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How to Stay Lice Free in 2019 from Knoxville Lice Clinic

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For decades, the standard of care for head lice has focused on reactive treatment using pesticide-based products. “Head lice has been associated with poor hygiene or dirty homes and has had mortified parents treating the nuisance in secret, often to no avail,” said Jennifer Fribourg, owner of Knoxville Lice Clinic.

“That’s changing as the medical and educational communities have taken steps to bring head lice out of the darkness of fear and ignorance,” Jennifer Fribourg said. “Now we focus on education, prevention, and pesticide-free solutions when head lice are found.”

Indeed, the internet is full of homespun advice on how to treat head lice, urging parents to use everything from mayonnaise to kerosene to kill the bugs. Home remedies people recommend range from laughable to downright dangerous, and Knoxville Lice Clinic is bringing the latest science and medicine to the forefront of the battle against head lice.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that one in five children under 12 years old have head lice,” Jennifer Fribourg said, “and that it has nothing to do with cleanliness or hygiene. We can also tell you from experience that head lice don’t discriminate, and that people from all walks of life come to our clinic and leave lice-free.”

“We are also adamant about not using pesticide-based products that don’t work—products that can be worse than the condition they are trying to treat,” Jennifer said. “Studies published in medical journals have found that 98 percent of head lice in much of the world are now resistant to the pesticides used in traditional lice products, and these pesticides have been linked to behavioral and developmental problems in children.”

Preventive products include sprays, conditioners, and shampoos that can be used daily or weekly at bath time and act as a lice repellent. All of the products use essential oils and inert gels that contain no harmful chemicals.

To learn more or to schedule an appointment, email info@knoxvilleliceclinic.com, or call (865) 245-5353. 

Don't feel bullied because of head lice

Bullied Because of Head Lice? We can fix it.

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October is National Bullying Prevention Month. A recent survey shows that many parents feel bullied because of head lice in the family.  Knoxville Lice Clinic wants to help take the pressure off parents struggling with the stress and embarrassment of head lice.

Parents are nervous about head lice because they think they will be shamed.  A OnePoll survey of 2,000 U.S. parents found that 52 percent of parents feel judged by other moms and dads when their child comes home with head lice.  There is a long-held and long-debunked idea that head lice are associated with poor hygiene.  The medical world has busted this myth, but the perception persists. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, ‘Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home or school has nothing to do with getting head lice.

Children get head lice from other children, plain and simple. The primary way lice spread is through head-to-head, hair-to-hair contact. Head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice.

One reason that parents dread head lice when lice enter their lives is that the bugs have become very difficult to treat. Traditional lice treatment products, when they work, require weeks of application and hours of tedious nitpicking. Unfortunately, those traditional products rarely work. Many parents try and fail to treat head lice with those products because head lice have become immune to the chemical pesticides in them. The most recent study in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that “super lice” comprise 98 percent of head lice in most U.S. states.  Also, the pesticides used in lice products have been linked to developmental and behavioral problems in children.

The Good News

The good news is that Knoxville Lice Clinic can help!

Lice don’t cause or carry diseases, so in the vast majority of cases, they are not a health concern.  You can now be done with head lice in about an hour and a half. A simple problem has finally met a simple solution—no more feeling bullied because of head lice!

To learn more or to schedule an appointment, email info@knoxvilleliceclinic.com , or call (865) 245-5353.

At Home Comb Outs

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We offer our product line for curbside pickup or shipped directly to your house! To order, visit our online store.  Every purchase comes with over the phone lice advice from one of our trained clinicians.

 

There are several reasons a family doesn’t want to get a full treatment. Our commitment to our community is to get and keep everyone lice free, and we are willing to do whatever to takes to achieve that. We sell everything that we use in our in-clinic services.

 

Here’s a quick run through for those of you at home. The comb out procedure is the same one that we use here, for both head checks and comb outs.

 

Basic Instructions

  • Divide hair into four portions and clip to keep it out of the way. Measure the middle part from the forehead above the nose to the middle of the neck, and side to side from ear to ear.
  • Start at the bottom of the head, right above the neck. Take down and comb portions of an inch at a time. Put the hair above it back in the clip so you won’t get it mixed up.  Comb using our Slippery Nit Saline Spray or dry.
  • This MUST be done every day. Try to go through the entire head. It will take between 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of the head.
  • The first day you apply goop is Day 1. Comb through the hair every day until you have had four comb-outs without finding a nit. On days 1, 10 and 20, use KLC Treatment Goop. This will kill anything that might have hatched from a missed nit. 

Things To Remember!!

  • The flat of the comb must touch the scalp. Lice lay eggs as close to the skin as possible, so you have to get as close as you can to the skin to get all the nits. 
  • Comb downwards, through the previous section. This ensures you won’t miss nits at the part lines. 
  • When you start the next section, make sure you get the part line. 
  • At the end, go over “hot spots” again (behind the ears, all along the hair line, the center part line). 

KLC Treatment Goop needs to cover every hair from root to tip. Make sure you cover the wispy hairs around the face and neck.  Wash out with KLC Clarifying Shampoo.

One Marvelous Lice-Free Year!

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This weekend marks one year since we opened our doors! Thank you to each and every one of you we have seen. You let us be a part of your family while you are here, and we truly enjoy helping our customers.

Here are some things we’ve done in the last year:

  • seen 605 families
  • checked over 1,000 heads!
  • done 717 Signature or Express treatments
  • employ 5 people from our community
  • checked and treated (for free) families in our community who could not otherwise afford it via our Easter Lice Egg Hunt
  • taught many how to do at-home comb-outs with our products to get lice free

On a personal note, we have made some great friendships here. Our clients notice that these are not just my coworkers, these are my friends. As much as you let us hang out with your family, you are hanging out with mine. This started as a job and became a passion project for all of us, and I am very grateful to have a place like this in my life.

They say that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Our customers and my fellow employees make it so I get paid to have fun, and I’m glad I get to continue this for another year.

Pets and head lice

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We get a lot of people asking about their pets and head lice. Don’t worry, your pet cannot get head lice! Head lice are a completely human problem. Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, horses, or any other member of the animal kingdom: none of them can catch lice. Your fur babies are safe 🙂

Lice only live on humans, they aren’t found anywhere in the world except on people’s heads. That’s part of why it is always “lice season.” Those tiny monsters are passed from person to person around your community forever. Head lice have certain requirements to survive, which include a human food source, as well as a certain temperature and humidity to hatch eggs and support the newly hatched lice. Your pet can’t provide these things, so lice won’t live there. Thank goodness! Can you imagine brushing a sheepdog with a nit comb?

Once your family has been professionally treated and your laundry is done, you are all done! You can go ahead and love on your dog or cat as much as you want, and know that you can’t catch lice from your pet.

Lice Treatment Myths 101

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We get a lot of people on Facebook asking about lice treatments, and there is a lot of misinformation on the internet! Here are some myths I’ve seen lately:

  • Listerene – doesn’t help. You’ll smell minty fresh, but it dries out your scalp and won’t kill many hatched lice.
  • Mayonnaise – while this a great hair moisturizing treatment, it won’t kill anything.
  • Olive/coconut oil – you’ll have shiny hair, but it doesn’t kill anything.
  • Saran Wrap over any of the above – keeping Saran Wrap over mayo or oil overnight is uncomfortable and can ruin your sheets, but won’t kill anything on your head.
  • Rid/Nix/prescriptions – include harmful pesticides and only kill unevolved lice (not “super lice”).
  • Kerosene – this one is the most dangerous. Not only will this not kill lice, but it can easily set on fire and cause permanent damage or death to you and your loved ones.

The only real way to get rid of lice without our nit killer is to comb out every single nit. This can take hours of work every day for weeks. Between work, kids in school, extra curricular activities, and the inability to properly comb out your own head, this means a simple lice problem can last for months and interfere with every aspect of your life.

Our Headwinds device will leave you free to live your lice-free life. Feel free to check out other sections of our site to learn more! We are also on Facebook, Instagram, and answer emails and phone calls within 24 hours. We are committed to getting and keeping our community lice free.