Head lice - what to use and can school sort it at all?

[lulann]

Found out today from school there are cases of headlice. First time.

DD 7 was at a friends house for tea until 7.30pm. When dd was at home and in bed she was scratching. Yes it looks like she may have them although I could only see 2 I think.
Of course I am now scratching.

What treatment should I get tomorrow? There are so many!
Do I have to get a shampoo?
Combs that 'zap' them dead or combs that remove lice AND eggs??
DD has several food allergies and I expect in the future will react to hair dye like I do (so cannot use).
Any suggestions?

Also can school make sure all kids are treated, is that allowed? I'm wary we'll get rid of them and she will then re catch all over again.

School haven't said which year group (primary) but they all mix in the huge playground anyway.

Exactly this.
Use a metal comb too.

Only addition to this (my kids have named me the queen of nitty hair) cos I can get them out in 3 days. <~~~ Weird boast

Get a table of treats, books, electronics or their favourite thing. Get them comfy. Comb and keep combing.

When you

Pressed send too early.

When you have finished, section the hair into small sections 6/8 and literally separate lines of hair and check scalp and hair for lice/eggs.

It takes a while but is worth it.

They don't, forget about he school. You'll just have to get into the habit of checking your kids every couple of days.

When mine were at primary my eldest was in a class with a girl who had nots constantly. She had 5 siblings and the mum just shrugged and said she couldn't afford to treat them. We couldn't get rid of them from the class till the girl moved schools sadly.

Use tea tree shampoo once gone all the time as lice hate the smell

This is absolute nonsense! Who on earth told you adults can’t get lice? I've spent the past year having lice on & off & on & off. Loads of adults get lice. Teachers usually have a supply of Hedrin at home

The Nitty Gritty comb ripped my hair to shreds. I had to have 6 inches trimmed off as it ended up like worse gummidge

*Worzel Gummidge

We had week after week of having to treat. School sent multiple emails and letters, including 'targeted' ones to the class with the one child whose parent was insisting she didn't need to treat despite her poor child crawling and spreading them back to Everyone repeatedly. In the end a group of mums cornered the mum in question, who eventually conceded to treat, and problem solved.

My son has had nits a couple of times. I’ve used Sainsbury’s nit spray, followed by conditioner combing with a nitty gritty comb, followed on by vosene nit shampoo and leave in conditioner.

I’ve followed it u with conditioner combing and the vosene shampoo and it’s worked no problems.

It ruined my hair and DC2’s hair too.

What did you use instead?

My DD’s have very thick hair, I used to use olive oil and then a comb to remove what I could and use a lotion, then repeat the comb process in tiny sections. I’d always treat the whole family “just in case”, I caught them loads of times (either from my own kids or working in schools). Whatever you do, do it quick so she doesn’t get infested or they spread to the rest of you. Tea tree oil was a great repellent. Also keep her hair up, luckily at the school I now teach this is a rule so I haven’t had any in years.

Hedrin 8 hour stuff. Treat again in 7 days, and between have a good conditioner+nit comb session to get out as many eggs as possible.

Home Bargains does a good nit repellant spray containing tea tree and I think eucalyptus - you can also get a Vosene one that smells strongly of citronella.

Going forward, aim to smother your kid's head with conditioner and nit comb every weekend, just to check. You can do it while they're in the bath, it means that you'll be able to catch any infestation at an early stage, and if you have to treat them, they can go to school on Monday without the telltale greasy look from nit treatment.

I think failure to treat could be construed as a safeguarding concern (neglect). Worth putting it in those terms. Poor child, it must be so humiliating

Not so I'm afraid. My 34 yr old DD is a teacher and she gets them periodically, it's part of the job. Main thing to do is to treat the whole family at once, wash all bedding on that same day, and repeat next week.

With my older children, I found that the one who has really thick hair was the most difficult to treat. The poor thing would catch it from her younger sister who was easier to treat but still at primary school. In the end, the only thing that got rid of it was to actually comb a treatment right through her hair.

My youngest dd is currently in a nursery where they keep getting cases of nits and it's likely to be one particular child by the tone of the emails. All of the other parents are a bit sniffy about it because it's a 'posh' private school. I've been using the Vosene shampoo and defence spray. It smells really strongly of eucalyptus. You need to buy the right one though.

"You don't have to use the pesticide shampoos"

There aren't really pesticide shampoos any more. Lice became immune to them. The current products like hedrin etc, all work the same way - a concentrated dimethicone that coats & suffocates the lice.

Dimethicone is literally the exact same thing put in lots of ordinary conditioner.

No product has been evidenced to really kill all the eggs. Where people go wrong is treating once, then doing a cursory comb each weekend for a couple of weeks. This won't work & you'll keep "catching them again". You need to accept its a minumum of 3 crap weeks of spending ages combing the hair thoroughly in sections every 2-3 days. And thats if you are getting them all. If you are missing even one, you need to continue longer than 3 weeks.

The best solution would be if everyone was routinely combing each weekend.

Plaiting hair tightly really helps prevent them.

Worth remembering that only 1 in 3 people who get headlice get an itchy scalp. Lots of people don't, so aren't aware they or their dc have them. DS2 never scratched his head when he got them

Once you have got rid of them, wash you child's hair in tea tree shampoo, I used to use it on my kids all through school, every time I washed their hair and they never caught them, apparently they don't like the smell.

Yes of course the school have all the time in the world to “sort out” the head lice issue……. Just condition the hair and use a nit comb every night until they’re gone and then check hair regularly thereafter. Part of parenting.

We're currently trying to get rid of them, it's been weeks.

I've tried 5 different treatments that all claim to kill lice and eggs, I have 4 nit combs of various brands, I use the combs every single day on both children, wash bedding twice a week, have a different brush for each child, use tea tree shampoo, put tons of conditioner in and am still finding them.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get them clear once the 6 weeks holidays are here and they're not mixing every day.

I wish they'd come up with a treatment like the Frontline flea drops for dogs and cats!
They both need to go to the hairdresser but I can't take them until we've got rid of the bloody headlice

What now?

And this is why schools are riddled with fucking headlice because people believe stupidity like this..

Your immune system can do fuck all about a parasite like headlice. Absolutely. Fuck. All.

They are not a virus or a bacteria. They are a parasite. Adults absolutely do get them.

I took my boys to the hairdresser, warned about the lice and asked to cut the hair as short as possible. She never blinked an eye

All you need is conditioner, a good comb, patience and knowledge of the lice life cycle (see link for which days to comb) so you're combing at the right times to get all of the eggs / new hatchlings (and a school full of like minded parents!)

www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/

Thank you- each and every one of you for replying I really really appreciate it.

Problem with phone meant I couldn't respond until now.

I have learnt so much from you all!