Head lice

[LuckyAmy1986]

This is my first experience with them (apart from me having them when I was little) DD has them, discovered them today. I have a nitty gritty comb. I put loads of conditioner on and combed through. If I do this every night for a week or so, is that enough or do I need to buy a treatment from the shop?

I have checked my hair and can't see anything but my god it is so bloody itchy! Hoping it's just in my head.

Any other tips would be welcome. I am going to change her pillowcase once a day.

[budgiegirl]

Treat with a treatment such as Full Marks. Do it weekly for three weeks. Comb with a headlice comb every day or two in between treatments.

Treatments DO work, but one treatment isn’t enough.

[mrscee]

My dd has head lice for about 15 months and I tried a lot of different products it was driving me mad. In the end the only thing that worked for us was hedrin once. It cleared her hair although it's a bit of a pain to remove.

[AlessandroVasectomi]

My wife discovered she was infested at the weekend. I couldn’t understand why as we had not been mixing with any working class people. However, one treatment with Lyclear and it has cleared up.

[yorkshireyummymummy]

To all of the people who are advocating using conditioner rather than a reccomended treatment I ask this:

Do you keep your children off school until the head lice have gone? Or do you send your kids with head lice into school to infect all of the other kids??

[hazeyjane]

Hedrin does work, and as it works by suffocating the little buggers, they don't build up a resistance. Use with a nitty gritty comb and In between treatments use the comb with conditioner. Treat the whole family. Once clear start a regime of combing after slapping on a ton of conditioner regularly, then you can make sure there isn't a reinfestation.

[GreenTulips]

Tea tree oil £3 ish in chemist is the repellant they use in all the expensive shampoos

Few drops on her hair every few days and a few drops in the conditioner works to keep them at bay

The expensive treatments are good, but they go back to school and get reinfected anyway

Look at the boot minor ailments scheme - you can get free not treatment via them FREE

[GreenTulips]

www.boots.com/prescription-support/minorailments

[avamiah]

My daughter is 7 with long thick hair and I would highly recommend Hedrin.There is a Hedrin Once which in my opinion is brilliant as you only need to leave it on for 30 mins and wash off .

[Amber0685]

healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/S_T/Treating-head-lice

[Arkestra]

Hedrin Once works by suffocation so they can't get resistance. It kills all live lice but not all eggs: nothing kills all eggs.

• Eggs can take up to 10 days to hatch.
  
• Lice take at least 7 days to be able to lay eggs
  
  So if you do Hedrin Once 3 times at intervals of 5-7 days you will clear the infestation even if you have so many nits they have founded their own nit republic.
  
  That's something of a nuclear option but it's what we do nowadays having lived through the hell of not quite getting rid of the little darlings...

[Mummyme1987]

That varmousse is supposed to kill eggs and nits.

[Fontella]

If I do this every night for a week or so, is that enough

No it isn't enough. You need to do it every time they wash their hair. All through their childhood.

Make it part of bath time routine the same as brushing teeth. It needs to be a regular thing because that is the only way to ensure your kids are nit free.

If you buy treatments, you clear them they go back to school and get reinfected and you are back to where you started.

By doing the nit comb conditioner treatment every bath time, you will stay on top of it. You will clear nits and then as eggs hatch you will clear nits again and you will break the cycle of every hatched egg and new infestation. But it has to be constant. You don't need chemicals or treatments - just cheap conditioner and a comb but it's no good doing it for a week or a month .. you need to do it for years, in the same way you wash hair or brush teeth or moisturise skin - it's an ongoing process.

[ThisLittleKitty]

This scares the life out of my I'm terrified of my kids getting nits because I won't be able to deal with it :( Ofcourse I will have to with no other help but I seriously dread it.

[Pythonesque]

If you are very itchy I'd recommend trying to get someone to help comb your hair through - I found it impossible to do a good enough job on myself when my daughter passed them on to me a couple of times - she got very few symptoms, my head was on fire!

[Fontella]

I've been on mumsnet a lot of years and I continually see these threads about nits and various recommendations about this treatment or that treatment and I'm sorry but it's all bollocks.

You can spend fortunes on chemical treatments from Hedrin to tea tree oil or or sorts of concoctions but none of it means shit because your kids go back to school and they get re-infected.

You spend money, you clear them, they go back to school, they get nits again.

Instead of putting all that other chemical shite on their heads just make the comb/conditioner treatment a daily thing. Every time they bath/wash their hair.

It takes minutes and you will stay on top of any infestation and re-infestation.

Every day we have routines, showering, bathing, teeth brushing and so on, just make the comb/conditioner treatment part of that routine.

My kids took a bath, they washed their hair, they called me in, I sat by the bath and did the comb/conditioner treatment, wiping each comb through on a bit of bog roll and flushing it down the toilet.

My kids stayed nit free.

It's not rocket science, and it's not hard - just five minutes a day!!

[KriticalSoul]

I will treat for an infestation.. DS had about 10 adults and a crap load of babies on him today, so I did him with the Hedrin spray and then combed the bejeesus out of him with the nitty gritty.

Then I did me, DD and DM, DD was clear, DM had a couple of babies and I had an adult. I wont treat us, i'll just comb every couple of days for the next month to catch any stragglers or hatchlings.

[makeourfuture]

couldn’t understand why as we had not been mixing with any working class people.

They sometimes infiltrate. Check the hands, they're the give away.

[Delatron]

Exactly yorkshireyummumummy. What's all this angst about the treatments? They work and quickly (hedrin once). It's not chemicals, they suffocate the nits and eggs. Straightaway, so your kids aren't walking around reinfecting people. I continued to comb and check afterwards but they had all gone and we've been clear since (months ago).

[Thermostatpolice]

I don't get the treatment angst either. Just treat with Hedrin or whatever, comb, repeat the following week. Comb regularly to stay on top of it. If you don't do this, your child will be infecting all of their classmates.

At our old school, parents have to sign to say that they've checked/treated whenever there's an outbreak. If a class gets outbreaks more than once or twice a year, they send in a nit lady, who checks that parents have treated their kids.

[Delatron]

Bring back the nit lady! Sounds a great system thermostatpolice I wish our school would take it so seriously. It's frustrating to know some parents do nothing.

[Facelikeaslappedarse]

Treatment doesn’t work.
Put tea tree conditioner on, wrap in plastic and leave for 15 minutes. Lice can hold their breath for 10 minutes so will suffocate after 15.
Then rinse and comb through with nitty gritty comb. Carefully removing every louse and egg you find. This needs repeated every day for at least ten days. Then twice a week for another three weeks.

[Thermostatpolice]

I think it's a great system too, Delatron. It saves tons of time in the long run. And is probably better for learning too, because the kids aren't distracted by itching. And it forces parents to take it seriously.