Stubborn Head Lice

[dantiasmith]

My daughter has had headlice since end of January/beginning of Feb. We have wet condition combed every 3 days. We have used lotions and lotions and potions. EVERY 3 days. Combed through tiny sections of hair again and again. She has long thick hair! I just can’t seem to get rid of the buggers!! My daughter is really struggling and so upset and it hurts sitting stiff for so long.m and my poor back. Help!

You have my sympathy as we've had a really difficult case of it in the past.

I think I had to wash all of her bedding on a hot wash, Hoover her mattress and freeze her soft toys before it went.

Thanks. She’s 10 and a half so very self conscious about it. She hasn’t had it for about 2 years so she’s devastated. But I am thankful that we are in lock down and we can concentrate on it without worrying about school

Have you tried Hedrin? It's the only thing that works for my kids

Have you tried the lotions that suffocate them?
If she has very thick hair (as dc1 did) make sure you're using a nitty gritty comb or similar that has long enough teeth to stay in contact with the scalp all of the time.

Oh, and she may end up having hair that looks like it's been in a frying pan.
Use washing up liquid to strip it, then condition well.

I've had similar problem for years but nitty gritty comb along with conditioner has been life-changing this year.

Forget the potions and lotions as they’re not effective and actually make people lazier when combing. Get the nitty gritty comb and lather on conditioner and wet comb her hair EVERY 3 days for 3 weeks or EVERY 2 days for 2 weeks. And comb your whole family to check she’s not being reinfected.

Nitty gritty comb every other day for 2 weeks

Hedrin. Then repeat a few days later.

When i went on holiday to a remote farmhouse where it was just us, i coated her hair in 50/ 50 cream. Its an eczema treatment for my youngest. Its badically runny vaseline. She had greasy hair for 2 days as i didnt wash it out. Eradicated the buggers cos they suffocated. Ideal for lockdown as she wont be seeing anyone. My dd also 10. No nasty chemicals either. And less of nightmare than constant combing where it only takes missing a few of the buggers. Rest of family might also have it too? Who cares what we look like. If you zoom/ facetime, you can oretend youve all got wet hair from having just washed it. Noone will know!

Only downside is pillowcases (use ones you dont care about) and it tajes about 10 washes to get the grease out at end of it all. The only effective tteatment i have ever used!

Following as unfortunately it’s the same in this house

Have you tired straighteners to burn the fuckers out and then comb through with a Nitty Gritty

Dont substitute for vadeline. Which us way too thick! 50/ 50 petrolium. And steer clear if naked flames as its v flammable. Otherwise totally safe and zero nasties. Always hated idea of the pesticide option. Which never worked for us

I use the Hedrick 15 minute gel one and leave it on overnight (towel on pillow). Same a week later. In between, every other day nitty gritty comb. Has always worked and my step daughter use to get them fairly frequently and my own daughter has had them twice with long, thick curly hair.

Hedrin not Hendrick.

Aww i feel for her, my child had them really bad we couldn't get rid it took a month to get rid of them! We brought the lice treatment that suffocates them, conditioned combed twice a day washed all towles and bedding daily till eventually they went, was horrific.

I used Hedrin once on the first day. Then I combed everyday after with cheap conditioner and a nittygritty. Then used hedrin once on the seventh day and combed with the nitty gritty. After that I combed every day with conditioner for a week. Then combed every other day. Hedrin once is only supposed to be once but I found lice that were still alive even though I thoroughly coated my daughters hair. My son has less hair and I didn't find anything after the first week. I was obsessive. I wiped the comb on kitchen towel and examined with magnifying glass.

Hedrin once is very good but for long hair it is very likely you will miss a louse or 2. Then it will seem like the infestation has passed but a few weeks later you will be back to where you started and wondering where they came from. But it was actually because you never got rid of them properly in the first place.

Nitty comb THOROUGHLY every day for the first 2 weeks. Check every swipe of the comb. If it's clear then every other day for 2 weeks. If you find anything you need to go back to combing everyday for 2 weeks. But you will get so fed up you will comb more thoroughly than you thought you had to the first time round!

Then once a week for a month. Unless you have children in your child's class that constantly have nits. In that case you will need to do it once a week (or more of you find any) until your child goes to secondary school!

Hendricks might just work DD has had a couple of nasty infestations although not as bad as yours. The stuff which suffocates them is good as it suffocates the eggs too.
I have done a weekly thorough comb through with a Nitty Gritty comb for a long time now and that seems to work. One advantage of school being shut=no head lice!

Hedrin all in one shampoo, expensive but good it kills lice and loosens the eggs, once lathered and rinse coat in conditioner and comb thoroughly with a nitty gritty. Hair is left looking lovely! Repeat after 7 days. Wash all bedding, toys (or quarantine! If too big), clothes etc. I hate the bastards, have 4 DC so it’s a nightmare.

Bug busting method - combing with conditioner on day 1,5,9,13 follows the life cycle and is designed to make sure you leave enough time in between combing for them to grow big enough to catch.

I'm in the same boat here with 2 kids who must have got them before the schools closed and I didn't realise. Worst ever dose of them. Shows how reliant I was for the prompts from the school.

Thanks everyone. We used to use hedrin but it’s doing nothing this time. We wet combed with conditioner for a month at the beginning. We literally finding like one adult and a few babies each time we do it. Not many but enough to know It not over yet. I’ll take a look into the suffocate stuff because at the point I’m willing to five anything a try!!

Is it this sort of thing 50/50 parrafin

Would cutting some of her hair be an option? Does not have to be short but it will make the lice removal easier. As long as it's below shoulder length it will still be "long."

Are you getting your fingers and nails in there? Combing only gets you so far. You usually have to channel your inner monkey and use your fingers and nails to get the stubborn ones out, scraping them down the length of the hair (which is why cutting a few inches off the hair may make things easier).

Bright sunlight is best for spotting them. If you don't have a garden, sit out on the balcony!

Yeah I cut off 4 inches or so!! It was half way down her back! Literally was so hard to comb. Thought a trim would help. That was only last week.