headlice - do they ever go away on their own?

[devondeva]

I've just noticed my daughter has what looks like some old, dried up nits (i.e. the eggs after they've hatched ) attached to some of the strands of her hair. They're reddish brown (not white like "fresh" ones) and several inches from her scalp in typical "nit" position behind her ears, and while small and dried up have the "tear drop" shape and are stuck to the hair. However, an extensive search has failed to find any lice or "fresh" nits - her hair is quite fine so there's not many places for them to hide. I'll obviously nitty gritty her to within an inch of her life tomorrow but I think it's unlikely I'll find anything. Do nit infestations ever just not "take"?- I was of the understanding they never went away by themselves. She's never had nits before. I use tea tree oil shampoo which is a deterent, but didn't think it would do anything to actually get rid of them.

bump? Still no signs of a "live" infestation - just a few hatched eggs

We had a similar situation a couple of weeks ago. We also nitty gritty every week and use tea tree conditioner.

I found 1 live adult lice on dd and a few eggs on ds. Two days later nothing on dd (she's only 11 months and doesn't have much hair so nowhere for them to hide! ). Ds had a couple of live lice and no eggs.

Two days later nothing on either of them, and nothing since. It's a bit odd but I'm not complaining, makes me itch just thinking about it.

Hate to tell you this, but hatched eggs are white, live ones are reddish brown. Get combing!

What ^^ she said. They are cooking!