Headlice & waist-length wavy hair - what to use please?

[EcoLady]

Just found adult lice while drying 11yo DD's looooooong wavy hair. My hair is also waist length, though straight. Simple wet combing is not going to be a realistic option for us with so much hair to deal with.

I'm reading conflicting reports on the fast versions of Hedrin: it's either the best thing ever or an impossible nightmare to remove.

What is the Mumsnet collective wisdom please? Thank you!

i think you are going to have to do both tbh, wet combing with a nitty gritty and conditioner to help it go through more easily and some kind of treatment, ihave heard good things about hedrin but there are various ones on the market.

and yes the hedrin is hard to wash out, it certainly takes more than one wash! a good couple infact as it leaves the hair kind of greasy looking, but thats a small price to pay to be rid of nits!

My DDs with waist length thick hair suffered with head lice and nits throughtout primary school :( used the nitty gritty comb for 1 week they were GONE!!!! and never been back. the comb deserves an award IMO. Good luck

oh and get some big clips so you can divide the hair into sections to be sure you have gone through it all, thats the best way with long hair (my ds1 has very long thick hair, a pita to comb but that is how we did it :) )

tried hedrin (nightmare oily stuff to get out) lyclear (stinks) regular combing with conditioner and the nitty gritty comb - natural but didn't clear them, my DD has bum length hair - thick but straight. She had nits constantly from leaving nursery right through her reception year, the last product I used was Linicin (not too smelly or oily) she hasn't had them since!

they say you should comb every other day for 2wks to make sure you remove all the lice and eggs/those that are hatching as the eggs take 10 days to hatch?

but yes the nitty gritty is the best thing, i know combing will be a pita but it really is the only way :(

When I had this situation with dd1 I ended up cutting her hair to shoulder length so it was an easier problem to solve. Then we used the full marks solution which worked for us, even though dd was absolutely infested (she didn't think to tell me that she had an itchy head )

Thank you all! Advice very much appreciated. No idea how we're going to fit in combing & treating everyone, but we'll give it a go!

The lotions and potions seem to kill off varying numbers of lice in different people. None seems to be a reliable sure alone. To be sure there are no new hatchlings you need to condition and comb every 2 or 3 nights for three weeks. That takes out any which the potions have missed before they have chance to breed.

I was once advised to use vodka instead of the potions. It seems to be quite effective, either killing them or making them too drunk to hold on properly. It is certainly one of the cheaper treatments! I mix it 50/50 with conditioner.

Don't bother treating the whole family. have a good root around with the nit comb and just treat those who are infected.

I vote for the Nitty Gritty too. We'd been through loads of Hedrin, but we've been combing and combing and finally they're on their way.