head lice - how long before rid?

[sonsmum]

DD had them, treated with hedrin and combed through. 15days later she's found a few smaller ones after combing again, so we re-did hedrin today. I'll be making her comb every day. How long before she is considered rid of them? (my head itches just thinking abut them!)

You cant just treat once as the lotions don't kill the eggs so any that hatch after treatment won't get killed. You normally re-treat after 7 days to catch hatchlings. I would then comb every few days following treatment to catch any baby lice before they are old enough to breed. The life cycle is about 3 weeks long.

You need to comb with cheap conditioner and a nitty gritty comb every couple of days for a couple of weeks/ months and a maintenance comb once a month.
How old is she, as it is very difficult to do yourself particularly with long or thick hair.

It doesn't work like that unfortunately! You need a nitty gritty comb, loads of cheap conditioner, and loads of time. Every other day larger her head in conditioner and comb small sections very thoroughly, aiming to remove any small eggs. The eggs look like little sesame seeds and are glued to the individual strand of hair. They cluster near the ears, scalp and back of neck.

Do that every other day for at least a week. Once you are absolutely convinced you've got all the eggs do it for another few days! If you don't get all the eggs the cycle goes on forever and she'll pass them to her classmates (and you)

OK thanks for the replies so far, which is more helpful than any other info i've seen. She's an able diligent teen and thankfully has very fine long hair. Sounds like we under treated for the past 2 weeks! We'll be doing the conditioning/combing every other day from now on, and re-doing the hedrin again next week

Agree with condition combing every couple of days. We had them recently and that was most effective after treating.

Are you treating the whole family? We would do combing through everyone with nitty gritty comb and cheap conditioner at least 3 times a week,until everyone is clear. Clean out hairbrushes daily, wear hair up for school.

It's not that she isn't able or diligent it's just that it's really tricky to do properly on yourself and if someone else is doing it they can see the buggers and can target specific areas. They eggs in particular can take several passes before they come off.

I'd stick a favourite TV show on and have her sit between your legs whilst you do it. Nitty gritty comb (worth the expense) cheap conditioner, plastic tub with water and a bit of dish soap which kills the buggers. And of course do everyone else on the household too. Pointless doing just one person.

Headline are common in little children as they can't keep their heads apart and teens as they put their heads together for selfies etc.