my daughter has head lice again - what is the best thing to get rid of them - fighting a losing battle - help!

Question

tried all headmarks stuff
vinegar in water
repellents
constant combing with nit comb
the scool have been informed
she has long hair and does not want to have it cut - she has given them to me in the past and i have very short hair.

the last lot i had out were all dead - thank goodness. she was not scratching etc - how often should i be checking her
she hates going through it and i hate doing it as i know it upsets her -

they like clean hair and her hair is washed about there times a week

we are now using tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner every other day and i have made up a spray of tea tree oil and water and spray that over her hair morning and night. we also nit comb every evening. thanks for the advice so far - you have all been great - have got to be careful with what i use as she has very sensitive skin and i am allergic to certain chemicals so needless to say i wear gloves

Answer 1

Go to the MD, there is a prescription strength pesticide that you can get. Be very careful with it though! Also, you MUST bag and wash everything in the house if possible, all upholstered furniture and beds must be sprayed with insecticide, clean entire house from top to bottom, do not miss anything! Alternately, go somewhere else for about 10 days, lice need humans to feed on and if they cannot eat they will starve to death, 10 days because by then the nits that are in bedding, couches and carpets will have hatched and starved too.

Answer 2

Head lice like clean heads so don't worry about personal hygiene! Lice jump from head to head at school etc so what you need to do is to inform the school of the problem and ask them to inform all parents that there is a problem and that all the children need to have their heads checked regularly and treated if infestation is found.

1. What your problem appears to be is that you are treating your daughter and she is going to school (probably) and getting instantly reinfected. I would recommend that she wears her hair tied back securely because lice will not find it so easy to transfer, and encourage her not to touch heads with others eg. when she pours over text books with classmates, hugs a best friend etc.

2. It is a fallacy that lice will live on combs, in hats or on furniture or linen etc - they will not, they transfer head to head only. Regular combing and brushing will damage the lice and once damaged (broken legs) they cannot reporoduce - so keep this up!

3. When you treat your daughter ensure that the whole family is also treated, including grandparents and anyone else she may hug etc.

So do these three things and eventually you will succeed. I have heard that you can get elecric nit combs but I do not have any idea how effective these are. All the best!

Answer 3

The really good news about head lice is that they have a very short life span and do not become "dormant" (like fleas do). (I think they live only 24-48 hours. With no blood they dehydrate ad die and cannot reproduce.) Are you bagging or washing all fabric items (carpets, stuffed animals, sheets, pillows, hats, etc.? Make sure you do that.

Treat your daughter with whatever treatment you prefer. (I've seen a recommendation of coating hair with mayonaise in between treatments to make it harder for nits to latch on, but I've never used it. I have heard that you are more likely to get lice if your hair is clean. That oily hair can discourage them. Not that I would recommend that as a preventative!) Be sure your combing is VERY thorough and often. (Yes, I know, with long hair this will take hours.)
We've actually had success with the herbal ones.

If you go a week with no lice and then it happens again, that would indicate that someone or somewhere your daughter comes in contact with is a continuing problem. Try to determine the source. Also coach her - no sharing combs, hats, brushes, etc.

Answer 4

My sympathies!!
my daughter had the same problem.I found the only thing that worked was washing her hair in the bath then putting on loads of conditioner and combing with a lice comb until there are no lice left..this will probably mean going over her hair twice with the comb .Its usually worst behind the ears and nape of the neck.Give her hair a good rince and repeat in three days time when any remaining eggs have hatched .Repeat this process for two weeks and she will be lice free ..Also dont let her go to school without her hair tied up depending on her age I find plats work best at keeping lice away!
The shop treatments mostly dont work because the lice have an immunity to them and this is the only guaranteed way to ged rid of the nasty little gits! by the end of the first week it will be like she hasn't got any because the newly hatched lice are so small so you must keep it up ,then check each week say Sunday night before she is back at school just to be sure.I would also ask the school to put out a polite notice to all parents to please check their kids hair !Its so annoying when they get them back and it only takes one parent in the class not to check.
good luck!

Answer 5

Once you've used the treatment your chemist recommends, you need to sit and pull the nits out of every strand of hair. This takes ages and your daughter won't enjoy it any more than you. Follow the instructions for follow up shampoo treatment, and again pull through every strand of hair to make sure there are no eggs left. The combs are not much use at this as they bend around the eggs. Make sure she has her hair tied back, preferably in pleats or a bun to avoid it flying about and coming into contact with other children who might be infested. If you can get her to wear a hat or cap at school, do that too. This will cut down the chance of re infestation.

Answer 6

You can try

1- spraying her hair with tea tree oil - they do not like the smell
2 - an electric nit comb is also very effective for removal - and also very satisfying!

Unfortunately, she will continue to suffer from head lice as long as there are other children in her class who remain untreated. The only answer is for your child's school to send out letters to everyone in the class about checking for and treating the head once it has become infected.

One school in which I taught made each child keep a comb in school, and they all had to comb their hair before break, lunch and going home. The reasoning behind this is that before the lice get hold, they can be removed purely with an ordinary comb.

Answer 7

My family had that problem too we went to walmart and bought alot of nix lice treatment and about 3 bottles or RC lice spray. use the nix in her hair and comb every day 2-3 times spray the RC spray on everything in the house and let it air out leave the house for about 3 hours with windows open to let the smell out. i know she will hate it but the best way is to brush 2-3 times and do it outside in the back yard so all the neighbors don't see you if you care about that.if it is still not gone as much as she won't want it to happen shave her head that is the best cure and then still spray the RC on EVERYTHING.
Hope this works for you.

Answer 8

I have just discovered Dr Johnson's aromatherapy nit and lice shampoo, and they do a conditioner as well, which makes it easier to put the fine comb through afterwards. You can email the company at ; [e-mail]
good luck!

Answer 9

my daughter has had this problem for ages and none of the chemical treatments we used ever worked, all i do now is brush her hair through in the morning and at night with a nit comb and this is the only thing that has been a success.

Answer 10

Every time you wash the hair, use conditioner.

Comb twice a day, and even though you will not get them out all at once, it will prevent them from breeding, because when you comb you break their legs. By combing regularly for three weeks, twice a day, you will be getting the eggs out when they hatch.