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April 9, 2012

Doodle Bugs! Standard of the Week: 04/9/12

This week’s SOTW includes recommendations for preventing the spread of head lice, an unpleasant but common occurrence in schools.

No-Lice Advice:

• Remove stuffed animals from your classroom.
• Launder dress up clothes and other fabric items weekly & as needed.
• Never share sheets, blankets or other personal items.
• Check cubbies throughout the day. One child’s belongings (coat, hat, etc.) can not touch another child’s belongings.

In addition to the above mentioned classroom practices, we would also like to recommend the following:

• Everyone — Use (preventatively) a daily shampoo or conditioner that contains rosemary and/or tea tree oil. Those scents are unattractive to lice. Suave makes a cheap but good one (Rosemary & Mint).
• Everyone — Use hair products. Hair that is ‘sticky’ from gel or hairspray is more difficult for lice to ‘attach’ to.
• Anyone who actually *has* nits or lice — If reluctant to treat with the chemical shampoos, the ‘Nuvo Treatment’ is a great alternative. It uses three applications of Cetaphil Cleanser to encapsulate and kill the lice. (http://www.nuvoforheadlice.com/method_explained.htm)

While an unpleasant topic, every bit of ‘prevention’ is time well spent! As always, a copy of this SOTW will be posted for families to see as well as in the faculty lounge and in each classrooms’ mail slot. Thank you all for your attention to the doodle details!

View the current SOTW as a .pdf here: 040912_Lice