Many summer camps are opening up for the season, and it’s safe to say that kids (and parents!) are looking forward to it! After being home since March due to Covid, many families have struggled to balance work and family. Now that schools and summer camps are opening back up, parents can work while their kids have fun playing outdoors and seeing their friends.
Summer camps will have new guidelines to follow, such as keeping kids in small groups and screening camp goers for symptoms of illness. As camps apply these new protocols, it’s also a good time to discuss ways to prevent head lice.
Is Head Lice Preventable in Summer Camps?
Head lice are never 100% avoidable, but there are effective ways to lower the chances of them spreading across your camp. As long as you’re implementing the new guidelines, now is a great time to start a lice prevention program as well. In fact, it should be much easier to follow this plan because kids are in smaller groups and practicing social distancing.
Here are some of the steps we recommend taking to reduce the incidence of head lice in your camp:
Avoid having kids touch heads.
Lice are mainly spread through head-to-head contact. Typically, it’s hard to keep kids away from each other in packed spaces, but this should be easier under the new guidelines. Experts recommend no more than 11 campers in one group and that the same group stays together all week. Use this time to enforce distancing requirements – this will automatically stop kids from touching heads.
Encourage kids to wear their hair tied back.
Another helpful thing parents can do to prevent head lice is keep their child’s hair tied back. If one child has a lice infestation, it’s easier for lice to crawl over to another head if the hair is exposed. Tying the hair back keeps it out of campers’ faces, helps them stay cool and prevents the spread of lice – triple win!
Educate kids and parents on how to stay lice free.
Lastly, educate kids, parents and staff on how to stay lice free. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this alone (more on this below!). One of the problems with lice is that there are many myths and misconceptions that confuse parents. For example, many people still think that lice only happen to “dirty” people. In reality, lice have nothing to do with being clean or dirty – anyone who has hair can get them.
Schedule Summer Camp Lice Screenings
My Hair Helpers offers lice screenings for summer camps and you’ll love everything we have to offer! We make it easy to keep your camp lice free, as well as prevent re-infestation if you’re currently experiencing a problem. Here are some benefits you can expect from our cost-effective screenings:
- One-stop solution. Our head lice experts will check every camper’s hair for lice. If we find them, we can provide treatment on the spot. (We call the parents and they can pay over the phone). All products are safe and non-toxic for all ages!
- Education. Not sure how to talk to your families about lice? No problem! Let our head lice experts educate children and families on the lice lifecycle, symptoms to watch for and ways to stop their spread.
- Proprietary products. As a family owned business, we try to keep things as simple as possible for our customers. If the parents of a child with lice prefer to do things on their own, they can purchase our products on Amazon or schedule their own appointment with us.
To learn more about the summer camp lice screenings from My Hair Helpers, contact us today. We look forward to keeping your camp healthy and lice free this summer!
