Head lice! Done Hedrin, need advice!

[Molehillmountain]

Last night I treated our family with Hedrin-the two smalls with once fifteen minute gel and the rest of us with the eight hour repeat after a week stuff. But there still seem to be beasties in ds's hair. Might they be dead ones or do I need to treat again?

[PrisonerOfWaugh]

Nitty Gritty comb
Nitty Gritty comb
Nitty Gritty comb
Nitty Gritty comb

Oh and did I mention the Nitty Gritty comb?

[insancerre]

Use a nit comb and smother the hair in conditioner and work your way through the whole head in sections.
Start at the root and work your way down in one movement. Wipe the conditioner on a towel. This is the only way to remove them. It will take a while- I used to sit them in front of the tv to do it.
Keep doing this every couple of days until you no longer find any lice or eggs.
Then put it in to your weekly routine after bathtime to check. Prevention is much easier than treatment.

[tantrumsandballoons]

Can I second the nitty gritty comb which saved my sanity and stopped me shaving my daughters head

[ShowOfHands]

Is it really obvious when they have nits?

Sorry to hijack but they're going round dd's reception class and we've had letters home. I regularly condition dd's hair and comb it really well to check for lice. But I can't see anything. No creatures, nothing egg like.

[FreckledLeopard]

I found Hedrin etc to be fairly useless at eliminating the little buggers. Approach I took was first to get a nitty-gritty comb, second, to slather DD's hair in conditioner and then to comb every strand from scalp downwards, wiping comb each time and getting rid of all lice and eggs.

I found Nelson's leave-in 'Nice n Clear' conditioner worked very well too - you can buy it at Boots and it has useful things like tea tree oil in that seemed to work.

Basically, repeat combing (every 2 to 3 days for a week or so), leave in treatment and treating all family is probably best way to eliminate the lice. Hot wash all bedding too.

[iseenodust]

Nyda from pharmacist. I will mention this on every headlice thread because it works in one go on whole family. You can nitty comb and continue to share the blighters around or you can deal with it.

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

If you're combing it properly, as insancerre suggests, with a Nitty Gritty comb and it's showing clear, you can safely assume there's no nits.
If, by 'a good combing' you mean using a normal comb for a long time, that will neither show you whether nits are there nor get rid of any there are.
HTH .

[Molehillmountain]

have been combing in what I thought was the correct way weekly. With conditioner, sectioning and appropriate levels of protest. With nitty gritty. Nothing. Last night there was one section of dd's head that had a family of the things and ds had a couple too. What's gone wrong? Will obviously be doing it daily this week now, but don't want to muck it up again.

[Molehillmountain]

Could I have used too much conditioner? I did absolutely plaster the hair so that I was combing out spoonfuls of it.

[ohforfoxsake]

Just keep at it and make sure you go right from root to tip.

Use tea tree conditioner (I use Alberto balsam its about 1.30) and a nitty-gritty comb. Mine had a reaction to the very cheap Tesco stuff, so best avoided.

I have to say though, that since using Vosene nit shampoo, which is meant to repel the little buggers, we haven't had them.

[insancerre]

I used to smother the hair in conditioner. The key is to do it methodically and wipe the comb each time. I used a white face cloth as the lice are easier to see.

[ivykaty44]

olive oil

cheap easy and leaves hair and scalp lovely as well as nit free - then staighten hair for the eggs - google olive oil and head lice to get the low down on treatment.

Also remember that head lice eggs have a21 days to hatch and maybe you never got rid of them in the first place - miss one egg and the buggers start again.

[Molehillmountain]

Nice man on the Hedrin helpline said all the eggs I combed off ds this morning would have been dead, but glued on securely so difficult to get out. We'll see. Have left conditioner in-he'd reached the limits of his patience poor boy. More combing in a couple of days-I trust nothing except a head empty of beastly activity post nitty gritty combing. Going to hot wash bedding now. What would I have done with my day without the lice?

[RandomMess]

DVD and Sweets - runny conditioner straight onto dry haird, nitty gritty comb.

Mother of 4 dds with waist length curly hairs

Every 3-4 days is fine it's just to catch the hatchlings whose eggs managed to survive.

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

Weekly isn't enough - gives the young ones the chance to mature and lay. And daily probably gets you all so sick of it (and the DCs with sore scalps) that you give up before they're properly cleared.
I like the look of that Nyda. I've been battling with them for weeks now, with a 14 yo and an 11yo. Don't know whether it's my advanced age or theirs, but I just don't seem to have the same single-mindedness I used to have when they were little - or maybe it's because they have morning showers now rather than me hovering over them in the bath.
Hedrin only seems to do half a job - think I'll get me some of that there Nyda stuff.

[Molehillmountain]

So-once we've got rid of this lot, how often should I do a check-by which I mean a section by section comb with conditioner? Surely not usually every three days? I might lose the will to comb but if it's needed...

[EmptyCrispPackets]

Try a few drops of tea tree oil in the hair every day, DS had them weeks ago used cheap conditioner and the nitty gritty comb. Went to health food shop and lady recommended the tea tree, he's not had any since apart from the few days I forgot to use it and the things came back.

[doormat]

when my dds were growing up..i used to hack at their heads every sunday...no matter how many times i nitty combed, put lotion on dd2 always suffered from them...

it was like she was a breeder..horrible things

[MelanieGT]

Here is some light relief for you and your children...... thegoodlicecentre.co.uk/7.html

[Smurfy1]

I used Full marks (the one with no pesticide) and it killed them all in 30 mins an still checking every week with comb though

Shudder

[MarkGruffalo]

Hello Chrissiem

Excellent post. A couple of questions...

1. What do you know about the effect of hair dye on the little buggers?
   
2. The bug buster salons do high temp heating in sections. What is your experience of hair drying or hair straightening?
   
3. Effect of alcohol for eg. in Lysterine?
   

as you can see I am desperate. I am breastfeeding and have a little one so need natural remedies. Have an older one also. Think we are now on our fourth case in a year and a half.
I use a comb away comb on the three of us (yes, baby too [) 2-3 times a week. Have been doing this since December 2010.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Have had no choice as prevention better than cure and we have had three cases in nearly two years. Used the nitty gritty (not as good as the comb away but just an opinion): Have also used hedrin mousse.

In two years have only found two actual adults though . Have found nymphs. And the hatchlings have been miniscule - absolutely tiny. Just very small dots (but attached to scalp or hair - thought maybe it was the droppings but from exp ten years ago now they look like the tiniest babies.

How the fiddledy-feck are these hatchlings appearing if I am never combing out or finding actual live crawling grown legs and everything lice?

Is there some undercover 007 James Bond louse who is using my eldest's scalp as a hop on hop off bus?

Am I really combing both kids 3 times a week forever or until they leave home I am aren't I?

Have combed us all through tonight. Eldest seems clear. Baby was doing a flea scratch which is what worried me but found two tiny dots in her hair.
Found six tiny dots in mine but no adults or nymphs. Just six little stragglers.

Why only six? (due to OCD combing as a norm?)
Or is six still an infestation? An adult lays loads surely?
Talking of which where the actual flip are the nymphs or adults?
DH shaves his head regularly. Could he still be a carrier in between or is it me- am I the carrier cos I am having to comb my own not as well as the kids probably
Could headlice go on holiday in chest hair?They couldn't could they?

In a nuclear war all that will survive is fecking flies, headlice and cockroaches. The hardiest of these will still be headlice even when they have no hosts they will mutate into living off I don't know what something!!!



as you all were

[BonzoDooDah]

Chrissiem thanks - if the dead eggs are brown (I thought they were the live ones) and the empty ones are white, what do the live eggs look like?

And Showofhands no it is not obvious when you look for headlice at first. I checked DD's head and didn't find any. Then I started itching and found I had them. then combed DD's head and found she did have them after all. She has dark hair and cradlecap (at 4yo still) and I couldn't find lice or eggs at first by eye. Now I know what I'm looking for I can spot the eggs better but never a live louse. So I'd comb if you're not sure.

[meditrina]

Nyda has exactly the same ingredients as Hedrin. Like Full Marks also, it has a smothering effect.

[KatAndKit]

Don't bother with Lyclear. The little buggers appear to be resistant to it.