Could head lice go extinct?

[Sophism1]

I had this thought that if everyone treated their heads (and children's heads) tomorrow... then surely head-lice could be obliterated?

Could this be possible?

I think I may have been starved of human interaction for too long 😂

in theory possibly yes.
but lazy fuckers will still not treat headlice properly.

I'm afraid i agree with the previous poster - yes in theory, unlikely in reality.

As others have said. In theory yes. In the real world now as there are too many lazy fuckers who leave there children crawling in these things and do nothing about it. It should be classed as child abuse and the schools should report. I had years of trying to get rid of them cos of 1 mum who didn't bother to treat her child and you could see them all over her head. I spoke to the teacher and she said other than send letters home they cant do anything else.

Yeah I agree with that.

Assuming there is no actual need for them (i.e it wouldn't upset some other eco-system like bees) it'd be good if everyone just did it.

Wishful thinking of course!

Head lice are incredibly persistant. Not every parent with a child who has them is lazy. I remember combing them out with conditioner every day for years and nothing would shift them. Even with weekly Hedrin. I think some people just like to have a reason to call others names when they don't know the full situation.

It would be great wouldn't it if they could be.
Fortunately it's not something that I have to do anymore with mine.
The buggering about and the tears are still remembered.

I live in forrin and our school has 'louse mothers' (parent helpers) who check every child's head monthly.
recurrent infestations are apparently referred to social services.

It wouldn't just be one day it would have to be over several and there are countries that don't have any special treatments so eventually those would travel...

@RuffleCrow I agree. My youngest seemed to go through a phrase of them. She even got them halfway through a holiday in Greece.
To be fair, I bought some stuff locally which killed them instantly and she never had them again.
It's nothing to do with being dirty, even the cleanest of kids can fall prey to them.

In theory, yes. In practice, never.

I remember the school ' nit nurse ' shame they did away with them.

I love the idea that an accidental result of lockdown could be a lack of headline! There must be fewer about after 6-10weeks at home surely?

Someone on here said recently that straighteners would see them off. I can't see how they wouldn't tbh. Surely the little buggers wouldn't survive frying!

I had head lice in the 90s and they were resistant to head lice shampoo even then. My parents spend ages nit combing our hair every other day and they still wouldn't go.

What really gets rid of them is heat. Using hairdryer and straighteners - although you may damage hair in the process.

Unfortunately I have been trying to get rid of my daughter's head lice ever since lock down started - nit combing with conditioner every other day and treating weekly. The buggers will not go away. Any tips hugely welcome!

I have worked in several SEN schools and it never goes away, one child can harbour them for months or even years depending on parental capabilities and they will jump to others as social distancing in schools and with siblings at mainstream is a total impossiblilty.

@sunshinegirl28 I would recommend washing her hair every day, but comb, then drying it with a hair dryer (especially at the roots where they live) and straightening it. Do this for up to 2 weeks.

*supposed to say nit comb not but comb

Sadly you can’t fry them if a child won’t allow you to hair dry them for sensory reasons and straighteners won’t get near the eggs on the scalp.

I'd bloody love to be a nit nurse/louse mother (as opposed to a lousy mother!)

@sunshinegirl28 I remember when I was a child my mum did the conditioner combing twice daily (morning and evening) and they usually went pretty fast. I'd suggest you need to do it more frequently so they don't have time to grow /breed.

We've got one of those electric combs. It's quite satisfying zapping the little bastards. And one of the few positives of the lockdown is that I know my children can't catch headlice for the foreseeable future. The headlice can't jump 2m! (in fact they can't jump at all).

OMG if I had a pound for every time I've read the phrase lazy fucker today! Ignorant, lazy, unhelpful labelling

Apparently they glow under black light, I haven't had the opportunity to test it yet, but if you have a black light or one of the new LOL dolls with black light in the set you could give it a try and report back.

In theory yes... but the same goes for lots of diseases or infections or whatever. Just wouldn’t happen.