Head Lice 'The bug busting method' anyone heard of it.

[notsofarnow]

TBH this is basically what I already do if confronted with headlice but :

Had the nit nurse in school today because headlice such a problem and a massive amount of 4 parents turned up.

She showed us a video of the bug busting method to get rid of headlice, basically washing, conditioning, combing 3 times a week to get rid of the blighters.

But here's the bit I didn't know you can get bug busting kits on prescription, they consist of a white cape, a wide toothed comb and a thinner comb that are specially designed on an angle with rounded ends so it glides through the hair better.

So get to your gp and get your kits and get combing.

will this do?

only thing about the bug-busting ad is that it seemed not to mention 'live' eggs.. does it get those as well or does it just rely on allowing them to hatch and then catching the baby lice.

loathe 'baby lice' btw! They are not cute! They are from Hell! Hell, I tell you!

I'm with IvyKaty - oil (olive, almond, baby, mazola, whatever) works far better than conditioner. Work it into dry hair, comb through with a nitty gritty comb, leave for 12 hours, comb again, wash it out - completely sorted. It is a bugger to wash out but it really, really works.

has anyone tried the electic bug zaper from boots - it's supposed to electorcute the little bliterss.

DS school seems to be constantly in the middle of an infestaion....bring back the nit nurse!!!!!!! (apparently against human rights - one of the LSA'a saw one girl's head crawling with them and wasn't allowed to inform the parents!!!!! only know this as she is bessie mates with my dc's cm. I can guess some are unsure of what to look for and others are to tell others thier dcs have them

Actually my bug buster leaflet said as wet as possible . The website specifically says that wet hair is not a problem and that the fact that it should be dry is a myth.

The standard bug buster comb is described as a detection comb and removes lice and nymphs (is that less cuddly?). I only had the basic comb free when DTDs started in reception. You can purchase or obtain on prescription something called the bug buster kit. In the bug buster kit you also get a nit comb which the leaflet says is for removing the nits (empty eggs) after the lice have all been removed.

The bug buster claims to remove the tiniest nymphs with teh yellow comb. In my personal experience I have found the Nitty Gritty much much better. When I first got my nitty griity I couldn't see the lice on the metal comb. Then I started to use a glass of water to rinse intermittently - giving me a pot of lice I could see. When I first did this I would go round with my bug buster first as a 'detection' sweep and get rid of hte lice on tissue. Then I would go round with the Nitty Gritty with the intention of getting the eggs. I used to find loads of nymphs in the glass that the Bug Buster has missed.

I know the Nitty Gritty is quite a harsh comb - but I wouldn't use anything else if you paid me.

Where can I but the Nitty Gritty from? (Am in UK)..does e-bay do them?

'buy' of course..doh!

ahhhhh . . . . my head is itching just reading this thread . . . . .

I got my dd to count the eggs we got out to keep her entertained

Sun did with metal nit comb, 15 eggs out and 1 huge critter.

Mon bought Nitty Gritty comb, combed again - wet hair for us before conditioner as dd has very thick waist length frizz - got 97 eggs out inc tiny ones.

Tue nothing

Wed nothing (etc)

That did it for me, only bother with NG now.

As for lifecycle for mature lice, not long 7-10 days I think. Lay 6 ish eggs per day and take 7-10 days to hatch. All from (poor) memory as cba to google!

I've used the bug buster kit from the above link (yellow and purple combs) with 100% success. The lice have a few stages of growth so even if you don't get the tiny first stage you can get them when they are bigger, but before they are adult and can breed or apparently infect another person. (Itching madly just thinking about it)

Ding dong...yes 7-10 days according to bug buster website.

I thought I was on teh only sad mother to count the eggs (well I guess)...and was converted for exactly the same reason as you.

You can get Nitty gritty direct from their own website or from ebay or from Boots who now stock them. They are about £10 but worth 3 times that.

You don't need to buy the potions or anything - just the comb.

97!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....just imagine them all hatching......i'm itching just thinking about it......santas little toilet flusher not sure about ebay but you can get the nitty gritty from boots - instore and online

Just go to your pharmacy and ask for one.

They retail for £10 but the parmacist should give you one for free as they are covered by the governments 'minor illness scheme', designed, I think to keep people from blocking up GP's surgeries with non urgent stuff.

The designers deserve a medal.

oh and from amazon.co.uk

Bug Busting is effective - but in my hands it has always taken closer to 3 weeks than the quoted 2.

Plus for me the biggest advantage of hte Nitty Gritty is that you rarely get any crawlers after the first sweep. This has 2 BIG advantages

1. There are no little critters to wander around and infect classmates (or me!!). And the little ones can crawl from head to head.
2. Because there are no crawlers or blood suckers there is no itching.

will find leaflet tomorrow and find the website can order them off theere or go ask gp for a script

Thanks a lot everyone, will go to Boots tomorrow. My boy has been scratching his head today like mad. I washed his hair, put conditioner on it and then combed it through with normal nit comb but didn't find anything...then rinsed hair and did it again. Not sure if this was right.

Having read this thread will try dry hair, olive oil and my newly purchased Nitty Gritty! That should get the buggers...trouble is I don't know what I'm looking for as I've never seen a nit!

Nitty Gritty stuff online here (their site).

see I count too!!!!

And you will see that I fully treat within 4 days (although double check for hte full 2 weeks).

Santa Helper - get yourself a pint glass or jug of water. Rinse the comb in that between strokes. Look in the bottom of the glass 5-10mins after finishing when the bugs & eggs have sunk to bottom. You will know a lice when you see one - they look like little insects. They come in various sizes depending on how long since hatching. The eggs look like little dark brown flecks.

Brilliant tip re jug - thanks screachingsirens, oh what fun I shall be having tomorrow night! For all I know there may have been some on the comb tonight but it was all clogged with conditioner so I couldn't really tell.

I have to agree that nitty gritty is the best. I found lice on my dd and went through my hair with a plastic nit comb, found one crawler and was quite relieved. The next day I got a nitty gritty and went through my hair again and got no more crawlers but that fecker had laid about 20 eggs. All were live eggs as I was able to snap them betweem my fingers.

amazon is cheaper than nitty gritty webite and they are on ebay buy it now £8.95 plus £1 p & p

So, does it not matter whether I do it on wet or dry hair? I can just slather conditioner/oil on dry hair and comb away with the Nitty Gritty?

Sorry about this, am a nit virgin, god knows how I've got away with it up until now as eldest is 7yrs.

serin really? what is this minor illness scheme, sounds brilliant?

I'm going to try and blag one from Boots tomorrow for free!