, which are known to transmit very serious
illnesses). The saliva and excrement from the head lice can
cause irritation and bacterial infection and untreated
infestation can cause temporary bald patches, but the
medical risks of having lice are far less than the medical
risks of using these chemicals. Also, the chemicals are a
strong irritant to the scalp, skin, eyes and are expensive.
Alcohol, one of the major ingredients, when applied to the
head can inflame the respiratory system and cause asthma and
eczema attacks. One school successfully treats lice with a
mixture of alcohol, vinegar and paraffin. This potion must be
kept on the head for nearly an hour every day for 10 days in
order to kill the new eggs as they hatch. Although this
process works, it is very time consuming, dangerous and
highly inflammatory, never mind the distinctive smell of a
gas station on the child's hair for that difficult hour.
The natural products on the market have a very low rate of
effectiveness, as the lice are already immune to most of
them. Of more serious concern, many of these products such as
Sassafras, which is recommended by many major natural health
sources, are so dangerous that the U.S. Government has issued
warnings about toxicity if accidentally swallowed. Swallowing
one half of a teaspoon of Sassafras can cause respiratory
paralysis and severe problems with other internal organs.
No, the real secret to eradicating lice isn't in a quick fix
but in developing thoroughness. What lice produce in quantity
of eggs has to be counteracted with the quality of the
extermination, which only means doing a thorough job of
eradicating them. Leaving over one tiny egg can be a foothold
for a whole new generation of lice and within 10 days, all
the extermination work will be overrun. It's the same way
with the yetzer hora. Reformed alcoholics, chain
smokers and gossipers know that one small drink, cigarette or
tidbit of loshon hora leads to another. A person has
to be thorough, merciless and even ruthless when
exterminating both the yetzer hora and lice. This
takes a calm, patient and systematic approach. That is really
the essence of the American combing approach.
There are experts in each country, some of whom are trained
in America where there are many women specializing in this
art, who will perform the combing procedure for each child.
(It is important that all the children in the family are
treated at the same time to prevent re-infestation.) A mother
can observe the correct procedure from the visit and battle
the next epidemic alone or simply send the children to the
expert whenever there is an epidemic
For the mother who wants to try the procedure at home, the
first step is to cut the hair, if possible, to less than
shoulder length in order to facilitate the cleaning and
prevention. If this is not feasible, then at least trimming
the ends is helpful. According to an Israeli nurse, the hair
should then be washed with three applications of shampoo and
rinsed a few times so it will be very clean and conditioner
should then be applied. The snarls should be removed by
combing with a normal brush. When the hair is dry or the next
day, the hair should be brushed normally again.
From here on, all the brushes, combs and hair fasteners used
should be soaked in alcohol for one hour or thoroughly washed
in hot water (above 55'C) and soap before using again.
Anything that touched the hair such as sheets, pillowcases,
and hats should be washed with hot water or put into a hot
dryer to stop any re-infestation. If the item will be ruined
by heat, the lice could also be killed by placing in the
freezer for a couple of days. Other than cleaning those items
that touched the head, one does not have to go overboard by
thoroughly cleaning the house, since a louse cannot survive
more than one to two days without feeding on the blood from a
human scalp. Animals cannot pick up the human lice, as human
head lice and animals' lice are not cross transmittable. Of
course, other people's hats or hair brushes or ornaments
should from now on always be avoided. To minimize
reinfestation, the hair should preferably always be tied up,
as loose hair picks up lice very easily.
The first step in removing the infestation, according to the
method as demonstrated by Mrs. Moskowitz, an expert who works
in the Ezras Torah neighborhood of Jerusalem, is to find a
comfortable seat for the child and a slightly higher seat for
the mother behind her. As the process takes approximately one
and a half hours for a normal head of hair that is less than
shoulder length, prepare an interesting tape to hear or have
an older sibling read a new story, or give an interesting new
toy or book to the child.
The mother should have within arm length's reach a package of
paper towels, a strong magnifying glass, tissues, a wastebin,
and a fine-toothed special lice comb. A comb with long, metal
teeth should be used. While the popular combs with short
metal teeth or those made from plastic are less expensive,
they do not remove enough eggs to be suitable for this
procedure. The Niska comb, which is used by the experts, is
sold widely in America and can usually be bought at the lice
expert's house, appears to hurt less and remove more eggs
than other combs. The Assy 2000 has twisted teeth to kill the
lice and eggs as they are removed. It may occasionally hurt
the child by pulling the hair, but it does work and can be
bought in most pharmacies.
It is best to pin up the hair except for a small horizontal
slice above the nape of the neck. This strip of hair is then
doused with a lot of the thickest conditioner one can find,
such as Pantene. The procedure works without pain by
generously applying the conditioner and doing small sections
only at one time. The comb is used parallel to the scalp and
the comb is pushed deep into each piece of hair because the
teeth are finer and better able to remove the nits (eggs)
closer to the handle and because the main nits that will
develop into lice are on the scalp.
Some experts suggest that each piece of hair is then combed
from all four directions, with the comb teeth held North,
East, South and West against the face of the scalp. The lice
and eggs can be seen on the conditioner that should be
frequently wiped and then discarded on the paper towels. The
comb manufacturers even suggest wiping or washing the comb,
particularly between the teeth after every sweep through the
hair. This may be too difficult for a mother to do and many
people are successful by cleaning after every 3 or 4 sweeps.
After each section is done, another thin strip of hair from
above the one being worked on is let down and is combed until
the whole head is done. The conditioner is then washed off
and the hair is checked under good lighting for either the
small white eggs that may have been missed or any stray lice.
Since this procedure is based on thoroughly ridding the hair
of every last louse, the final check is very important.
If this procedure is too time-consuming or the mother fears
she may not have removed every egg, then there are two
alternate procedures to choose from. The first alternative
procedure, which is recommended by many Public Health
Authorities as it takes the least amount of skill, is to comb
the hair every day for two to three weeks with a lice comb.
Since this method doesn't depend on the removal of the eggs,
but will catch the eggs once they hatch, just the short-
toothed metal comb could be used. (The long-toothed metal
comb which helps with egg removal is more effective but a bit
harder to use and, of course, can be used if the mother
wishes.) As it takes 8 days for an egg to hatch and 9-13 days
for the hatched lice to begin producing new eggs, within
three weeks even those eggs that were missed can be removed
before they start reproducing. This is the easiest but most
time-consuming method.
The second alternative method is to concentrate on removing
only the living lice and again, just the short-tooth comb
could be used. The first time, the hair is thoroughly combed
many times for about one half to one hour. That is, the head
should be combed many times and the comb checked for lice.
Some of the eggs can then be removed with the long-tooth
comb, but this isn't necessary, as the next two sessions will
remove those eggs once they hatch. The second and third
sessions take about 15 minutes and each should be done 3-4
days later.
If, on the third session, the hair has no signs of eggs or
lice, then one can stop the treatments. After any one of the
three procedures that the mother uses, the lice comb should
then be thoroughly washed and/or soaked in alcohol. Any lice
remaining between the teeth can easily be removed with an old
toothbrush. Prevention then consists of a quick one-minute
comb out with the fine-toothed comb every night before bed.
This must be done before bed, as any new, mature egg- laying
lice that may have come into the child's hair that day will
lay their eggs at night. In the morning, a shpritz of
synthetic vinegar on the hair before school should help to
keep away any new lice. The child may complain of smelling
like a salad but the smell does leave after a half hour.
While many people have been successful with shpritzing half
Listerine mouthwash and half water, this has found to be
inflammable and may present a danger. For many years,
rosemary oil/conditioners were found to help keep the head
clean from new lice; however, there are now many reports of
lice immunity to rosemary. Tea tree and eucalyptus oil have
been used for the past few years and it may just be a
question of time before there is immunity, if it has not
already happened. Many say that a diet of sugary junk foods
causes the lice to thrive while a vitamin filled healthy diet
helps keep them at bay. However, the main deterrent must
remain thorough cleaning to remove every last egg and the
daily one-minute comb-through.
This may seem like a lot of work for a couple of hours. But
to be lice free after an epidemic produces a tremendous sense
of accomplishment. Some people report that it gives the
mother good bonding time with the daughter and it certainly
teaches patience to both mother and daughter. Because the
success of the method rests on its thoroughness, it is
probably best to go at least one time to a specialist to see
the procedure and to enjoy the treat of someone doing your
work for you. In Jerusalem, Mrs. Moskowitz (537-8012) allows
the mother to observe her daughter's treatment. She even
makes it an enjoyable visit by talking soothingly to her
child clients and giving them the type of prize that the
dentist gives towards the end of their visit. In other cities
around the world, it is worthwhile to seek out those who are
expert in this method. Happy hunting.
