Headlice (merged)

bootman

:eek: I have just found a couple of wriggly things in my sons hair and some gray eggs I presume.

He is 9 so weve not done bad to only just have picked it up I guess.

Too late tonight to get some stuff, but please can you tell me the best product to buy tomorrow please to get rid of them. Also any tips.

Many thanks

juno

hey are horrible. There's a big long thread here that should help though!

Poppy9

What's he still doing up at this time:eek:

You have all the stuff you need at home. Water, comb and your finger nails.

First rule is that the louses cannot move when wet so wash his hair. Apply some conditioner to make the hair softer and harder for them to grip to. Rinse out though as it will make the eggs hard to see.

Work quickly through the hair (you are so lucky it's a boy as the hair is short) and try to catch the live lice. If you don't have a nit comb then use your fingers with a bit of tissue. Have a water spray to hand to totally imobilise them.

The eggs will be little things next to the scalp. Pick them off the hair strand with your finger nails.

Repeat for a few days to ensure you get all the eggs.

You could get some tea tree oil tomorrow and add a few drops to shampoo as some say it repels the blighters to help prevent re infestation.

Don't forget to tell the school and if you know the parents of the boys/girls your son sits next to ring them to tell them "you are very sorry that you've sent your son to school with head lice etc". They will take the hint and check their kids hair!

Quackers

Hi Bootman,

There is a massive thread here about headlice and suggestions on treatment.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=84524&highlight=headlice


Personally, we've always found a product called nice 'n clear works really well on our girls and it hasn't got any harmful chemicals in.

Theres also a good website by the nice 'n clear people :

www.lice.co.uk - full of good info

Happy nit hunting

pink_phantom

Are you sure they are nits. There are lots of horride black midges around at the moment.

Once treated, a few drops of tea tree oil in the final rinse every time the hair is washed should help prevent further infestation.

Davidboy

Don't worry is the first thing. My daughter has had lice once in her life when she was 9, never had them since she is 18 now.

My wife dealt with it, but her remedy was....
Don't bother with all the so called de-licers. Most do not work anyway as the lice are ammune to most of them.
Get yourself a nit comb and lots of hair conditioner.

Wash his hair, then puts loads and loads on conditioner on it and comb through with a nit comb. Make sure you partition the hair so you do not miss any parts, pay particular attention to the back of the head and behind the ears. You will need to do this everyday until you see no more eggs. Might take a week or so.

The conditioner acts like a grease agent and stops the little blighters from hanging onto the hair strands.

My daughther had very long hair at the time, so took ages to get them all put, but I assume your lad has short hair so should not take very long.

All the best, and don't panic the poor lad, it's not his fault or yours.

D

bootman

Thanks everyone.

He is asleep now Poppy9. It's so hot tonight that he could not sleep. I was stroking his head when I spotted the suspects.

I cant find the nit comb he got when he started school all thise years ago, so I will have to buy one in the morning.

I think we are early stage as I only found 2 wrigglers but quite a few eggs. I picked as many as I could out.

I have douced him in tea tree oil for now. All of this has made me itch so I have put a load of tea tree oil in my hair.

Thanks again for the quick replies. I will read through the long thread posted.

Peakma

Go to the doctors and ask for a nitty gritty head comb,they are excellant 100 times better than the useless plastic ones.You can get them on prescription now and kids prescriptions are free.theres a letter you can download on their site to show the Dr.http://www.nittygritty.co.uk/ng/index.jsp I get my kids in the bath wash hair,and comb through with lots of conditioner,untill they're all gone.good luck.
In my experience none of the chemical formulas work anymore,and combing is the only way.Touch wood we've not had any for a long time.

sugarspunsister

Dettol & White Vinegar!

When I was in Australia, my two nephews (age 6 & 7) were suffering with head lice (a really common school problem 'cos of the climate)... My sister always lathers as much dettol into their hair as they can stand - then she rinses it out with white vinegar... I presume this kills anything that's alive. She then lets the kid's hair dry naturally (they stink for a bit mind!).

Before putting them to bed, she puts baby oil on their hair to make it slippy and combs out any eggs she comes across.

Of course, really important to is to make sure that you wash any bed clothes, towels, baseball caps... anything that comes in contact with their hair - and soak combs and brushes in dettol before thoroughly examining them for anything nasty.

Of course, everyone in the family should be treated at the same time.

chugalug

I've just had to do all this again. My son's got long hair so a bit of a nightmare. I'm hoping its the last time cos he's going to secondary school this year...........