When we send our kids off to summer sleepaway camp, we warn them about poison ivy and sunburn, reassure them that they’ll make friends and hope that they won’t get too homesick. At lot of parents don’t even think about lice at summer camp. The campers aren’t allowed to keep food in their cabins to protect against ants, so of course camps are taking measures against other invaders.
The problem is that lice aren’t like other bugs. They hide in the hair, close to the scalp where they’re hard to spot. And the cleaner your kid’s hair is, the more lice will like it. Lice can’t jump, but they can crawl onto hats, hairbrushes and pillow cases and live for up to 2 days waiting to crawl onto a new head. And unlike ants, you can’t just attack them with bug spray.
But there are ways to keep your child lice free even at camp.
The first step is teaching them not to share. I’m not saying we want our kids to be greedy. There are plenty of things they should keep sharing. But they should never share items that lice like to hang out on, such as:
- hair brushes
- helmets
- hats
- pillows
- scarves
- jackets
That goes for all the time, not just at camp. But the camaraderie that sleepaway camp creates makes it easy for kids to forget to keep their baseball caps to themselves.
Tea tree oil is the strongest natural repellant of lice, and can scare away lice as they start crawling onto your child’s head. Hair products that contain tea tree oil are a great defense when kids unknowingly share infested items. So Cozy Boo! Shampoo and Conditioner contain tea tree oil to repel lice. If your kid didn’t take some to camp, consider bringing some along on visiting day.
But Cozy, you just told us that our kids need Swimmer’s Shampoo to prevent summer damage.
That’s true. The exact combination of products you use on your child’s tresses depends on a variety of factors. Boo! shampoo and conditioner work great together and back each other up. If your kid forgets to use the conditioner, they still have the shampoo working for them. If your child has come home from camp in past years without much damage to their hair, and they’re likely to forget about conditioner, then they’re better off with Boo! shampoo. But if your kid always come home from camp with summer damaged hair, and can be trusted to remember to use spray-in conditioner, then they should use Swimmer’s shampoo and Boo! conditioner to cover all their bases. Older kids can alternate Boo! shampoo and Swimmer’s shampoo while using Boo! conditioner–tell them to use Boo! most of the time, then switch to Swimmer’s shampoo when they’ve been swimming or their hair is feeling coarse.
On visiting day, and when the kids come home at the end of camp, check their hair for lice before the little pests can crawl onto your things and infect the rest of the family. Look for red, itchy bumps on the scalp as well as the bugs themselves. If you find them, ask your pediatrician for the best treatment.
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