Head lice - what am I doing wrong?

[clutter]

Hi,
After a dreadful afternoon at nursery i took my DD1 to the hairdresser for a trim. The hairdresser said she couldn't cut it because DD1 had head lice. I never had them as a child and had no idea what they looked like, i couldn't see any lice but the hairdresser pointed out some tiny black specks that she said were eggs.

I rushed to the chemist and bought some Derbac M (the chemist recommended it) put it on DD1's hair and left it overnight, DH then got a nitty gritty comb from Boots.

This morning i washed her hair, put conditioner on it and combed through every section of her hair cleaning the comb between every stroke.

My problem is that absolutely nothing came off on the comb i cant see any lice or nits in her hair (but i couldn't yesterday either) and even the black specks that the hairdresser showed me yesterday are now gone.

Have i done something wrong? Shouldn't i be seeing loads of stuff coming out? I am loathed to tell nursery if there is nothing wrong because she is getting a bit of a reputation there (she is charming, happy and excited everywhere except at nursery which she seems to hate/be terrified of)? It is the last day today I am really stuck what should i do? :-(

Any help very much appreciated x

Well, I'd say if you're using a nitty gritty, and there's nothing on it, then there are no lice.

Just on the off chance...any sand play at nursery? I think sand can sometimes look like eggs.

As DD is nursery age it is more or less inevitable that she'll get them anyway, so at least you are prepared. Comb her hair every couple of days anyway. You'll find lice eventually!

Agree with Almighty Citrus, if there's nothing coming off on the NG - I assume you rinsed it in a basin of clean water, that's the easiest way to see any bits, ime - then she doesn't have nits. I suspect what the hairdresser saw was just dirt (not saying she's dirty, just that kids tend to put all sorts of things in their hair!) and she was a little overcautious.

If your Dd doesn't mind the comb then I'd do that every night this week, just to be 100% certain but it certainly doesn't sound as if she has nits so personally, I wouldn't say anything to nursery.

It sounds as if you're clear this time - but it won't be long!!

Next time use one of the non pesticide type treatments like Hedrin or Nyla rather than Derbac - they work better and the little brs can't develop resistance to being suffocated.

Thank you so much, DD seems to not mind the comb so i will do it every night this week but yes i rinsed in water and inspected and nothing was there. Will be super vigilent from now on though! x

I do a run through each of their hair with the NG on a sunday night just to make sure as we always have letters home about outbreaks in school.

Personally, I wouldn't use any of the OCC treatments because they don't tackle the entire life cycle - the cycle is about 3 weeks from egg to fully grown breeding lice so you have to keep treating as new lice hatch.

Using the NG is more labour intensive but at least gets rid of ALL the elements of the cycle, from eggs upwards without having to keep plastering their heads with strong chemicals. I comb every day for the first week, every 3rd day for the 2nd week and then twice in the 3rd week but since I've been combing weekly we haven't had anything anyway.