Disgusting head lice again

[Robinw]

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I don't believe how hardy these little beggers are. Last week I was notified by dd's nursery she had them - I found that consequently both dh, my Mum and myself have been infested with them.

Over the weekend, we used one of those chemical shampoos (I hadn't checked on Mumsnet for all the other alternatives). Last night I washed my hair with tea tree oil as a precaution too. I thought though the shampoo would have blitzed them all - but to my horror I saw one blighter just now crawling on my fringe !!

Are they like fleas - are they related to crab lice? To top it all I think my cat may have fleas too so I'm itiching like crazy !!I'm paranoid now !

To make it worse - when i mentioned the nit problem to a friend of mine she actually stated what was the point as her kids would prob get re-infested again anyway !!! Then my Dad actually refused to admit he might have any eihter !!Argghhh - it seems to me that I may never eliminate those horrid bugs from our hair with attitudes such as these

Apologies for the rant - I'm still traumatised over seeing that awful insect in my hair just now

Hi Madie,

I understand how horrible headlice can be. About a yr ago (my dd was 9) she had headlice so bad. I never even knew it because she never complained to me that her head was itching and I never noticed her scratching. When your not looking for these things you done always notice it. She also has been washing her own hair for the past year. She's at that stage of somewhat wanting privacy. Well, one day over the weekend I decided to give her hair a good washing myself. What I found was her entire head was loaded with all these little brownish bugs crawling in her scalp. I thought I was going to die. Not only these nasty nits but bugs that looked like they had been there for weeksband making a wonderful home for themselves.

I dont know how big lice actually get but these were so much bigger then what I have seen in the past. I sure have seen plenty working in many day cares. The worst part is that the entire family had to go through treatments together. Hope you got all the lice under control.

Hi Madie! I can sympathise - dd has had them twice now, and both times I ended up with them too. They are horrible, sneaky little creatures. They can run fast too, about a foot in 30 seconds, so they can run if they feel searching hands! The chemicals might work on the live lice, but IME you have to physically pull out every nit (egg), or they will hatch, and within a week they lay their own eggs and so the cycle begins again.

The only thing I have found that works, is to cover the DRY hair with conditioner, heaps of it, which stops them being able to run away! Then use a fine metal comb, and go through it over and over, rinsing it off in a strong vinegar-water solution. The vinegar dissolves the "glue" they use to keep the nits on the hair strand. It does work, but you have to be ruthless and tough and do it EVERY DAY for 10 days to break the cycle. If you miss just one baby louse or one egg, you will have to start all over again...so be thorough no matter how much it drives you crazy!

HTH and chin up, you will win!!!

Forgot to add, head lice are not the same as pubic lice - different species altogether, so don't worry, they have no interest in migrating!

Well, I'm sorry to have to revive this thread, but we've joined the club: I discovered nits/lice in dd's (3yrs) hair for the first time at the weekend. Had to wait til yesterday to do anything about it, as it was a holiday on Monday here - typical. Felt creepy/itchy all weekend!
Thanks to mumsnet, I now know how to wet comb and to avoid the chemicals (especially as I'm 24wks pg), but can't find teatree products here at all (I'm in Belgium) so I guess I'll have to order them and wait. Also, the comb I was using (metal) didn't get any lice out on dd's head, though I'd seen them crawling around earlier, and lots of the nits are still there. What am I doing wrong? To my horror, I found a huge louse when wet combing my head, though. Still recovering from the shock.
The other question I still have, after trawling all the louse-links I can find is: do I have to wash pillowcases/sheets every day until we get rid of the lice/nits? (Extra question: how many pillow cases do you own?!) Same question for brushes and combs, and towels.

sprout, 'orrible isn't it? The only thing I can think of is maybe you weren't pressing down hard enough with the comb. You should comb through with conditioner on the hair (ordinary for the moment if you haven't got tea tree), but you do need to go right to the root, be quite firm and make sure you do every single strand. You very likely won't get them all straight away ime but keep it up for 10 days or so and you will get them. We're free of the little bu**ers now but we did have to be persistent. You very likely will have a complaining child while you're doing this, although my ds got used to it in the end. I had huge lice on my head too but do the combing thing and you will get them and find that the ones you're finding are getting smaller and smaller (uggh). Keep it up for a couple of days after you don't find any, just to make sure you've got all the eggs too. Good luck.

Sprout I use a normal comb to separate the hair, lots of conditioner then pull the little blighters out myself! Works very well Ive found.

Thanks for the answers, www and 3girlsmum. How about washing pillows/towels etc? Am I getting paranoid?

WWW is right. I have just done it this way with my two and it does work. You will miss some, but if you do it often enough you gat them all out in the end. You'll find they get smaller and smaller as time goes on. Re the washing of bedding I've read that this isn't necessary as any lice that leave the head would be dead or dying, so not a problem.

Happy nit picking!

You do want to be careful about not using the same hairbrush on yourself and dd. Also, try doing the combing in front of her favorite tv show and give her something like a lolly to occupy her hands while your doing it. You will be able to be much more thorough if she isn't wiggling.

Oh how I empathise Sprout, I was horrified to find I had the little b**rds too - yes dd thought it was cool to use mummy's brush.
Wet combing in front of a video was the only thing that worked for us (plus 3 weeks away from nursery on holiday). Hardest thing was getting rid of mine (never had them as a kid and felt really embarrassed, how daft am I ?) dh found it 'too much effort' to wetcomb my hair as thoroughly as I did dd's but having read that other thread I'm just thankful that he volunteered at all

Twink, I also had a tough time convincing dh last night that he had to wet-comb my hair, and vice versa! Already using video-&-a-chocolate-if-you-sit-still bribery (on dd, not on dh ) but it seems to be working. Thanks for all the tips.