Headlicr

[Carla]

DD2's new nursery, which she's been at for just a week, put a sign up this morning saying there had been a case of headlice. The teacher said to put conditioner on it after they've washed their hair, then comb it through. I know this is an incredibly stupid question, but she didn't say whether an ordinary comb would be OK or whether it had to be a headlice comb. Anyone able to help? Also, has anyone been through this scenario without being totally repulsed by the whole thing? I know it's common, but I really think I'd fall to pieces!

Headlice comb is better, as the little blighters can be missed with an ordinary one.

Use lots of conditioner on wet hair, as this makes it a lot easies to do, and is easier on your dd. I find plonking them in front of a vedeo helps!

They are horrible, but this will pass

Message withdrawn

Carla - this has been discussed a number of times already with excellant advice ... see if any of these links are helpful ....

horrid
little
blighters
HTH

Thank you all - hmb do you plonk them in front of a video and then whack them into the bath to wash the conditioner off? DD1 has such thick, curly hair I think we could get through an entire CC Bang Bang to do hers alone! Do you need to be so fastidious if you're sure they haven't even got them yet?

Yup - you have to be very meticulous about it ... miss one little critter and there'll be quite a few little babies about three days later. I would suggest to do it every other day for about 7-10 days

SB34, how old are your children? My sister's are 13 and nearly 8, and they haven't had them yet. Am I being paranoid unesassarly?

The link should cover it, but ,yes, you do need to do the lot, inch by crawling inch! If your dd has curly hair, then the conditioner is essential. Wash the hair and using an ordinary comb put in the conditioner. Keep the hair wet, as the lice don't move when they are wet. If dd has them you will have to do it once every 3 days for two weeks. That way you keep getting the lice that have just hatched before they become big enough to breed themselves. If you do it regularly you will shift them ( you can tell it is working as the lice you comb out get progresivly smaller). While yu are doing this your dd will not pass them on, as small lice stay attached to the hair.

hth

Carla, we discovered a couple of weeks ago that DS2 had them (he's 10 and it's the first time for him but not for the family). I bought tea-tree conditioner+nitcomb initially, having heard that the chemical things don't work any more, but when I called the hairdresser for an appt for him she said she wouldn't touch his head unless I'd done him with a proper preparation. (I said "but I thought -" and she almost snapped back "I'm a hairdresser, I know what I'm talking about!" And she is a very mild person normally!) (NB that was from the point of view of not getting them on her combs etc rather than her being squeamish.)

She recommended Full Marks mousse (£9.99 from Boots for a 4-head tin) - it's a very thin mousse, so quite hard to work through to the roots, but it doesn't smell or drip or run and has done the trick in 2 applications a week apart - you leave it on for 30 mins once all hair has been covered and then shampoo as normal, and I've also done the tea-tree+nitcomb. I believe that if you do a nitcomb through with conditioner every time you wash their hair it is supposed to stop them getting a hold in future.

It is a repulsive idea but it happens to the best of us!

I always (yes, we've had them loads, school I'm afraid, not much I can do about it) ask ds (6yo) whether he wants to use the chemical stuff - i.e. we just have to do it once - or to do combing for 10 days and he always goes for the combing as the lesser evil. Carla, sympathy, you do get used to it, unfortunately.

Thanks for the advice! I didn't make any grim discoveries last night, but I'll keep combing through. Trouble is, DD1's hair is so thick, the comb won't go through the whole volume of one strand of hair. Any ideas?

You'll have to take a smaller 'chunk' of hair to comb through Dd and ds have very fine hair, so it is easier than combing through beautiful thick curls!

Carla, put loads and loads of conditioner on. Then comb through first with a really wide-toothed comb, then a smaller comb, then finally in small sections with the nit comb.

It does take a long time with thick curly hair

We've had 2 outbreaks in our house, both from pre-school. Only dd2 and I get then, thet don't touch dd1 and dh. I've found this company v. good,there nit repellant spray works well and there new comb is FANTASTIC at getting out eggs. The plastic combs get the live ones but not the eggs. It's herewww.nittygritty.co.uk/

here I mean!