I vacuumed my hair trying to get rid of lice

I am going to try this out!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Conditioner and oils work as lice don't have lungs, they breathe through pores on the outside of their exoskeleton. So anything that coats them will suffocate them, they cannot become resistant to that even if they are resistant to the chemicals in the treatments. I think it was Hedrin we used when DS caught them (fortunately just the once) and it was a very oily substance which did do the trick.

It's the most infuriating thing ever, the neglectful parents who won't treat their children and allow other kids to be re-infected over and over.

Threadworms are horrible too. I do not miss the primary years...

I considered head shaving! I don't think DS could tolerate it though unfortunately.

Nitty gritty metal comb, clear conditioner or conditioning spray. Tiny sections and comb. It used to take me at least two hours to do my hair every two days. Had to do it for a month to finally clear it. My dc were much simpler as treated them and shaved their heads (thier choice to avoid combing)

DS won't wash his hair so him getting headlice was something I'd been dreading.

He did let us use the Hedrin Once on the grounds it was that or we wouldn't be able to visit his cousins. Then just had to comb through dry hair a couple of times a day. Luckily the Hedrin sorted it as I didn't get anything. Then a month or six weeks or so later he picked them up in school again, but I'd been combing regularly so spotted the little buggers and treated for them early.

Hate them with a passion.

She’s combing them out. It is a treatment.

Yukkkkk . How how anyone carry on their life knowing their head is full if creepy crawling insects ? Get treatments , if one doesn’t work get another one straight away . How can you just leave it . 🤮

Ah nits! I feel for you OP. As a teacher for many years I had a lot of unhappy experiences. I have seen it all probably. The thing that used to amaze me were children who were absolutely crawling with nits but never ever scratched their heads! I reckon they had had nits from birth. @MonstrousSnob I have seen boys with their heads virtually shaved still with nits crawling on the tiniest short hairs. A hairdresser friend has seen them survive perm solution. So not sure about the vodka unless it gets them drunk and they fall off 😂.The only solution is constant combing with gallons of conditioner. Unfortunately we fought a losing battle against parents who were just unable or unwilling to try and treat head lice many just didn’t care their children had them. I still have a chronically itchy scalp sensitised from catching head lice years ago.

I read that less than two thirds of people with lice feel itchy! Some people don't react to the saliva.

I'm feeling itchy even without them (just thinking about them)

And yes, we did the conditioner thing every 2-3 days until no more of the buggers were found, no new nits etc. I actually never used the chemicals as I am a bit of an organic hippy type. But we always conquered them in the end.

That said, the two of us with thick hair always wear it short, the one with long hair has the fine version that DH had before he lost it. So no long thick curly hair. That must make the job a lot more onerous.

Just a word of warning (to all) if kids are regularly re-infected. Obviously it is most likely to be re-caught at school as the chances of every parent being totally on top of every infection all the time are - well nil, I imagine.

However it is possible that kids have also infected an older relative who is then returning the favour -and WHO MAY NOT FEEL ITCHY because of the way the immune system changes as we age, so has an ongoing infection.

So just something to look out for especially if kids see a lot of a dgm or similar.

Believe me, it's not about knots.

If you don't have thick hair you don't understand.

That is why you brush with a normal brush first to get the knots out.

Hedrin worked well for us

As an ex teacher with a lot of experience of head lice my suggestion would be vinegar, cheaper the better! Put it on your hair for as long as you can cope with kills the lice and dissolves the eggs.

Just finished combing after the hedrin 8h and didn't find anything in my own hair (dh smug because he'd insisted I was being paranoid).

The nitty gritty comb is agony to pull through my thick Asian hair though, I had to give up and use the cheap white nit comb.

I can't imagine using the nitty gritty comb on dry hair as suggested above, that must only work for fine straight hair (thankfully my dd has that)

Can I offer up the 20 year old trick that meant I NEVER got more than a few nits.
A nifty gritty comb. It has spiral teeth.
As soon as your child arrives home, you put out treats, a child friendly tv program and you brush their hair with a normal brush .
Next use the nitty comb.
It removes egg sacks as well...
No hair washing, just brush then comb.
If no nits. Good.
We did it every day after someone was out of the house, we never got caught out by an invasion.
If nits, bath and repeat.
By the way if you look at the roots when hair is wet you can see any big nits....

oh that's so sweet!

OP we used Hedrin once too on the 3 or 4 occasions my daughter picked them up. Used it overnight and not the 20 minutes recommended.

You need to treat everyone in the house and yourself to kill the lice. Comb out the eggs daily for a few days. And treat again a week or two later to be sure (google the exact time frame as I am not sure).

Where do they come from in the first place?

I hate lice.

They only thing that worked for us was full marks. Nitty gritty comb afterwards. Conditioner after that. Takes ages but worth it. My DD has 2 heads of hair according to hairdressers, lol! My DS never caught them and neither did his dad, but I caught them off my DD multiple times :(

I loved that 😂😂

I have curly hair, I can't believe your hair survived the hoovering! I'm sure mine would have been tangled to literal death had I done that.

Anyway, where households get stuck with chronic nits is when they fail to launder their pillows, bed sheets, clothes and hairbrushes, and anything else where hair comes into contact with. Lice can survive up to 48 hours off the scalp.

OolongTeaDrinker
yup diluted, and only a dab and still made him break out in a rash, but he has eczema and horrendously sensitive skin so had only tested it on one side anyway