QuoteReplyTopic: client with nits advice please!!! Posted: June 01 2006 at 11:21am
hiya, i have just had a very distraught client on the phone asking what she is to do as she has caught nits off her daughter!
i have offerd to take the extensions out so she can treat her hair and reapply for free as im not sure if you are suposed to treat the hair with extensions in..?
she has bohyme hair and it is installed with micro rings.
anyone had the same happen to them or can offer me any advice..?
thanx in advance xx
Edited by nicey - June 01 2006 at 11:21am
louxx
kristie m
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She doesn't have just nits, which are the shells, she has HEAD LICE!!! I'm not an expert here but when I dealt with some kids in a group home who had it I know we had to use a very harsh treatment shampoo and then meticulously comb out every one of those nits with a nit comb because they were the active lice eggs and would hatch into more head lice if even one got left behind. I would think with extensions one is prevented from being able to get a nit comb all the way from the root to the tip to comb out those eggs, so you'd likely have to take the extensions out, wait a bit to be sure the lice were all gone, then reinstall. EWWW!
Here's to the end of my BAD HAIR LIFE!
nicey
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It's not disgusting its comething that can't be helped, and lets remember nits like CLEAN hair.
You can get shampoos which kill nits and eggs but she would still have the dead things in her hair, so i woudl reccommend removing the extensions, treating her hair (and the extensions hair (you can condition it and comb it with a fine tooth comb instead of using harsh shampoo)) Then reapplying once her and her daughters lice are totally gone
xxx
kristie m
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I certainly wasn't implying that a person who has lice is disgusting. Clean people get them all the time from their kids. However, lice ARE gross and disgusting and nasty. Sorry. They are. And the thought of having lice crawling around through extension bonds is even worse. EWW!
Here's to the end of my BAD HAIR LIFE!
nicey
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thanx so you think it would be okay to reuse the extensions hair if it was treated aswell of course..? that would be a much better option as she has only had it installed about 6 weeks
and kristie i hear ya i didnt think you was being mean x
louxx
malibu
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Girl, I feel for you. I think lice is nasty!!! That doesn't mean the person with the lice is nasty but the lice on the person is nasty.
You're a good person for helping this lady out!
nicey
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I don't know how the law reads where you are from, but I know for a fact that the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology says that it's unsanitary and illegal to work on a client who has lice or nits.
As sad as it is, I would have to tell her that she can't come back into my salon until she is lice free, therefore she would have to remove the extensions herself. Those aren't my rules, it's the law.
first off tie your own hair back, lice like hair and they can jump!
wear gloves, fill up a basin of h2o and some lice shampoo- squirt on a bit of conditioner too, let it sit aside within reach while you take out her extensions, dropping each one in the basin of h2o and lice shampoo.
apply the lice shamppo into her hair at the shampoo bowl and follow directions.
Go back to your chair while she is at shampoo bowl and disenfect your chair and station- wipe it down with bleach and water mixture- wipe down all your tools as well, if she is draped with a cape, throw it away.
after her hair sits as directed with lice shampoo,use small comb to comb out nits, it is VERY time consuming and its really nothing to take lightly,
Lice is VERY contagious an spreads extremly fast-you could have it spread overnite if you are not careful.
the nits look almost clear like 1/8 size of a grain of rice. almos like clear dandruff.
after you are all done with her- disenfect your shampoo bowl with bleach and h2o mixture and throw away your comb as well.
dry her hair or send her homw to do this- where ver she sits- you MUST diesenfect! even if she sits in waiting area.
one of my friends daughters couldnt get the lice to stop reappearing, she had done 4 treatments, she ended up cutting off her daughters hair chin length.
once her hair is without nits, only then do u reinstall the extensions. after her extension hair sits wtih soultion as well, you will have to go thru each extension and do the same process, lice lives in hair that is alive, not dead, like extension hair, however, its very important that no lice gets anywhere.-
while its great u want to help- lice is nothing to take lightly- its highly spreadable, that is mainly why everyone is saying euuuwwww, not that she herself is dirty- its just a very nasty bug-
be careful and cautious and you and her will be fine.
when she is at home, what she needs to do is wash all bedding, pillows, and vaccum all her furniture- all stuffed animals need to be bagged up in trash bags and closed tight and put in garage for 30-45 days-
lice can reoccour if the nits are not removed or dead, they are stubborn little pests.
edited to say- metal is 100% right- i too am i so cali- years ago i had a kid come in with lice and we had to send them away- and yeah- i disenfected my whole salon!!!
you could always go to her house and sit on back porch and take them out.
Thanks for the info, Tangles... I KNEW it was much more of a complicated process than just combing the nits out of the hair. People I've known who had head lice had to disinfect their entire house before those suckers finally went away. Nasty little critters, those head lice! How awful it would be to be an extensionist who infected multiple clients because she hadn't totally disinfected her shop after working with someone with head lice! Or to be a client infected when she got extensions from a professional extensionist! Jeez. No wonder there are laws about not working with head lice-infected clients in your shop in some states. I'd be ready for a lawsuit if that were to happen to me.
Here's to the end of my BAD HAIR LIFE!
nicey
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okay i do not have a salon and normally work from home but....that is such a good idea to go to her house this lady has already done her own house and only wanted me to take the extensions out not treat the hair as that would kind gross me out a bit but i will pass the info on to her about how to treat her hair thanx.
as on the law for doing her hair with headlice i have no idea maybe i should look that up for the future..
the main reason i agreed to do her hair was i felt so sorry for her as she called me up and was distraught poor woman
i do have children of my own and would be gutted if my daughter caught them so i am deff gonna say i'll do a home visit im sure she will understand thanx again xx
I've had a couple of clients with lice. I had one where I was installing extensions and got as far up as her ear and saw one, I wondered what it was as I'd never seen one before, it sort of slithered up her hair strand, it was very very tiny, I thought I was seeing things. She saw my face and said "if its a crawler it'll be half dead cos I've had a treatment so don't worry about it". I was sure I'd got them and bought a treatment but never used it, just kept the hubby checking every day for two weeks and nothing. Now they don't phase me at all. Then I had another client who had only had her extensions in two weeks and caught lice off her daugther. I offered to take them out for her but she said she would never ask that of me.
Personally, this may sound snobby but if I caught head lice, I definitely wouldn't have the same extensions back in, there would be no flipping way. I find that scutty x
lol well what a thing eh!! ive just had a similar kind of problem with a clients daughter bless her!! i was cutting her hair when i noticed a few crawlers!! fortunately im hardened to them now with hairdressing for 20 odd years and always appear unphased when i encounter them, saving the client any embarrasment but i always have an itching fit afterwards(paranoia!!)even though i know i cant catch them unless my head is in contact with the offending head!!contrary to popular belief they dont jump,and cant jump. unlike animal fleas they have no back jumping legs and can only crawl and crawl very fast. ive inspected them under my microscope to make sure!! as long as your hair is out of the way you should be ok. they usually situate themselves around the ear area and nape of the neck as that is the warmest area on the scalp,so not all the hair will be affected. douse your hair in tea tree oil if youre really paranoid though as this repels them somewhat.if you need any other questions answering then there is a website www.headlice.org which will give you all the info you need. good luck chick!!
xxx Leanne
nicey
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thanx leelou ive already had an itching fit and i aint seen her yet..lol i have never seen a lice not on a head anyway my daughter has been very lucky not to catch them and shes 9 so we are doing well..lol so teatree and a good bobble should make me safe xx
louxx
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yes chick defo!! if the extension hair is affected then as long as its out of her hair and bagged up then it should be ok to reuse after a week as any headlice eggs that hatch out afterwards will die very quickly as they cant survive longer that 24 hours without human blood.oh my god im scaring myself that i know so much about such a grizzly subject!! yak yak yak!!!
xxx Leanne
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First of all I just wanted to say that all of you hairstylists are really amazing and sweet to be willing to help your clients out when they going through something as unpleasant as headlice.
This discussion just raised a question I had about the topic~ (It might seem like a bit of a daft question too, apologies), but I have nephews and would like to know just in case the situation ever comes up.
Some of you have mentioned that if someone or several people within a household ever found that they had headlice~ that as well as treating all the affected heads of hair, your home obviously needs to be treated as well to avoid re-infection.
Since headlice cannot live for more than 24 hours without human blood, couldn't you just leave your home for say 24 to 48 hours and that way you could be sure that all the 'crawlies' that might have gotten into your home had died off and then when you get back you could feel assured that they were all dead. Then maye be a good vacuuming, launder all your sheets, etc...
I'm just curious and wondering because two of my nephews who are ALWAYS in my home attend nursery school. The nursery school is obligated to let families know if there has been an outbread within the school. I know there have been several and although 'our' boys haven't had it, you never know.
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