Just cried over my daughters headlice, I don't know what to do anymore.

[Nitsaremakingmylifehell]

My DD is 8 and seems to have headlice constantly for the last year she also has exczma. I've just treated both of us last night with Derbac M overnight treatment but her head is still absolutly crawling with lice you can see them on top of her head. On top of this she has a huge scabby patch of exczma on the back of her scalp which hurts when she brushes her hair or I run the nit comb through her hair is full of loose scabs.

I was just pulling out a comb full of live lice and scabs despite treating last night and I just don't know what to do anymore nothing seems to work.

You can be reported to SS for anything, Cedrix, no matter how trivial & unjustified. :(. & SS are duty-bound to investigate. Doncha just love our accountability culture? :(

I have tried everything but Hedrin is the best. And you do need a nitty gritty comb.

If you run a bath the right depth for dd to lie flat on her back with her hair under water for about 20 mins a lot of the live lice will start to drown and float off. Beware, though - if left out of contact with the water then once they dry out they start to revive.

My advice is to remove eggs from hair using your forefinger and thumb nails. Time consuming but worth it. Keep this up for a week after you've seen any live lice.

I feel your pain, we have them again. Doesn't seem to affect dh or ds2 just me an dd1, hopefully got rid of now but will comb brought again tomorrow just to make sure

Nitmix, nitmix, nitmix!!! I'm not on commission honestly and I never promote anything I don't know to be good/brilliant/fantastic!!

And yes re SS...I know it's true because they knocked on my door to ask about them 'as a family', along with the policeman that accompanied them! they were away at their parents at the time 'as a family'.

And I'm with lljkk I don't like the nitty gritty comb either. they stretch the hair and that will inevitably damage it imo.

Added to all the other advice given, you must treat your hair and the rest of the family as if anyone has them, even an egg, otherwise you will never get rid of the nits.

Once I've tied DDs hair up for school i lightly spray both DD and DS's hair with Vosene Kids 3in1 Head lice repellent - you can get it from boots - I would spray around the hairline away from the excma.

I feel for you as we went through this over and again with dd. We do a massive combination treatment of conditioner plus nitty gritty comb, followed by Headrin overnight. We use voseen shampoo with lice repellant in to keep them at bay and fingers crossed they've stayed away this time, but we give her a once over with tho nitty gritty every fortnight just to make sure.

My problem with NG comb is I can't see the tiniest live lice or eggs in its prongs, so I never really know if I'm still getting blighters out or not. I want a visual reward for all the hard combing work .

Eggs I would just hunt for, when you know what to look for they are easy enough to spot & squeeze out with own fingernails. Nothing is more satisfying than removing the eggs.

I guess lice-hunting brings out my inner chimpanzee (sigh, little fuckers).

I must admit I don't treat the whole family unless I find an infestation is advanced; then again, I mostly have boys with short hair & I am now paranoid about not letting my own hair touch anybody else's.

I dont belive you siglesolo, I think you may not have the full story re ss and your neighbours. why would ss be acompanied by the police for a routine visit and they would not just turn up like that without contacting the parents unless the police where to remove the children and that wouldnt be for cutting hair and im pretty sure they would have returned.

should not say I dont believe you singlesolo but more that you maybe didnt have the full picture re ss visit from your neighbour didnt mean you where making it up.

I have 4 dds with long hair plus me, yes it is hell!!!!

Nitty gritty and cheap conditioner does work.

DVD/TV on, start at the back of the head, pin up most of the rest of the hair - I use those butterfly clips things. loads of conditioner onto dry hair, pull nitty gritty comb through and wipe off conditioner with nits and lice onto kitchen paper. Repeat doing smallish sections at a time.

Then lots more conditioner and drag the comb through the hair, again just wipe off whatever comes out onto kitchen roll.

None of the other combs are worth using tbh.

I second Nitty gritty comb with loads of conditioner every day for two weeks.

Also found my (older) dd with cascades of wavy hair, seemed to finally get rid of her persistent head lice by using hair straighteners for a few days. Fries the little buggers! But perhaps not appropriate for an 8 year old!

Can I just add I discovered infestation Christmas Day morning, worst of all I caught them and I am severely allergic, only found a couple of adults in my (long thick wavy) hair but my neck and back are covered in bites. I've used full marks on my hair as I can't condition comb it very easy, but still nitty gritty it as it gets out loads of the eggs too.

Every 2-3 days is sufficient tbh, the hatchlings take a week to reach maturity so you just need to comb them out before they lay eggs.

No idea, but it's true. My neighbours told me what had gone on before I had mentioned the visit, so it wasn't as if they were trying to hide something that I'd asked about iyswim. They were annoyed that the HT hadn't just asked them first why they'd done what they did and if the SS had tried ringing them, they wouldn't have had an answer as they were away on holiday.
They did return after the neighbours came back from holiday, which was when the neighbour told me what had gone on. I then told them what I knew. The children were very well looked after, no other causes for concern as far as I am aware.

Children who are constantly infested with head lice (and I don't mean people struggling to eradicate the blighters) are neglecting their dc, and if their hair is short and other people can see the blighters running around them erm yes being reported to SS is very believable.

If you are anywhere near me I will do it for you, seriously, all my friends kids and DS's school friends come to me, I am known as the "nit nurse" i love delousing people.

I used the hedrin once treatment, you leave it on for 15 mins and do it once, hence the name. You don't technically need to comb either as they come out, just some eggs get left but most do also come out. You can comb if you want to but don't have to. Ds2 has eczema too and this works for him, combing doesn't help his scalp and as it's not necessary I don't usually do it anymore.

It kills the live lice and the eggs, I do check to make sure too and it definitely works!

Oh and I have a nitty gritty comb too, I used to use it before the newer hedrins came out and you had to comb. I wouldn't bother with any others as they're useless. It's very good.

Tea tree shampoo/conditioner can help too. And, once you have the infestation under control, it is still worth a weekly comb through with conditioner to pick up the odd stray one before they multiply.

Thank you all so so much. I namechanged with fear of being judged but you've all been so wonderful. We're off to buy a nitty gritty comb and headrin tomorrow with fingers and toes crossed that this could do the trick.

DD is not allowed time off school for headlice so if children are found to be infected they must still attend school the next day which is probably why we seem to have a constant battle with them.

Her hair is just below her shoulders and very thin not like mine at all which is very thick hence we can see them in her hair. Think I'll be cutting it again to a short bob which is how we usually have it.

She has various creams for her eczema but we're making another appointment as we've nothing she can use on her hair and we're hoping to get a shampoo to use thats a lot more gentle and will moisturize the painful areas for her.

Foxinsocks that bleeding patch is exactly what DD has. Shes supposed to be visiting with her Grandma for a week from tomorrow, Thankfully Grandma has raised two children of her own one who was constantly infected so shes very much willing to help out and will be combing daily. DD will probably prefer Grandma doing it anyway to be honest as she has sky and is apparently much gentler than I am! Probably thanks to the huge amount of chocolates.

I'll report back before school starts and will also learn to do a bun in DD's hair ready for school starting again as its really not fair on her to be in so much pain and I will do anything I can to stop this repeating constantly.

Just to add I treat myself at the same time as her and shaved all of DH's hair off into a crew cut!

You only need to comb every 4 days
look at the bug busting website
here

unless you get a new louse from someone else your dd will be nit free in 14 days time

I was quite upset and stressed when dd got them badly and ds too, but not so bad. - Couldn't believe how big the little buggers got and how many of them

Luckily for us Hedrin worked well. We also did quite a bit of combing with conditioner or oil (with a little lavender in, mainly to improve the smell, make it a nicer experience, but I gather there are various essential oils the nits aren't too keen on, including lavender )

If my two get them again we'll be turning to the Hedrin again though and hoping it works as well as last time - which it should as it's not an insecticide as such but works by suffocating the nits (the same idea as with conditioner or oil) so the nits can't get immune to the chemicals.

Good luck ! We had problems with dds sensitive scalp too so I do hugely sympathise and hope you'll be nit free soon you poor things - Remember nearly everyone has had them at some point.