Lice is NOT an "Awkward Hall of Shame" Moment

Recently, the Doctor Oz show presented "Dr. Oz's Awkward Hall of Shame: Your Most Humiliating Health Disasters." Among the "disasters" was a woman who got head lice from her children. Putting aside the gross inaccuracy of portraying head lice as a "humiliating health disaster," the good doctor gave out several bits of misinformation which set back my mission to properly inform and prepare families to deal with head lice.

Here is the video of the unfortunate segment: http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/dr-ozs-awkward-hall-shame-your-most-humiliating-health-disasters?video_id=3547276504001

Here is a list of the inaccurate information dispensed by America's favorite on-air medical professional:

• It is not easy to see nits (lice eggs) in blonde hair. Most blonde hair is comprised of several shades and tones which helps to mask the nits. In fact, most people agree that nits are easiest to see on dark hair.

• Lice is not terrifying, mortifying or embarrassing. It is a fact of life when you live with children of school age. More and more, people understand that lice is not a sign of poor hygiene or economic status. It is no more "mortifying" than strep or a stomach virus. Perpetuating the stigma in this way only makes the problem worse.

• Lice do not grow as they eat. I think Dr. Oz has them confused with ticks. Lice grow when they shed their exoskeleton and advance to the next stage of development. There are 3 stages of nymph before the louse is a mature adult capable of reproducing.

• There are not "hundreds" of bugs right away. It takes time for an infestation to reach the point of hundreds of bugs.

• "Lice Shampoos" that he talks about are not shampoos at all, they are pesticides. They are also becoming less and less effective as head lice evolve resistance to these products. They do not kill nits...he got that right!

• Despite his demonstration, nits cannot be removed with any old fine toothed comb. A special nit comb is needed to remove nits. To see that a really effective comb looks like click here

• Semantics but: the plural of louse is not "louses" it is LICE!

• The mousse products do not make nits "slippery," they actually do very little at all. In my experience, it is best to comb dampened hair with a little detangler and nothing more.

• Washing items does not help get rid of lice. 20-30 minutes on high heat in the dryer is ALL that is needed to kill any live bug that might possibly be hitchhiking on an item.

For more accurate information, visit my website: http://www.njlicelady.com