AIBU to be unprepared for head lice

[WilbursWinnie]

Help!
We've got to age 8 without the dreaded head lice but now we are infected.

Tell me your tried and tested solutions. I've been out and bought a nitty gritty comb and lots of conditioner.

I also have some treatment as I want to exterminate the f*@£#+s asap. My entire body feels like it's crawling with the horror.

What do we do with hair brushes, towels and bedsheets. Do I firebomb the lot?

Tea tree oil mixed with moisturising conditioner. The conditioner stops them clinging to the hair and tea tree either kills or repels them, cant remember but it defo works. Leave it on overnight and repeat in 2 weeks to kill any new ones that have hatched.

Towels sheets etc are fine after a 60 degree wash and tumble dry on high heat. Hairbrushes can be stuck in the dishwasher or smothered in conditioner and tea tree and cleaned off with boiled water.

For maintenance to repel lice, a drop of tea tree on a comb and run it through LO's hair, or put a drop on a hair bobble

My sympathies. I'm literally itching writing this

What you've got is literally all you need plus extreme patience
Condition, comb on repeat until all of the crawly feckers and their eggs are gone.
NHS info gives guidance on which days you need to recomb to prevent remaining eggs hatching and undoing all of your hard combing work.
Good luck!

Wash them?
Lice are annoying but they aren’t dangerous and they aren’t indestructible.
They can’t live for a particularly long time off a human head anyway. It’s really pretty unlikely that you’d get reinfected from bedding or towels but you can always put them through the washing machine if it makes you feel better.
Wash the hairbrushes and combs. Lice and even nits aren’t invisible. You’ll see if there are any left on there.

Vosene do a tea tree oil shampoo which is great at repelling the little buggers.

We had a real issue in primary, once we got rid of the fuckers -
Conditioner and comb - I combed every Sunday night. Hair in plaits for school, tea tree shampoo and sprayed with a tea tree solution.

@Rawrrr

Hairbrushes can be stuck in the dishwasher

🤮🤮🤮🤮

they walk amongst us

Dishwashers pretty much sterilise anything, I chuck in washing up brushes, dog bowls no concerns!

Treat, then use a nitty gritty comb and lots of conditioner 3 x a week for 6 weeks. Then once you are confident you have got rid of them nitty gritty comb weekly. Tea tree oil diluted and spray around ears and nape of neck. Towels and bedding in a hot wash.

If it's any consolation my teenager gave me nits for Mother's day years ago!

They are more a pain washing everything than anything else. Wash all bedding and towels etc. Hoover.

I use headrin leave in. Then comb every day small sections. I prefer a clear leave in conditioner spray so I can see the little buggers. Retreat on 5-7 days. You need to continue to comb every other day for up to 3 weeks

I was waiting for that post.

I always thought that they liked to lurk behind the hears and at the nape of the neck.. but last time my DD had them they were all much higher up (i'm guessing we are getting good at killing those that hide in those key areas.. )

You just comb until you can comb no more! good luck

Struggling with this atm. My daughter has incredibly thick long hair and I just can’t get rid of them. The treatments aren’t killing then and it’s taking me 3-4 hours to comb through it but that doesn’t get rid of the eggs. It’s hell.

Yep conditioner and a comb. Mine has hair like cousin it so we put a movie on and she would sit on the floor whilst I combed away.

The conditioner is good, it smothers them. Nit comb then keep wiping the content on a kitchen towel so you can chuck it.

@SanaGoggins the treatments are useless. The woman behind my local Boots counter whispered "don't bother with the treatments , tea tree shampoo, loads of conditioner, comb then shampoo again"

We used this after our first infestation. That and always having hair in braids and we never got them again.

The family that had them didn't treat and continued through primary into high school.

Awful. Feel itchy reading this.

Years ago they used to sell tea tree spray you could spray in the hair that worked as a repellent, but we’re talking a fair few years ago (back when I was a kid in the 90’s/00’s. Mum used to put some in our hair every day, and we used to use tea tree shampoo as that also helped with repelling the little horrors!

Oh this is the first year we have struggled with them my dd keeps getting reinfested with them because the poor girl sat next to her seems to have them permanently and a couple of parents who aren't that fussed about doing anything about it. Poor kid must be miserable with them.

I tried different nit treatments but she was getting reinfested that often it was costing me a fortune, now I buy really cheap (like £1 bottle) teetree conditioner and cover her hair with it religiously every week leave it on for 15 mins, nit comb her hair (takes me about an hour because her hair is down to her bum) shampoo her hair twice and then dry it.

Then just wash as normal during the week with a nit comb brush afterwards. This seems to be keeping on top of things and she hasn't caught them in a while.

I also use brush out gel on her hair for school to reduce the chances of any fly away hair picking up any nits. I just brush it through her hair tie it up and then it brushes out again at the end of the day.

I have twins who were in separate classes though primary and thankfully neither caught lice. I told them explicitly not to share hats with anyone. I used Vosene shampoo and diluted tea tree oil and sprayed their hair each morning. I did this until year 4 then stopped.

Mason Pearson brushes can't go in the dishwasher

Well i got to my third child without getting them, then getting 6 Yr old ready for school thought what are those little flies doing on the crown of his head🤣
Cheapo tea tree oil from home bargains for about £1 with conditioner and nit comb every three days whilst he was sat in the bath. Gone in a fortnight. No chemicals required (althoughDid have to do again cos his playmate kept reinfecting him, in the end I took her tea tree oil and said do him!!!!!)

Dishwashers don’t get hot enough to sterilise anything.

We had lots of problems with this. They're gross but not harmful.

Tbh it's probably not a 'get rid' situation, your kid is getting rid of them now but someone in their class just caught them and their parent hasn't noticed yet. Someone else in the class has had them for ages but their parents aren't up to clearing them/too feckless to do so. So strap yourself in and prepare for recurrence.

We use vamoose, applications 5 days apart. Plus combing and now we do a weekly nit check. Depends on preference - my kids often won't sit still long enough for thorough combing. The treatment is expensive but seems to work. Tea tree oil doesn't work.

Some kids seem to be more prone to them just like they are to mossie bites.

They live about 24 hours off a head and can't crawl far. I change pillow cases but nothing else. The full wash approach is fine if it was a one off, but like I said - they circulate at school.

Everything above plus hair straightener for the eggs.

Huge bottle of cheap conditioner, flea comb from pet shop (they're cheaper than nit combs even when they're the same bloody thing repackaged) and have at them every other day for the first week, every third day for the next fortnight, then you can start winding it back if you aren't finding new ones/baby ones/adult invaders from other kids or any new, dark eggs.

The ewwww reaction wears off once you've had to do them frequently enough. And it's remarkably satisfying (albeit irritating) to do the spot check of a few drops of lavender oil on the parting/crown when dry, wait a few moments and then see the fuckers pop up gasping for air.