Headlice (merged)

clarabella23

If you cant get to your gp, you can get Hedrin from your local pharmacy as part of the 'minor ailments' schemes. All you need is your childs NHS number.

patchwork_cat

I have heard that hair straighteners are great for getting rid of lice - suppose it fries them!! I am surprised that a 16 year old would have a problem - I believe that the nitty gritty is the only comb that will remove the egg cases.

If you do comb through you need to repeat every 4 days for 16 days in order to get newly hatching lice before they can re-lay.

Home Bargains did do a leave in nit spray.

Mrs_Moc

My 15 YO had these last week, we used the nitty gritty comb,Hedrin and teas tree shampoo, but I literally took each hair and checked to make sure there was no eggs left. I had to take most of them out with my fingers as the comb didnt get them all. Not a pleasant job, but I knew this was the only way to insure it didnt become a repeat problem.

I did the same every 3 days, there is not so much as an eggshell left!

Thankfully at her age, she can try to make sure she doesnt have any head to head contact in school with anybody again. Im also insisting her hair is plaited for school.

sovereign

Mrs Moc is right. You need to comb the hair with a nit comb every 3 days to break the cycle for at least two weeks religiously. Use tea tree shampoo and conditioner as it deters new lice. Wash all bedding and pillows to stop new ones getting in. Do not use harsh chemicals as these are harmful.

herewegoagain2010

My eldest daughter has had nits a couple of times from school. I check her hair every morning and afternoon after school. The thought of them really freaks me out so I use the old wives anti-nit recipe. My mum used it on me 30+ years ago. You simply mix the oils together and then lightly rub a little of the oil into the whole scalp. Leave it for 10minutes an then shapooo as normal. Speaking from experience, you only need a tiny amount to do the whole head, or else it'll make hair greasy.

1 part Lavender Oil
1 part Tree Tree Oil
1 part Eucalyptus Oil
50 parts Carrier Oil (Almond etc, but be careful of nut allergies)

Mix all oils together and then treat as directed every 5-6 weeks. It seems quite expensive getting the oils, but when you see far much you use on a treatmen, it'll last years. Touch wood neither of my chidlren have been re-infected since and bearing in mind that my daughters school has real problem. When you smell it you'll understand why! lol.

adzw1001

There is a deal running at the moment for the X.it headlice treatment. it's normally £12.99 plus delivery but its now £4.99 including delivery on their website whilst stocks last.

I've used once before and it worked great so would definately recommend its worth trying whilst cheap.!!

purplepatch

I work in a primary school plus have a 6yo daughter who has a particularly bad nitty class, so I am something of a headlice expert unfortunately lol.

Just been reading this thread and thought I would clarify a couple of points.

The eggs that you see in the hair, ie tiny white specks that are glued to the hair shaft - there is absolutely no point in laboriously trying to remove these as they are eggs that have hatched. Apart from them not looking very nice, they are harmless.

Also, the bug buster kit plastic combs are much kinder than the metal nitty gritty combs - they have a yellow comb for removing lice and there is also a purple comb that gets rid of the egg shells if you wish to do so, my dd says the purple one is more painful - she doesn't mind the yellow one at all though. We do a preventative comb through every week as part of her hairwashing routine just to make sure she hasn't got them back again. It only takes me 5 minutes and I think it's worth the effort, plus her hair is beautifully shiny due to all that conditioning.

One last point, if you find your child does have lice, there is no need to subject them to a comb through every day, every fourth day for four or five sessions will do the trick as it covers the whole life cycle. As you should remove all the adult lice at the first comb through, newly hatched lice are not mature enough to lay new eggs until I think it is around day seven of their life, so you are fine to give it a few days between sessions as all you are doing are removing freshly hatched eggs and will only find tiny lice on the comb. If you find any large juicy adults midway through the sessions, it is because your child has been reinfected, not because the treatment isn't working.

Unfortunately there are always manky lazy parents who ignore the problem or who are just plain ignorant, so headlice will always be a huge ongoing problem, you just have to learn how best to keep them at bay

xmaslolly76

My son has his head shaved if there lice going around my daughter is a different story though you cant really shave a girls head. i always found adding teatree oil to her shampoo helped keep them at bay but if she did catch them then gallons of cheap conditioner and combing through every night was the only way to get rid completely.

She used to have a friend at school who's mother never bothered treating her head you could literally see them crawling through her hair the poor kid took me months to get rid of DD's as she kept getting them again as soon as she played with the other girl. I do think the school should get involved with cases like that its not fair on the other children or parents. Thankfully she changed school and neither her or her brother have had them for years now :-)

uolypool

Hi I have just had the unfortunate task of checking through my daughters hair , she has spent the last week at a friends house as I have unfortunately had a massive fibro flareup and spent the last week practically asleep 24/7 anyway she came back and was scratching like a goodun so she washed her hair in the shower and then i went through it and feel like her head must've been "home" to hundreds of headlice:eek:.Now i know she definately didn't have them when she went ,that Is one thing that is checked EVERY time she washes her hair being a 12 year old girl this is practically every day so in the last 6 or 7 days she hasn't had her hair checked as she hasn't been here and she has become infested :mad: I've never seen it so bad before , usually i use the conditioner and comb method as she has sensitive skin but with there being so many think i may need something stronger personally i would prefer to use a natural home made remady rather than harsh chemical type lotion,does anyone have a home made nit banishing remady.please

bertiebots

I know lots of people recommend various products you can buy at the chemist but I find that the only way I have succesfully go rid of them in my dd's hair is by combing. Get yourself a big bottle of tea-tree conditioner and do it every day until they are gone. Usually I would do it every 3 days but as you say she is really bad , poor girl, just keep doing it. They will hate the tea-tree and you will catch any hatchlings as they appear.