head lice and tea tree oil, does it work?

[cardy]

DD1 (5) has had reoccuring head lice ever since starting in reception. We try and keep on top of it through nit-combing with conditioner every couple of days however I am not convinced that this is completely getting rid of them. We have tried various over-the-counter products which seem to work for a couple of weeks then they are back again. I am reluctant to keep using these and have heard that tea tree oil really keeps them at bay. Does anybody have any experience of this, does it work? How often do you need to do it and how do you use it?

Tea tree oil does work, but it is fairly potent. It needs to be remembered that there is evidence that it can cause breast growth in little boys if it is used continously for a long period of time. I have used tea tree oil on my son, but only very rarely.

Have you tried leaving the conditioner on the hair over night. You need to put it on really thickly and get your child to wear a showercap to reduce the mess.

I found that nitcombing every day got rid of the nits for us. You have my sympathy its a nightmare.

I was told it caused cancer in children when used on a regular basis, so I dont use it at all.

i used it as a one off treatment to get rid of head lice a few year back (me not my kids )

i washed my hair twice a day and thouroughly combed witht he nit come while wet, then massaged a few drops of tea tree into my scalp.

i continued this for about 3/4 days after i found the last louse and kept putting a few ddrops of tea tree oil on my hair brush for a few week after wards

Regular combing is the best.

Tea tree oil will not actually get rid of them if you already have them, and I'm not sure how safe it is on a regular basis.

I'm opposed to the use of chemicals as the lice build up immunity, I don't want dd exposed to them, and we have a septic tank so don't want to pollute the land.

Have heard good things about Hedrin, which is supposedly non-toxic. I've not tried it though.
I think it coats the lice in a film so they can't breathe.

Daily combing and picking off all the eggs from the hair is the only answer. That's where people go wrong - you only need to leave 1 or 2 eggs and a fortnight later you've got a zoo on her head again.

My DD had them last year the only way we got rid of them was to comb tea tree conditoner through every other day for a couple of weeks. Before that we tried three remedies from boots. I just found them in her hair this morning and I bought a nitty gritty comb. I just used it on myself and I'm very impressed with it, it can be used with any conditoner.

But how do you see the eggs?

The white ones that you see are empty egg sacs. Before they've hatched they're brown and I've never been able to spot them.

I had no idea tea tree was potentially dangerous to use healthwise.

I use a tea tree/lavender spray on my dc every day (one you can buy) and it does seem to keep headlice away. Maybe I should stop?

Gosh, I've never heard about the link between tea tree oil and cancer, thanks for the advice. I think I will try the over the counter (non-toxic) one that I bought before and them nit-comb/conditioner every day. I have tow girls (5 and 3) both with fairly long hair, it's a nightmare isn't it!

Hedrin - is it available from Boots?

So far only DD (3) and myself have had our creepy friends. On her I was lucky, I check all the kids every day when brushing hair anyway, and i saw no live ones just 9 brown eggs. About the size of a matchstick, close to the scalp just above the nape of her neck and over her ears. we used hedrin and wet combed every day for 2 weeks, and now i just check every day. The nitty gritty comb is good, but dds hair is fine so still had to pick some eggs out with nails YEUCH. Not had any now for 3 months. I do use a homemade spray of water with a drop of tea tree oil in when she goes to preschool...bit concerned now about it being the wrong thing??

GythaOggsFrog - this weather is ideal. Sit the child on a chair and let bright sunlight fall on the hair. Go over the whole head, just letting a few hairs at a time slip through the comb. It takes ages but it's worth it.

You have to do it daily for 2 weeks after you've seen the last live louse.

sorry should be about the size of the head of a matchstick

I should say that mine had lice 3 times when theyt were younger and both times I followed those instructions, didn't use any chemicals or oils and there was no recurrence. You find baby live lice up to 10 days after the first lot as that's how long the eggs take to hatch and you're bound to miss a few. Then you have a few days to carry on and make sure you haven't missed any as the first lot of babies can lay eggs at about 10 days old.

I did read that the Govt is considering banning tea tree oil as an ingredient of soaps and shampoos?

Tea tree oil can cause allergic contact dermatitis (skin rash). I have not heard of the other bad effects (cancer, hormonal effects) or of the idea to ban it. Is there a link for that?
It is not good to take it by mouth (not that you would - tastes horrible) - and therefore not good to put it near your child or baby's mouth (e.g on your skin if bf).

Ah, Fortyplus, that'll be the problem you see.

I live in Scotland where the weather is dreich and dreary.

We don't often get bright sunlight

I agree, that meticulous combing or nasty chemicals are the ways to get rid of the lice. We choose combing.

GythaOggsFrog - oh dear

I suppose shining a bright torch might work?

scroll down a bit

I will try again

I've used Nice n Clear shampoo and lotion andt his seems to have knocked the little buggers on the head [pun]. It's all natural - Neem Oil or something I think.

herescroll down a bit

ds2 once had a HUGE one - I swear it was a 1/4 of an inch long. We looked at it under the microscope and they thought it was amazing 'Just like a scorpion, mummy!'

www.greenpeople.co.uk/News.aspx

You will have to copy and paste, I cant get it to link for some reason.

Article on relation to cancer and tea tree.