What do you clean hairbrushes with when you kids have headlice?

[sparkler1]

Yep it's that time again. Found one on dd's hair tonight. They are doing the rounds at school. Her and her sister have gone off to bed with their heads smeared in lotion - smells gorgeous (NOT!) in our house at the moment.

I just wondered how I can "de-bug" their hairbrushes. I've obviously been brushing their hair before realising we had visitors. Don't want to re-infect by brushing again.

TIA

Tea tree? I've been leaving the nit comb in a cup of water with a few drops of tea tree. Leave it over night, rinse and use again next day (and the next, and the next...

Thanks tallmummy - I don't have any tea tree oil at the moment but shall buy some tomorrow. I remember hearing before it has it's many uses.

I just rinse thoroughly with very hot water.

Although doubt that the nits would survive for very long on hairbrush anyway!

please could someone tell me what to look for with nits. A child at playgroup has had them thank you

Best to check around nape of neck and behind ears as this is where nits lay there eggs (warmest part of head).
You need to look for little brown eggs that are stuck onto hair about an inch from scalp.
Obvious signs of infestation are scratching loads and bites on neck.

Hate to say this but it's the pillows and bed linen you really need to worry about.

Another trick is to get the child to lean forward and comb their hair over a piece of white paper. Any live lice that fall out can be easily spotted and quickly stomped on!!!

Definitely - always change the bed linen.

Can the lice survive in the bed linen? I thought they couldn't survive for long once they had fallen off the head.

thank you, im scratching now hope it is psychosmatic!!!

They can survive long enough to reinfect the next night!

Dsd gets horrendous nits, we're talking hundreds. I've never changed the bedding, I read that you don't need to as the nits won't survive off the hiar, and I just get the hair out of her brush and bin it (the hair not the brush). I've never bothered with tea tree oil on it or anything like that, but we don't share the brushes.

DD might pick up 2 or 3 from her in a weekend but I'm sure that's from head to head contact, not from bedding or brushes. I haven't caught any from her for ages, seemed to be more suscepitble when I was pg.

Glad you havn't caught them surfer mum but what about her school friends?

I've no idea tallmummy - she lives with her mum. All I can do is keep myself and dd clear and do my best for dsd when she is with us for the weekend. I do tell her to tie her hair up for school but she says she doesn't like to as the other kids see the eggs and take the mickey . She was at one school where it was compulsory to have your hair tied back and it was a lot better then, but she's moved to another school now.

could you treat her when she stays with you? poor thing

Would her mum object if you treated her hair at the w/end? The treatment I used on the boys can be repeated after 7 days.

Sorry if my post sounded harsh but I'm so pissed off with nits.. Every evening is spent endlessly combing one of the 4 dss' hair. I know that some people don't bother checking so kids just get reinfected.

We have done when she's with us for a week as you have to do the 2 treatments a week apart, but unless her mum is willing to do the second one there's no point in us just doing 1. We've come to the conclusion that there isn't much point using lotions anyway as she goes home and gets reinfested from her siblings (not dh's children). It's a nightmare. Recently she refused to have them done and when I quietly asked her why her eyes filled with tears and she said "there's no point because I never get rid of them". .

have you tried conditioner? Put about 10 drops of tea tree into an ordinary bottle of cheap conditioner from chemist/supermarket. Slather hair with it at bedtime (wet or dry) and then rinse and fine comb inthe morning. Leaves hair gorgeous and soft as well as lice free (suffocates them). You still have to comb off the eggs but as they have been oxygen deprived for so long they wont hatch.
Feel so sorry for your dsd being reinfected. In many areas now the lice are resistent to the chemicals and the conditioner treatment is cheaper - do you think that her mum would do it instead? Or could you just do it for her every time she comes to stay.
Also - put 10 drops tea tree into a spray bottle (eg old detangling spray bottle or similar) with boiled water and spray your kids heads with it. The tea tree can help to keep the lice off.
Clean hairbrushes in BOILING water in a cup for 10 mins.
Boil (or 90 degree) wash bedlinen, and think abotu dry cleaning or replacing pillows.
HTH

Poor little girl surfermum. Why won't her mum do it? Does she realise how upset her dd is? Is dsd's hair long and thick? This must make it even more of a chore. This happened to a friend of ours in a similar situation - she had to treat her dsd everytime she came to stay - even the night before she was due to a bridesmaid at a wedding.

Surfermum you've made me . Poor little thing. I've heard before that you can use all the lotions going but they never really get to the bottom of it all. Regular combing through with the nit comb (even when there is no infestation) is one of the best ways to keep on top of it.

my DD, by the way, seems clear again now. Lotion overnight, washed out in the morning and a through comb through with the nit come in the morning seems to have done the trick. I think I caught it early though as there wasn't much to see in the come through next day. Phew!

brush the hair with the lotion on - the lotion goes on brush then

hedrin doesnt smell btw

surfer,
buy the girl some conditioner w/tea tree oil in it and a nitty gritty comb to take home w/her.

tell her to put the conditioner on in the shower - get in and very first thing, shampoo the hair w/a shampoo w/tea tree oil in it, then slather on the conditioner.

then she can break out the comb and comb the nits out herself.

poor soul!