Headlice - reinfection - repellant sprays!

[posyhairdresser]

My dd (age 5) has recently brought back from school her first ever case of headlice!!!

I am going for the bug-busting method to treat her (and me & dp even though we seem to be OK) but she came home today with a big new louse - which must be a reinfection (boo hoo). This means we have to start the bug busting program from scratch again - and I haven't even finished the programme once!

I am using the nitty gritty repellant spray so clearly that hasn't worked.

Does anyone rate the repellant sprays, and are there any tips to prevent reinfection?

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Should I really expect constant reinfection without a break between for the next few years?

Nothing will act as a fool proof repellant. the nits don't 'like' the smell of tea tree but tea tree isn't 100%. neither are the insecticides a repellant. If is going to happen it will, so it is worth checking regularly so you can catch it early.

They have a shampoo in Switzerland that is supposed to repel lice. I can't remember the name, but someone located there should know. Willow-bark, maybe? Hmmm... sorry about about that.

I'll eat the bottle if it works 100% of the time. There are lots of claims made about this and very little information. But at least teh salicylic acid in the willow bark would cure the nits headaches when you crush 'em

hmb, I can just see it. The lice are sitting around complaining about their aches and pains. Then comes a shampoo and, although they all agree it stinks, suddenly they feel great! Have a party, make a little love. And then, the comb comes. What is that? Aliens! They've taken over the head! And then a mysterious illness hits, someone comes and takes away their young and the entire civilization is wiped out.

Poor things!

JJ I swear that Nits discuss their holiday plans and that my dds head is the costa del sol of the nit world. She has had them three times now and the last time it took me a month to shift them by wet combing. It was all working wonderfully and then she would go to school, hair in plats with a leave in tea tree conditioner, and home she would come with new ones! Some parents in the school just couldn't be arsed to clear their kids and they kept re-infecting the rest! ARGGHHHH

Bizarrely it's ds2 who seems to be bringing them home for their headlice-holidays. I say 'bizarrely' because it's actually ds1 who goes to school and ds2 hasn't been to a toddler group for weeks. The children in ds1's class see ds2 in the mornings and can't seem to stop themselves from cuddling him. Next thing you know a whole new colony of headlice have packed their bags and emigrated to ds2-land. Ds2 is also the only child that ds1 ever hugs so they hop across to his head too, despite there being hardly any hair there since it was cut.

I've tried to be devious and put a hat on ds2 but the little monkey keeps taking it off. I still have absolutely no idea why ds2 is such a child-magnet. None of the other toddlers get the same hugging treatment!

Have now read more about nits than I ever wanted to, looked at all the archive stuff and realised that I am a very rare species - a parent with the blighters! I have been bug busting with tea tree conditioner and metal nit comb, plus using Riddance - neem based shampoo. The big problem I have is how much my scalp itches, I read somewere that it's caused by an allergy to the nits and not everyone suffers. I have only found one adult on me, two on my son and a few babies, but the way my head is itching you would think I had millions! I am slightly worried that with pretty sensitive skin at the best of times all this strong treatment is making my scalp go into melt down, any tips anyone?

Johnson's baby oil. It can be a pain to wash out, but it gets the little buggers, they just literally drop out, you just need to keep combing for a week or so to catch any new ones that hatch as the oil won't kill the eggs.