Bloody bastarding headlice

[Youbutterbelieve]

Read on for itchy heads!

DD(6) has had headlice almost constantly since January. We've done pretty much everything - did the conditioner method for 2 weeks, thought they'd all gone. 3 days later and she's crawling with them again. We tried headrin (recommended by the pharmacist) and followed the instructions to the letter. Again, a few days later and she's covered in them. Did conditioner method again, think we're clear. No such luck. Use Lyclear. Again, they're back. Throughout the whole time we've kept her hair up (2 french plaits tied together) and put tea tree oil on it to try and prevent them.

Any ideas what else we can do? It's getting to the point where her head hurts it's been combed so much and she's dreading bath time.

Does shaving the head work? (Obvs joking).

You’ve got to keep combing.

straightening helps if you have some.

you have to break the cycle of eggs turning into adults that can lay. It’s hard to get rid of the eggs so catch them before they lay again. Comb for longer than 2 weeks.

Sounds like she’s picked them back up constantly. Do her friends have them

I was recommended this on here and it worked for very thick plentiful hair that had a lot of lice

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/theliceprogram/theprogram.html

The life cycle is 3 weeks so doing just 2 treatments isn't enough. Or she could be getting reinfected at school. Wonder who she's friends with there as they need to get close enough for heads to touch for them to get passed on.

We once had headlice for a year - couldn’t get rid of them! My go to is Derbac M. Leave in for 24 hours ((not greasy), whole family at once. The three weeks of combing every few days. Repeat the Derbac 7 days after the first treatment. Comb with a Nitty Gritty comb and wipe on something white so you can see what’s coming out; then rinse comb before using again.

after that check and comb once a week to catch any further outbreaks early.

Buy an electric lice zapper. They are around €40 online, which seems expensive as a single buy, but they're a game changer. They electrocute both lice and eggs, are non-chemical, and work particularly well on fine hair that slips too easily through normal nit combs. Also really handy for a quick weekly check for lice.

Are you using the nitty gritty comb with conditioner? Regular comb outs with that comb and conditioner is what sorts us out. If she's clear one day and crawling three days later then she was unlikely to have been clear the first time. Wet hair, lots of conditioner, section, comb with nitty gritty. Rinse. Repeat every couple of days. Use Hedrin protect and go spray every day too.
If you have a sink of water and rinse the comb out between sections, you might spot tiny babies floating in the water that are too small to see on the comb.