Please please help - head lice. Worst infestation I've ever seen

[LEMtheoriginal]

I am horrified and disgusted. My poor dd

We had visitors just before Xmas and we used headrin two weeks - sorted. Or so we thought.

Just done DD'S hair with here in once as she was itchy and I've never seen anything like it

I have been combing them out of DD'S hair since 7pm and it's horrific. Like millions of them I am mortified. Like a black film of nits and it's never ending.

I need to know what to use or should I take her to the Dr? I feel we need something stronger but what??

Oh and after you have washed it out slather her head in conditioner and comb through again

www.superdrug.com/Lyclear/Lyclear-Sensitive-Head-Lice-Treatment-150ml/p/661650

Lyclear Sensitive lotion is the first gentle to hair and skin head lice treatment proven to kill 100% of head lice & eggs in 1 application only.

Features
Lyclear Sensitive double action formula with Oxyphthirine® is clinically proven to kill 100% of head lice and eggs. It works by suffocating and dehydrating head lice and eggs. Its non-greasy formulation washes out easily and contains no essential oils, perfume nor alcohol. In case of re-infestation or abnormal infestation, treatment needs to be repeated.

@LEMtheoriginal 'eliminate' often means you personally eliminate the nits by combing....F*ck that! get one that actually kills the evil things, eggs and all. Other wise you are kind of fighting an up hill battle. Frankly if theres a product that kills both the lice and eggs why would anyone use anything else. Then obviously prevention is the way. Hairspray, tea tree ect whatever holistic methods you wish and a weekly combing till they are 18 basically! but the initial response is 100% kill THEM ALL.

Then you can start from somewhere with your preventative measures. Hedrin 5 minute treatment does not kill the eggs, you eliminate them by combing that is why it is cheaper. LYCLEAR forever. over and out.

God I'm remembering the nitty years now. Hideous

Nits def prefer some heads to others - DD1 had them on and off for years - DD2 never got them, despite frequently sharing a bed with DD1. Very odd.

@LEMtheoriginal and obviously wash all bedding and do everyone's hair who lives in the house whether you find nits or not. Go hard or go home basically. Those bastards will find a way, even if you left 1 egg on the head.

What % of children get headlice, does anyone know? Has anyone's children never had headlice?

I just ordered a Nenuco coolgne which is supposed to prevent them, no idea if it works...

Dd had them on and off from December 2016 to July last year. I ended up getting her hair chopped off in a pixie cut (which she desperately asked for as she was sick of them too). She had a friend who had nits and would pass them on to her every fucking week.

What works is conditioner and nitty gritty, every day for 3/4 days until you get all the eggs and nits.

Then you need to tell your child to lighten up and take notice of kids who are itching their heads or who have eggs/nits in their head when sitting infront/next to them. They shouldn’t put their heads near these children. I have taken pictures of dd’s Nit infestation and shown her what they look like from behind. She tells me when she’s seen nits in particular girls heads and even saw one walking through another girl’s head. She does not play closely with these girls as a result, and it’s been a few months now, they still have them. Dd hasn’t.

This is what I dread. My dd is 7 next week and has a head of ringlets and I know nits have been in the school in the past.

It hurts her to even have her hair combed ( only when wet ) so I can't imagine trying to get nits out.

Ds is almost 15 and he has never had them either.

Has anyone's children never had headlice?
My son got all the way through primary school without getting them - and then caught them off his little sister when he was 12.

We treated all family even the baby and son and this was how we finally got rid.

@EfficiencyDeficiency LYCLEAR (no combing first just the product but leave on for an extra 5 minutes) then wash out and loads of conditioner next. This is when you comb. That way it is basically completely painless even on the curly headed or with thick hair. I also use thinning scissors on my daughters hair a few days later, and 6 days after the first treatment I repeat the process.

Honestly with telling her to also avoid putting her head close to other children she only gets them a couple of times a year, and in a class of over 30 where someone ALWAYS has the blighters this is pretty amazing, especially as a girl with long ish hair.

I love killing them and would happily come to the op's house to do it today! I 100% would get rid of them , my success rate over the years for my daughter and any friends who struggle to get rid of them is flawless

@VileyRose yes! This is an important part of it. You have to basically treat it like a military operation. But if you do it properly it should be sorted on the day you discover them. Cut any corners at all and they will return @LEMtheoriginal . Combing them out is madness with a bad infestation. You will never get rid of them this way and cause so much distress for everyone

Oh god there’s nothing I fear more than lice. When DS was small he’d love helping his grandparents in the garden and often got covered in soil and compost. Brushed his hair one night and naively assumed the little black bits were little bits of mud from gardening. Washed his hair and thought no more of it. Next day he was crawling 🤮.

Lyclear worked for us it’s good stuff.

A friend told me hairspray is brilliant for prevention so he always has a light mist before school now and fingers crossed we’ve never had them again.

@NotExactlyHappyToHelp you are so right. I use hairspray on my daughters head nearly every day too. No wonder they are in school all the time if people are using hedrin and combing or just combing with oil or conditioner often.

They literally need to be completely killed, the whole house treated, everyone's bedding washed and they will be gone, otherwise the cycle will continue even if you think they are gone for a month ect, they will return

Mine hasn't had lice yet...I also never had them as a child. I don't remember anyone having them come to think of it. I wonder why that is?

If she has long hair, consider cutting it much shorter to help make it easier to comb them out.
She can grow it again but it will make it so much easier when conditioning and combing.

My DCs have got to the age of 7 and 11 and never had them despite there being several outbreaks at school over the years. I've no idea why not, don't think we do anything different to other families. I guess it just comes down to luck.

Sounds excessive but I would check her bedding and wash her pillowcase daily, the little buggers can hide out on pillows.

for you and DD, lice are horrible

UK schools need to get tougher on this. You aren't supposed to send a kid in to school for 48hrs after D&V to ensure they don't infect anyone else, so I do not understand why it is acceptable to send children in who are passing on headlice.

Those suggesting combing them out with conditioner over a few days are part of the problem. Unless you are keeping the child off school until they are clear it is probable that they are passing the lice on to other children.

DD (8yo) has only had two lice in her lifetime (childminder spotted them when she was about 3yo). Of course, she hasn't had any since because I bought a huge bottle of Hedrin and a Nitty Gritty comb when she started school. Typical that we've not needed to use them since.

DD does have her hair dried with a hair dryer and she swims too, so maybe that helps??? Either way, she always wears her hair up at school and I'm going to get it cut shorter so we can comb it regularly with the Nitty Gritty.

Nits def prefer some heads to others - DD1 had them on and off for years - DD2 never got them, despite frequently sharing a bed with DD1. Very odd.

I wonder if there's a correlation between that and people who do or don't get bitten by mosquitoes.

I had waist length hair at school, very thick, and only got nits once or twice; there were several school outbreaks and I somehow missed them. I very very rarely get insect bites; even abroad, the mosquitoes just don't seem to like the taste of my blood.

Those suggesting combing them out with conditioner over a few days are part of the problem.

Nitty gritty combs don't remove the eggs on our fine hair (do they on anybody's??) so the comb is only good for removing live headlice. You need to repeat when the eggs have hatched to get all of the lice - there is a small window of opportunity when the nymphs (babylice) are hatched but not big enough to lay their own eggs when they need to be combed out - I think it is about ten days that you have to continue doing it to be sure. Not really practical to keep kids off school for ten days.

Cheap Vodka, a shower cap and a dog flea comb did my kids fine when they got them. Listerine also works but ONLY the original.

Swig of vodka for you then liberally souse their hair with the rest of it. You want it dripping.
Cover with a showercap and leave for an hour.

Then without rinsing apply plenty of conditioner. Lots and lots of it. And comb.

potteryprincess do you work for LYCLEAR?? it will definitely be the next one I try

I very very rarely get insect bites; even abroad, the mosquitoes just don't seem to like the taste of my blood.

This is my husband. He never gets bitten and he doesn’t remember ever getting nits. I’m sure I read somewhere once that some people give off a certain type of pheromone or something that mosquitos don’t like. I, on the other hand, am a mosquito’s idea of food heaven.