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Community Corner

This Mom Is Very Picky About Lice

Logan Steiner has made a profession out of eliminating every mother's worst nightmare: the dreaded louse.

When 2008’s economic downturn hit Logan Steiner’s family, the aspiring writer and mother of two needed to make ends meet. Drawing on her background as a registered nurse and midwife, she found a job as a professional nitpicker. Distressed by the desperation and misinformation that plagued her clients, she also found an unlikely calling.

As the founder of “Nit Nix,” Steiner's mission is to “ … empower parents in lice control through education and hands-on training.” It is a mission she fulfills every day with compassion and enthusiasm. I should know. My family was recently blessed with three heads full of lice and a visit from Steiner.

In contrast to other lice removal services that charge by the hour to simply comb through your family’s locks, Steiner makes it a point to thoroughly educate moms in prevention and eradication. She also makes it a point to reach out to schools. A longtime El Marino parent, she’s led education and support seminars there and at El Rincon, and intends to spread the word throughout Culver City Unified and the entire South Bay. 

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Steiner offers these 10 tips to start the school year off with less lice anxiety:

  1. If your kids get lice, don’t fret. It’s not your fault. It doesn’t mean you’re dirty or have poor hygiene.
  2. It also doesn’t mean you have to dismantle the house. A hot wash/dry cycle will kill the bugs in your bedding and a vacuum will remove them from furniture and rugs.
  3. If you want to be super thorough, you can bag the kids’ furry animals in plastic for two weeks—or you can throw them in a hot dryer.
  4. Because lice do not crawl, leap or fly, they are almost always found on someone’s head.
  5. Lice can live only 48 hours off the scalp, and eggs will not hatch off the scalp.
  6. If the kids have lice, chances are that mom does too. Dads seem to have a better chance of avoiding infestation. On the one hand, it may be the testosterone. On the other, Steiner says, it may be the cuddling.
  7. Not everyone with lice itches. It’s an allergic reaction to the bug’s saliva and some people are more sensitive than others.
  8. Unfortunately, lice have become resistant to the majority of over-the-counter remedies, so the only sure bet is the laborious process of lint-combing.
  9. If, over several days of regular lint-combing, you don’t get every louse and nit, you’re setting yourself up for another round of treatment.
  10. That is why Steiner strongly advocates a lint comb in every house and a monthly scalp inspection as part of every family’s routine.

For more information about Logan Steiner, go to Nitnix.com.

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To learn about lice throughout human history, watch this fascinating segment on PBS’s Nova Science Now.

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