Not AIBU but a cry for help with head lice

[PixieAndProsecco]

As the title states this is not an AIBU however this is the busiest forum I can see and I do need some quick help in both dealing with the situation and my own paranoia.

On Wednesday night, around 1am, I went to check on DC 6 and noticed they were scratching their head. They have had impetigo recently and suffer with eczema, so I checked to see if I could see anything. I noticed few small brownish dots near the scalp and then the tiniest "thing" moving. I had taken my glasses off and thought it was just my eyes so checked again and nothing.
After getting ready for bed I went back to check and again saw a small moving thing. I asked DH to check and he couldn't see anything.

At this point I knew it was there, googled and obviously head lice and nits are the answer.
In the morning I checked and both DH and I saw one small moving thing and off I went to the shops to equip ourselves with anything we'd need.

By midday yesterday DC6 had a treatment of Full Marks 5 minute solution, plus a 30 minute session with the nitty gritty comb. During this time less than 10 lice and nits came out his head, very small, and I didn't stop until the comb came away clean.
Both DH and myself also put treatment on our hair and DC13. The three of us were free from any nasties, thankfully.

I stuck all DC6s bedding and towels in the wash.
Since then I have frequently checked DCs hair, every time I pass them or they're sitting still, to check for any missed parts and it looks good.

Having read the instructions on the solution I know we will all do another treatment next week. I have also purchased an additional Headrin spray and Lyclear shampoo should the Full Marks not work. I've also purchased Vosense lice repellant shampoo and it's all we will be using for the next while, as well as their lice repellant leave in conditioning spray.

This part if where I need help:

• I've read about the nitty gritty and conditioner comb out but views on how often differ. Some information suggests doing a treatment on Day 1 and then this comb out method every other day, so day 3, 5 etc. Some suggest using this method every single day. How often should I be doing this? DC is very sensory and hates hair washing, hair brushing and hair cuts (although decided a hair cut was needed after seeing how quickly I finished DV 13s hair in comparison to their own). They cried through the entire process yesterday but if doing it every day is the best way to treat things then we'll just need to do that.
• when do we stop treating? When are we, as a household, considered lice free? We've obviously got the second treatment next Wednesday night, with combing between now and then. If it all comes up clean during that time when do I stop?
• if needed when do we try other treatments? Say between now and next week the combing isn't clean and there are still lice after the second Full Marks solution. How long do I keep combing for before moving onto another treatment?

I know this might seem simple but I've never had lice before, DH has never had lice and DC13 never had lice.
It's not something we've dealt with and are complete novices.
My own issues also mean that I feel itchy everywhere. I've had DH check my own hair about 5 times now and it's clean, nothing is there, but I can't shake the feeling due to knowing they were in the house.

The regular combing with conditioner is if you don't treat with a pesticide. You've treated with full marks so that's it, you're done

Not true. Full marks does not kill ALL the eggs. You need to treat again.

There's really no way to avoid combing because there's no legal chemical on the market guaranteed to kill eggs.

Keep calm OP it could be worse.
When one of my kids was small, head lice went round and round the class at school for over a year. I did use the chemicals a few times but in hindsight they were not needed. I used to use conditioner and quick comb out two or three times a week and more or less keep this up on a permanent basis. ( maybe just once a week if you think they are not going round the class/friendship group)This basically stops the head lice from ever getting a grip because any which have got onto your child’s head that day or week get combed out, and any left behind nits which hatch get combed out. I don’t believe tea tree shampoo etc is effective at all.

You don't need to check hair 6 times a day. You'll give your kids a complex and it can't help the child with sensory issues to be poked and prodded all the time.

We've just spent the whole bloody Christmas break from school getting rid of them. We did the conditioner / combing from mid December (when youngest first started itching) but probably weren't doing it as often as we needed to.

We treated the whole family with NitWit treatment on 23rd December and we've been conditioner / combing at least every other day (aiming for daily). We've all been brushing clean since NitWit treatment. Touch wood.

Youngest DC's class has a real problem with headlice, there is an outbreak a month but this was the first time she'd caught them. She passed them to me and her sister. We all have long, thick hair.

It's been an utterly thankless and depressing task and I'm going to fucking scream if she gets headlice as soon as she goes back.

I know I don't need to check him that often.
However I just want to know if they've come back so I can get on to brushing them ASAP.

I think we'll start a daily or every other day condition and brush as of tomorrow. I had to shampoo our heads two or three times to remove the Full Marks and want to give our scalps a break for a day.

When I work with kids I know have lice I comb myself with conditioner twice a week. If I've caught them they are gone within a week generally and all the conditioning give me lovely hair

Just make sure whatever it is you have used also killed the eggs!

My 2 daughters and myself had them when I first discovered one crawling in youngest DDs hair. Used Hedrin I think but the chemist only gave me the one that kills the living ones. I did the overnight treatment and washed off next morning. Found a couple of dead ones in each of our heads. Next day bought the one that kills eggs and I also did the hedrin treatment again the next week to be sure. We never saw any again after the first treatment.

If you are having problems with chemical treatments (whether from skin reactions or from the lice being resistant) then there is one course of action that is guaranteed to work - 3 treatments at weekly intervals with Hedrin Once Liquid Gel - this is what I've ended up using.

"Hedrin Once" says it kills hatched live and eggs, but this the latter is not to be relied upon. Hedrin Once is a mineral oil - the kind of stuff that is used as a base for hair conditioner. It works by suffocating the hatched lice, so no resistance is possible. And it's not chemically reactive so it doesn't tend to produce skin raashes etc. So that side of things works really well - but it is not similarly reliable in killing unhatched lice eggs.

Why 3 times at weekly intervals? Well, each time you treat with Hedrin Once you'll kill all live lice and some proportion of the eggs. It takes hatched lice a week to get old enough to breed and lay new eggs, and eggs hatch inside 10 days. If you treat with Hedrin Once 3 times at 7 day intervals, you will kill all the hatched lice each time, and anything hatching from pre-laid eggs will never get a chance to get old enough to breed. By the 3rd treatment, all pre-laid eggs have hatched, and you are done.

All this might be overkill but it's very reliable, and for me it's worth it as I end up being certain that we're headlouse-free. The first time we got an infestation we didn't pick it up for ages, so it got really heavy. I was at my wits end trying to clear the hair, with several failed treatment attempts (including chemical ones) until I figured out the path above.

Advantages: (1) it's really reliable, even for very heavy infestations (2) you don't have to rely on combing through to clear eggs, although combing doesn't hurt obviously

Disadvantages: (1) the time and expense of doing 3 treatments (2) the hassle of washing the damn stuff out afterwards, which takes several shampoos. I recommend dumping a huge amount of talc in the hair before washing, and using washing up liquid for the first couple of shampoos. This leads to the third drawback (3) it's all pretty messy - talc and slippery Hedrin everywhere.

I remember the fear first time I saw the little critters. Its always Sunday night as they were going to bed and no shops were open.
Brought stuff you leave in so they went into school (boys so looked like hairgel), lots of regular combing to ge the dead stuff out. Then they all wante their headshaved which we did and made luce patrol a breeze. Me on the other hand had waist length, super thick hair which I had to comb every other day for about three weeks and took forever. I got a bob after that

We still appear lice and nit free tonight! Tomorrow will be our first tea tree mixed with conditioning and nitty gritty combing session, followed by lice repellant spray. Hopefully that keeps everything at bay and all the nasty little gits died off yesterday along with their eggs!

The Hedrin Once gel does kill eggs - not the lotion. Something to do with the way the formulation penetrates into the eggs.

We used it in December after DS brought them home and then passed them to me (yuck - never had them as a child myself). Worked fine. We still comb weekly, haven’t found any more.

Nothing kills the eggs. You have to comb.

Don't use conditioner it's awful. Slops everywhere. Use the nitty gritty lotion.

Hedrin Once literally does. I’d still use a second treatment, really just in case you missed any, but it does kill eggs.

edit: I don’t work for Hedrin, just spent a lot of time on Pubmed when DS caught them last month.

Going forward use tea tree shampoo and conditioner ( can get cheap ones from Poundland etc that work just as well as expensive brands!)

The annoying thing is I only use a tea tree infused shampoo on both DC, and I also use it once per week along with my other shampoo, to avoid this situation.

When my children were primary age and we sometimes needed to treat for headlice our local pharmacies only stocked one brand of treatment at a time to try to prevent them developing resistance. Don't know if that approach is still common but throwing lots of different treatments at them sounds like overkill

You need to get rid of everything before going to the hairdresser .
My DC are adults but I still remember the cycle of treat /comb/clear then going through it all again, worse when I knew DD was clear and saw full grown adults on her scalp so she'd picked up a new dose <sigh>

Humiliating experience in the hairdressers where she shouted out I can't cut her hair she's got eggs there across the shop .
If its a known problem in kids then be discrete . It was literally a tiny patch at her neck . Just say quietly there's a problem
The no laborious combing advert leads you to believe it gets rid .....

I bought a Nitty Gritty comb and conditioner plus a bottle of TeaTree oil . When you comb at the neck go up as well . Live ones are dark brown and small . Dead ones are white , they're the visible ones .

@PixieAndProsecco My son used to have a ''Louse freezer'' haircut at school which made treating very easy {he has very thick, fine wavy hair naturally }

With lice, you need to treat the entire family- which includes adults!

I found the ''gloopy conditioner'' worked best, and zero side effects.

The awful insecticides can really dry the scalp, plus the lice get resistant quite fast.

I was advised to buy a cheap hair conditioner and to liberally coat the hair with conditioner and to comb the hair out with a nit comb...it's so tedious in long haired people....but does work.

I did it every three days and it worked

• But there was ALWAYS someone at school that would re-infect everyone...

It gets easier when children get to teens.

This was my experience...{Years ago now} gloopy conditioner and manual removal with a nit comb every few days.

Lice adapt fast to insecticide treatments.

It gets easier when children get to teens.
At 16 DD got them from being in a mosh pit!

I mainly combed, this was years ago, and there were concerns about drug-resistant lice even back then.

Very interesting...Never used Hedrin {son is an adult now and hasn't caught them since junior school} but do so remember the horror of catching lice myself from him...and the horrid itching.
The nit notes from school... urgh!
Hedrin sounds quite effective..it contains penetrol!{to get the compound into the beastly eggs}

Don't , whatever you do look at an egg under a microscope..aaaargh! you will want to shave your head completely!

I did read somewhere that vinegar breaks the bonds that glue them to the hair , makes them easier to remove . It takes a while to rinse out but at least it isn't greasy .

Mosh Pit! ooooohhh I can so see how that could happen! 🫎🫎🫎
Like a fling~ a ~Louse party!

She had (and still has) lovely long hair.

DM wouldn't let me grow mine when I was at primary school in the 1950s for fear of nits...

One of mum's contemporaries used to get her hair soaked in PARAFFIN, wrapped in a towel and then was made to sit by the fire.
Insanity.
How she didn't combust is a miracle. Please do not do this