Head lice help first time

[FiveNightsAtMummys]

My youngest dc complained of a itchy head yesterday I do a weekly /fortnighly check anyway but It was due. There was a rash and I could see what I suspected to be a head louse.
I went through the hair with lots of tea tree condtioner and a nitty gritty brush and got about 25 head lice out and some dark specks (eggs?) Surely that's loads? I had only checked a week or 2 before and went through the hair with coconut oil and the nitty gritty and there was nothing. Is this normal or have I just been thick and not noticed them before?
Any tips / advice?
I thought I'd go through it again tonight and tomorrow (breaks up from school then) and then on day 5,9,13 and 17 nhs website says?
I've bought some nitty gritty treatment but didn't know whether to keep trying condtioner first and use this and plan b?

I've also bought. Well everything I could find that may prevent them if we get rid of them..any swear by products/ techniques?

I've got really long thick hair. I tried putting the nitty gritty through it but ripped half my hair out! I didn't see anything in mine but any tips for thick long (and bleached hair?).

Sorry for all the questions I'm a panic pants.

Oh I'm jealous. I loved when my kids got lice.

Slather it up and go through it every night for a week. The eggs are white. Easily mistaken as dandruff but difficult to get off the hair. If you don't want to use chemicals mix some water and vinger together and spray it on the eggs and it will kill them.

Change the bedding and wash your towels because they can survive for up to 24 hours without a host. If you have two hairbrushes use them on a rotating daily schedule. Keeping everyones hair up in a bun should be enough to keep them at bay until you get the all clear because despite the rumors they can't jump, they require direct contact.

Oh so what are the brown colour bits? Baby head lice?

Any vinegar? Or the white stuff?
I've got some tea tree oil too.

It does sound quite a lot... but then they do multiply quickly.
Are you against treatments other than conditioner/ nitty gritty??? In my experience, the drowning/ suffocation types work well without being too nuclear ....and are easy to use. Something like Lyclear??? I'd just want to get rid asap.
My DCs had them once, in early primary school. I, like you, had had no previous experience, and was shocked- they were visible to the naked eye, legs and everything....
But you just have to be practical, notify school or nursery, and treat them quickly.

My hair is firmly in a bun it's giving me headache! Dc won't let me tie his hair up (he has hair half way down his back)

I must admit I only saw one live one the rest were dead / not moving and it made me jump.

I just looked on nhs website and it said wet comb first. I do worry about chemicals in the treatments probably a bit..Well alot too much (I have ocd around chemicals, altho better than what it has been it's still very much there)

We had them for the first time recently. There's advice online that using your hairdryer can dehydrate the critters and their eggs, so reducing the chances that they establish themselves. Iirc there's no clinical evidence that tea tree oil etc are effective.
My hair's probably like yours. I tried using the nitty gritty comb but it was too difficult. I got hedrin lotion from the chemist - it's the silicone one that you leave in overnight (I think it suffocates the lice). It only works on hatched lice, so unless you can get all the eggs out with a comb you have to repeat it a week later to kill the new lice.
For dc, I only found a small number of lice each time, I think 6 was the max in one combing session. I combed with conditioner each day until there had been none for a week. I found some brownish things that I thought may be the remnants of eggs after the lice have hatched.
Good luck!

Thanks Sea, I read similar about hair dryers and straighters so I've been straightening my hair on hottest setting too.

I'm in the middle of doing my youngest... my girls have thick long hair..
The white/clear eggs ( teardrop shaped and stuck to hair stand) are new eggs.
The darker ones are old and have already hatched.

The eggs (nits) I tend to get our using 2 fingernails and sliding it off. The lice will come out on a comb if you've got Hedrin or similar in their hair.

Tbh I wouldn't worry about the treatments, they aren't nearly as bad as they were in the past.
It's best to attack from all directions.

Good luck!! It's such a pain

They can lay 8 eggs a night I think. So if you have say 8 in your hair thats potentially 64 hatching .... and so on....

I neber trust combing entirely as it only needs 1 to slip thru the net and then you have 8 eggs a day again.

Hedrin and then 10 days layer after all eggs will have hatched. Worth every penny isnt stinky like when we were small.

I think you have that the wrong way round. White cases are empty and darker ones are unhatched. Use one of the silicone based treatments as they suffocate the lice rather than acting like a pesticide

Hedrin. Works brilliantly. Do yours too if you’re bothered.

We've only ever used the nitty gritty comb (never any treatments). You need to use it on wet hair with absolutely loads of conditioner to be most effective.

You're correct that 25 lice is loads - it's highly unlikely they have all arrived in the last week or so, so it sounds like you have been missing some.

For long thick hair you just have to divide it into small sections and be very patient! It is easier if someone else can do it.

Thanks all! Went through it again tonight with loads of teatree conditoner and the nitty gritty and there were no lice! Yay! There were a few of the brown small bits..there were loads of these yesterday today maybe about 10-20% compared to yesterday. Really pleased and suprised I expected loads. Also ds let me cut about 6 inches of his hair too which hopefully will help in the prevention side of things!
Going to check mine again now..

@dementedpixie i totally got that round the wrong way... was in full blown conversation while writing my post 🙈 clearly can't do 2 things at once

Tonight I only found 6 eggs. We're going in the right direction!

That's great!

I have a boots electric comb as it zaps them! DD will put up with me doing that once a week, more than the conditioner/nitty gritty. She's allergic to the Hedrin/Lyclear and whilst coconut oil was a good alternative, it's so hard to wash out of long hair!

Wetcombing with normal conditioner containing dimethicone and nitty gritty to get rid

If they keep recurring use a hair oil containing dimethicone (eg garnier in wet hair before drying) as a preventive strategy & hopefully they'll find less slidy hair to set up home