head lice - please help!

[Rebecca41]

My 6 and 2 year olds have caught head lice from a friend on holiday. I've combed and combed and applied treatment, and will repeat it next week as instructed.

But people keep telling me horror stories about constant infestations. The general consensus seems to be that it can go on for years, requiring weekly combing just to keep them at bay.

This fills me with horror, as both my sons have thick curly hair, and they screamed the house down while I combed their hair (even when covered in the greasy lotion). The thought of doing that every week for years makes me want to cry.

Please can someone tell me positive stories or head lice that went away with treatment. Of course I realise that head lice is part of a normal childhood, but I imagined maybe 4 or 5 bouts over a period of yearsm not a constant battle!

And no horror stories please, I've had enough of them!

Well, once my lot were in school, it became routine to do the sunday night nit check. You'll become more matter of fact about it as they get older. My kids still get the odd infestation at age 12, but less so now than when they were little.

Well they do stop getting them (eventually). We had so many episodes one year that I bought an electric nit comb, which makes checking and treating so much easier. We just run it through dry hair every couple of weeks to check and if we find them, then we nuke the little buggers every couple of days. Takes 10 minutes tops, whereas with the condition, comb routine, we would be brushing through dd's very thick, very long locks for an hour. Which tbh was enough to reduce me to tears.
Of course, since we bought the electric nit comb, she's only had them once .

I can live with checking, it's the thought of combing eggs out every week that seems so horrible. I just want the nasty little creatures gone!

Ooh I like the sound of the electric nit comb. And I'm happy to spend money on something if it means that, like your daughter, they only get them once after that!

Hedrin works. Lyclear doesnt.

Even when dd had a bad infestation we got rid of all of them in less than 2 weeks. 2 doses of hedrin a week apart and combing every night till they were gone.

She has really long, thick hair and has only had nits twice and is 10yo so no horror stories here.

well I don't think it's preventative but it sure makes getting rid of them a bit more painless.

I agree with VivaLabeaver - two weeks of Hedrin and combing with a nitty gritty comb. Then get their hair cut very short, not because it will stop them getting the lice, but because it is so much less painful to comb short hair then long hair.

The problem is if they are being re infected, which is what happened to my dds, a close friend of theirs was visibly crawling with lice the whole year.

Nitty gritty comb is the best one ever.

My girls have had them twice each. Both times I've given the full overnight treatment, then combed through with the nit comb after washing off, and about every other day for about a week.
Never had a recurrance of the same infestation.
One of them has waist long thick hair, and the other has very curly hair so combing isn't the easiest thing to do, but it works.