Chronic head lice

[iamamyp]

Please does anyone have any experience of completely chronic head lice? My sister works in a primary school and has picked them up and passed them onto my mum. They've been having a complete nightmare with them for the last four months, they have tried absolutely every type of product, natural remedies, combing with nitty gritty every day. They are definitely not reinfesting each other. They have been to the GP who has been completely dismissive. Apparently you can get a special drug prescribed in extreme cases but its not licensed in this country. Any advice appreciated, thank you!

olive oil - put on hair and comb through so it covers all the hair. leave on for 4-5 hours and comb the hair to get live nits out, keep washing comb as you go through the hair.

Then wash the hair - it will be really really lovely now and the scalp

now dry the hair and get a pair of hair strightners - straighten the hair all over

now style as you want

wait two days and repeat process

Are they truly using the nitty gritty properly?

I've found the best way is conditioner on dry hair and getting someone else to do it. Takes about 3 weeks of combing every other day IME you need lots and lots of conditioner.

Hedrin. I'm not on commission, honestly, but a combination of hedrin and the nitty gritty comb are the only things that work for my 9 year old nit magnet.

Firstly comb with nitty gritty and lots of conditioner - everyone in the household should be checked on the same day. Then hedrin (sleep in it overnight). Then comb every other day and reapply the hedrin 7 days later. Then comb again until hair clear. You should do this for about 3 weeks to be totally sure of breaking the cycle - but you MUST do everyone in the household.

I second Ivykaty. The olive oil works.

Thanks everyone but they have tried gallons of olive oil and hedrin not to mention everything else you can think of including mouthwash! They are combing each other with nitty gritty and conditioner every day. They really are desperate, my mum is seriously considering shaving her head. Just wondered if anyone else has had these mutant head lice that seem impossible to get rid of and if they got professional help? They have been to the hairforce clinic in London btw, got told they were lice free then the b*ggers came back again.

We swaer by Hedrin & nitty gritty too, & use an electronic comb to detect them....its makes a noise when it hits 1....it is meant to kill them, but just stuns the little [email protected] time DD got them, I experimented to see what worked, & the only thing that actually killed 1, was rosemary oil, which is an aromatherapy repelant for them.

from what you say, it does sound as if your Mum could well of been cleared of them, but has then caught them again???...........

What works for DD is Hedrin & a thorough section by section combing with nitty gritty to clear them, & then vosene shampoo, followed by a finally rinse of vinegar with added rosemary oil (1/3 of a bottle added to a bottle of vinegar (vinegar breaks down the glue that attaches the eggs to the hair, so makes the eggs easier to shift)

then spray hair with Vosene nit repellant detangling spray......again with a 1/3rd of a bottle of added rosemary oil.......comb through with nitty gritty again.....& dry/style as normal..........you also need to do the whole family & anyone in close contact at the same time.......some people can have them without itching

repeat Hedrin etc for EVERYONE a week later to kill of any stragglers that have hatched since first dose

& from then onward continue with vinegar/rosemary final rinse.....doesn't smell when dry & leaves hair lovely & shiny & easy to style.........also continue with the Vosene repellant detangling spray with the added rosemary.

DD has only ever had them 3 times, despite being around kids that get them constantly.....she caught them again recently after I got a bit blase' & didn't worry when I couldn't find the Rosemary to add to a new bottle of spray & vinegar......... worst I've seen her with & this has worked to clear them r from both her & me .....

DH surprisingly didn't get them....interesting as he uses a medical shampoo (Capasal Theraputic Shampoo) that smells exactly like the old coal tar shampoos we had as kids....when headlice just didn't happen as much as they do now

good luck

now you've got me scrattting again

Do you know that headlice can live in your bedding and furniture for 24 hours.
In addition to the hedrin and nitty gritty , you need to wash all your bedding and towels, and clean the back of the sofa/chair that you sit in

I think they are getting reinfested from another source somehow.

If youve tried al the usual stuff , get some NEEM oil , some tee-tree oil and some lavender oil .

Mix a few drops of the tee-tree and lavender into the neem and apply to the scalp .Comb and wash out .Repeat as necessary.

Neem oil is especially toxic to headlice and nits , it actually soaks into them and rots them from the inside out.

If you cant find neem , try NICE AND CLEAR it has neem in it ...They sell it in boots.

yes the eggs are hatching and then wayhay they are reinfested with the blighters - thus using the straightners helps to kill the eggs with the heat of the irons, then repeating every two days...for a full cycle of a lice, which is 21 days

tbh it was this method with my dd1 that finally got rid of them and using olive oil as a gle on her pnytailed hair to stop the lice moving and getting gunged up with the oil in their gills - this works if done correctly and regular

Thanks again everyone. They have tried neem, not sure about rosemary, vinegar, vosene, hair straighteners will suggest. They are being v thorough about washing towels, bedding every day, not putting coats next to each other but not sure about hoovering sofa!When they got told by clinic they were lice free were also told no eggs either and v careful about not getting reinfested so can only think clinic missed some eggs.

Are they def doing everyone in household at same time? Agree it sounds like re-infestations.

They could be getting reinfested from someone outside the home. You only itch if you are allergic to the louse saliva so they could have a friend/family member who is infested but doesn't realise it IYSWIM

I read on the back of a nit treatment that they dont live in bedding etc?
If thats not true then I am buggered. My Best friends DD always has them and she stayed over last week. I left DDs bedding on even though they they shared while playing games, not sleeping.

AAARRRGGG I am scratching my own head now.

My hairdresser told me that colouring your hair is a very good way of killing them. Especially bleach.

Found a combination of nitty gritty comb and head and shoulders shampoo worked. Tried the oil from nitty gritty, but the problem was that to get the oil out of my hair needed so much shampoo, that I was almost ready to scratch scalp raw.

combing out every day with hair conditioner worked for me and my kids

I read on the back of a nit treatment that they dont live in bedding etc?

They don't live on bedding but can survive for upto 24 hours when not on a human head.