Stay ahead of those nits with ‘Facts of Lice’ app

Do you wish you could find out about outbreaks of head lice in your neighborhood or school before your child comes home scratching furiously?

Well, now there’s an app for that. “The Facts of Lice” is a free app now available at the iTunes app store – helping make lice prevention a little easier.

“With 85 percent of school districts reporting lice, busy parents need to be informed about outbreaks in their own communities as quickly as possible,” says Risa Barash, founder of Fairy Tales Hair Care, a leader in natural lice prevention products. “The Facts of Lice app allows parents to track lice outbreaks in their own neighborhood so they’ll know when it’s time to increase prevention efforts at home.”

Since most of the 12 million cases of head lice reported each year are found in preschool and elementary school, the new iPhone app is perfect for the entire school year.

The app provides parents with a thorough database of outbreak notifications, which are tracked by state and ZIP code. Parents can even report outbreaks and access prevention and removal tips.

Preventing lice is far less challenging than getting rid of them, especially with such a useful tool. In addition to paying attention to local outbreaks, parents must teach their children the keys to lice prevention. Classrooms are the perfect environment to help spread head lice. Remind your young kids of the following preventive tips:

• Don’t share hats, combs, pillows or helmets. Lice can survive off a human head for up to 36 hours.

• Keep long hair braided or in a pony tail. If you’re in contact with infected areas, it’s especially important to minimize all encounters.

• Don’t wash your hair daily. Lice prefer clean, non-oily hair. Washing your hair once every other day allows natural oils to collect on the hair shaft. This makes your hair healthier and harder for lice to attach themselves.

• Use hair care infused with herbs such as rosemary, citronella and tea tree – each has been shown to help repel head lice.

Learn more about lice prevention or the iPhone app at www.fairytales haircare.com.