To have spent £50 on head lice treatment and still have NITS ARGH

[Youcanringmybell]

Help me! please - I need collective MN wisdom on this earth shatteringly boring and repeated subject.

We have had lice in our house for 3 months. 2 bottles of hedrin, 2 bottles of lyclear and a bottle of Full marks and I have just fished out about 100+ lice from dd's hair. My son had a fair few (million) and I had one in mine.

Tomorrow I am buying Lyclear again and a nitty gritty comb...
What else do I need to do? I wash bedding each time...do I need to set fire to my home

I used full marks mousse but left it on 24 hrs before washing and combing DD1's hair. Then I went through her hair bit by bit and pulled any eggs off the strands of hair with my nails.

It's a bit eugh at first and takes ages but by heck it works.

There's a full marks gel that's supposed to suffocate the lice is good for the little tiny ones that are near impossible to comb out. It isn't chemical so no resistance and can be used every day.

I do straighten my hair and blow dry it but I do have them. Not as bad but I have one or two

However, I am due a hair colour so will do that first and then comb as well as I can for the next er..............Millenia.

I feel more reassured now - thank you everyone for coming and offering your help x 100000

as well for good measure

Another vote for the Nitty Gritty comb and conditioner. It's the only thing that ever worked properly in this house, and nits loved us, including me.

mcnewpants - brushes and combs soaking as we 'speak'.

I should just burn everything

The Nitty Gritty comb is fantastic.

We only used the lotion once and then combed religiously every night for over a week and the problem was solved.

We started with the normal nit combs but the difference with the Nitty Gritty was amazing.

Good luck

My DD1 has had nits for the first time. I wet combed with conditioner and it took a good hour. Her hair is only shoulder length but wavy and dark. I still wasn't sure I'd gone over her whole head thoroughly as she just has so much hair. All the Youtube clips I found for how to wet comb featured poker straight hair. How do you find an extra hour a day to do the combing? Luckily DD2 is nit free so far but if I have to fit in 2 hours of combing when I get home pat 6.00 3 days a week that will be late bedtimes all round.

Have now tried Hedrin but will check DD every night. Luckily on leave for two weeks now so plenty of time to do it.

Well the sheer number of replies I have had in a matter of minutes tells me that they are secretive and indestructible fuckers...

I am not alone.

Nitty gritty comb gets out the lice AND eggs (you see piles of them on the tissue). I use Hedrin or something then conditioner then comb through, 3 or 4 times a few days apart. Other nit combs like the ones in the Hedrin packet are nothing like it.

Having said that I only have short haired boys so it is not as bad as it would be with a DD with long hair, and I've only picked up the occasional one from them.

Ooh, and, I'm sure you know this, but don't forget your towels and pillow cases, do them at 60 degrees until you're sure you're clear.

I would stop sharing brushes and combs as well.

< head now really itchy lol>

I used listerine on my kids and myself- I have psoriasis it was fine .

I recommend the bugbuster kit and every second day wet combing with masses of conditioner. It takes persistence but is cheap and works.

Nothing kills all eggs. But Hedrin does kill all hatched lice in our experience. From egg hatching to breeding is at least 7 days. And eggs take a max of 14 days to hatch (normally less than 10 actually). So treat 3 times at 5/6 day intervals. You will wipe out lice before they get to lay more eggs.

This cleared us completely from a highly infested starting point.

Also yes wash bedding as lice can survive for hours on it!

For longish hair... Get the straighteners out. You can hear them evaporate on contact! (Gawd! I need to get a life!)

Then go with the wet cimbing method by the roots, repeat every 2 days.

My mum swore by neat malt vinegar .... Lice loved my hair when I was younger and I think I got them once a year ... But she used to get a massive bottle of vinegar top it in the sink and dunk our heads in it ..... Christ it stung if you got it in your eye , but literally all the lice just jumped off! No conditioner or combing , just a vigorous brush with a hairbrush. Next day she did the same thing and that was it. - all dead.

This was about 20-30 years ago do maybe they are tougher now , but it worked like a charm.

Only slightly bad side effect apart from if you got it in your eye, was the smell lasted for about a week. I had them when I was 18 and after one if my mums treatments I went out for the night and people kept saying they could smell chips.... Took me ages to realise it was my bloody hair. !

Plus side v cheap and no chemicals

Hedrin has always worked for us - maybe contact their helpline - It should work if used correctly and repeated - and you ALL use it.

Thank you all - am going to be ploughing through the hair for the next 2 weeks.

Will remember to wash everything at 60 degrees a few times over the next 3 weeks to eliminate and lice or eggs on there as well.

Nitty gritty and conditioner method is excellent. Tea tree oil is good added to shampoo and rubbed in the scalp.

If all fails use neem oil from a Heath shop or the Internet, it's a foul smelling oil and nits HATE it. I can guarantee it will work.

A vote here for the electronic method. Very effective, and it was very satisfying knowing that every time the buzz tone changed you'd zapped one of the b*ggers.

Nitty Gritty Comb and conditioner - for everyone in the house.

Do it 2 nights in a row and then every other night, for a couple of weeks

The comb someone linked to before gets rid of the eggs. I think, although don't quote me on this, you can get it on prescription. link

It's annoying and sole destroying - but there really is no point getting chemicals and lotion -you just need time and just a comb and conditioner - I have an industrial tub of smart price condition put away for it specially.

Good luck waging war on the fuckers.

I condition and comb with Nitty Gritty on first sight. Then I do hedrin.
Then repeat the combing every day and then the repeat hedrin.

their is kind of a point in getting lotion ...it works

I have 3 kids, and me, all with long thick hair - I can't dedicate the time every day to washing and combing all of us! for 14 days

plus they spend 3 nights a week with their dad who wouldn't do it

I agree.. you HAVE to comb loads.. there isn't anything around that you can just slap on and that's that.

Bear in mind though.. head lice, although they are the irritating little fuckers invented.. they are very smart. Only so many lice can live on one head and the rest have to drop off. They follow your 'warm line' up your body to your head. I watched a fascinating program on them once. You don't just get them from head to head contact.

Comb, wash, hoover.. all brushes, bedding, settees the lot.

and comb somemore.

I have never treated bedding of furniture - they don't live long enough to be a threat off the head

god this thread is making me itchy!