Yuk - HEAD LICE & EGGS - how can I get rid of them?

[chickenwings]

Both my boys seem to have head lice They have not got many big ones but they seem to have lots of baby ones/eggs which have stuck to the hair shafts. I have tried Nice'n'Clear with the nit comb but it has only got rid of the 3 or so big lice. The baby ones/eggs go straight through the comb. What have you tried and what has been successful?
PS Will be popping back later to check this thread as need to go and eat now!

absolutely! good thinking! they might have some good types too, esp re avoiding certain food perhaps?

As someone who has struggled for years on and off with the little buggers, I have finally found something that works (other than wet combing every single day for two weeks!).

Hedrin - it's a new treatment which contains silicone and supposedly suffocates the lice. Nitty gritty comb is fab for getting rid of them once they are dead (although you'll find that most just drop out), also it will get the eggs out.

Haven't read whole thread so apologies if this has already been said but nitty gritty comb is available on prescription and if you get one made up under your child's name it's free. If you log on to the nittygritty website there is a letter that you can print off and take to your doctor. Sorry, don't know how to do links!

Just backing up BonyM - I've just used Hedrid this week after nearly a year of trying to get rid and it works - whoopie.

Do you leave conditioner in the hair and then comb with the nit comb?

Discovered lice on dd for the first time yesterday. Bought something (chemical) at the chemist's which seems to work well, kills grown lice, larvae and eggs apparently but they were out of nit combs. Told me that since the eggs can't hatch now, there is no real need to comb them out. Have to wait 8 days and check again to see if a re-application is necessary. Still wondering if I should look for a nit comb tomorrow though.

Hedrin didn't work for us....or, put it this way - we still had eggs, but none developed further.

I was told to comb everything out very thoroughly with nit comb, and then douse dd's head in either mayonnaise or olive oil. Next, I wrapped cling film around her head, and then a towel around that. I was told to let her sleep like that (also put a towel over her pillow). Woke up the next morning, washed hair, and that was the end of it for us.

Hedrin is so dear - £13 per bottle!

Hi hope somone can advise me, my dd1 has been in contact alot with children with headlice over the last few years, her class at school currently has an outbreak and from speaking to other mums it seems that most of them have them, except my dd1.
I often comb through her hair with a nit comb to check and last year I treated us all with nitty gritty because I was sure we must have them as everyone (practically) that we knew did. I still haven't found a single lice though am woundering if I am not recognising them. Do the eggs get stuck between the teeth on a comb or sit on top.
I know the wifes tale that only people with clean hair get lice but I wash my dd's hair every other day so I know she hasn't got dirty hair.
I sometimes find small oval white / opaque things that could be eggs but very rarely and I think these are sweat / blocked pore things as I sometimes get them on my skin elsewhere.
Statistically she must have lice, but I cannot find them. Are eggs singly on a hair or are there groupings of them please give me advice to recognising them
Thankyou

Well I thought at first she had grains of sand in her hair, she's blonde and they showed up dark brown against the hair and skull. Then I noticed them move! Eek.

The eggs dd has look like brownish bulges on the hair schaft, mostly near the scalp (ca 2 cms away from it). Apparently they particularly like to use the area behind the ears and the back of the neck.

If you're washing frequently, you're probably washing out grown lice anyway. It's the eggs that won't wash out.

Wonder why mayonnaise works? Might try the olive oil though. Think I will try and get a nit comb just in case.

Think the idea behind the olive oil and/or mayonnaise treatment is that it suffocates the lice/eggs.

THey are feckers aren't they! DD had her first bout on Monday 26th June, used Full Marks and she still had them. You have to search and search and search, you become very obsessed with it (well I do). Applied second lot of Full Marks on the Wednesday evening and she was clear after a another extended search. Low and behold the feckers were back last Thursday evening. I certainly got rid of hers because of my obsession of searching her hair morning and evening. Somebody in her class must have them and not realise, it is so important to check your kiddies hair and check and check.... until you become as obsessed as me,

albatros this is what you should be looking for....

factsoflice

SOrry albatros I can't find the link anymore, took me so long to try to do the link, now its gone.

NItty- Gritty- brill ,the best. I've tried them all over years, combs and lotions. Regular combing has been the most effective.
Little buggers. When the kids first got them I was horrified. Now it's just part of dealing with kids, like threadworms, impetigo and other nasties. My medicine cabinet looks like a bloody pharmacy.

There is a rummour currentley circulating that Bristol university is paying 20 pounds per sample of childrens lice, as they are doing research into it's resistance to chemicals. I have just tried looking on their website but can't find the right area.
So maybe instead of paying out on lotions etc. to kill them we could breed them and cash in !!

Surely we could just go over and infect the staff? That way they always have a supply handy

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I think I am just going to have to pick the unhatched eggs out with my fingers. Gross! My boys have quite long hair but I can't take them to the hairdressers whilst they have nits.

I am also planning on ordering a nitty gritty comb and am looking at the other suggestions!

That's pretty well impossible little buggers breed like well ,lice!

Well after using that chemical stuff and washing everything at 60 degrees, thrown out sunhats and washed/frozen the cuddly toys, vacuumed everywhere for stray hairs and everything else you're supposed to do, I found two more live ones in dd's hair yesterday morning, so reapplied that stuff and then did the whole thing again. I bought a nit comb this time though and went through her hair with it, definitely didn't get all of them but a lot came out with it.

Chickenwings, I find it difficult to pull them out with my fingers TBH but then I also find the nit comb isn't brilliant. You can see a nit and run the comb over it any amount of times but they rarely get caught it seems to me.

Oh well, more fun ahead then!

i was told an interesting thing by a health professional once and that is that by combing hair you break the buggers' legs and this prvents them from running around and laying eggs. So even if you don't manage to get them all straight away out you break the cycle. It makes sense.

hedrin

and i have tried everything.

Just read that the eggs are white. And found lots of white things in there - yuk-o The things I've been pulling out were dark though but not actual lice -larvae maybe? I'm finding the nit comb too wide-toothed so I was picking the eggs out like a monkey this morning but dd gets so impatient, there are still a lot in there.

Can I take her swimming if her head is not absolutely clear or do I run the risk of them swimming across to other children's hair? Anyone know? I'm hoping I just have damaged eggs and dead things left but I'm not 100 per cent sure.

Message withdrawn

Oh those are good ideas. I'll do that.

So that means if she has a lot of white things in there, that nits are probably hatched and out and about... I was hoping I had beaten the b* but apparently not. No swimming then.