headlice problems?

Question

what do you reccommend for getting rid of them, my daughter is always getting them from school, and to be quite honest im sick of it! tried nearly everything now, what do you use though?

Answer 1

my daughter is 9 and she always gets them too. It is a nightmare, i know. She has hair down to her waist and she seems to have become immune to all the lotions and treatments from the chemist. Best thing to do i would say is after washing her hair, apply some leave in conditioner and run a nit comb through it until the comb is clear, and repeat the process daily. Also once a week i straighten her hair as this seems to keep Me clear of them. I have not once caught them off her and i think its down to the fact that i straighten my hair almost every day. I know its tiresome but there really is nothing else that can be done. In my experience anyhow!!

Answer 2

Break the life cycle. Sit the children in the bath and do conditioner and combing every day for two weeks. This gets rid of nits and lice. Then comb/conditioner every week or so to check for re-infection until they leave school ! The hair has to be wet - you cannot always spot them in dry hair. Comb everyone in the family including any grandparents that they visit. There have been health risks reported with long term use of the chemicals.

Answer 3

When my children got it.........and kept getting it.........it drove me insane and I used everything in the chemist shop in desperation. Nothing seemed to work and I had visions of it going on for years!
Then I spoke to a health visitor. She told me that I shouldn't be using all those chemicals anyway as it wasn't doing the hair any good. She said that I should cover the hair with hair conditioner every day and use a metal nit comb to carefully comb it through. This removes them........use a cloth to wipe the comb each time and then throw it out (a jay cloth would do). The thing is that nits are going through a "cycle" ,(as you no doubt know),and each day they, ie the ones left, will be onto the next stage. (So, you are not killing them, but removing them).
BUT eventually you'll get to the stage where all the nits are removed. Its a bit of a drag, but it DOES work. I hated the whole thing, but I was so relieved to find something that worked.
I seem to remember that I did it once a day for about a fortnight or so.....but I do remember buying in a stack of abt 10 bottles of conditioner!
I have to say that about 18 months later one of my daughters' friends confided to her that she used to have nits and her mother worked hard at keeping it from the school. I realised then that prob this contributed towards my daughter continually getting reinfected. Its best to work with the school (and definitely a health visitor).

Answer 4

You can buy a lotion at your local chemist....Full Marks I think it's called! My little girl has long hair and we have this problem far too much!!! You gotta buy a bone come, from the chemist too and after you have treated the hair with the lotion do her hair every night with conditioner and the bone comb....It's long and drawn out but it's the only thing that works!! The problem is..not every parent clears their childrens hair so the problem is gonna keep coming back...it's a pain in the butt!!!!! Good luck!
Oh and also try tea tree shampoo...the headlice don't like it!!!

Answer 5

Tea tree shampoo and conditioner...headlice hate it. Wash hair thoroughly and comb thru every other day! Buy the tea tree spray in conditioner from your local chemist and spray on every morning before school and when she gets home.

Just keep an eye on her head though as the tea tree tends to dry the scalp.

Use the new one (Hederin) I think and follow the instructions to the letter.

Carry on with the tea tree and combing until all the buggers are gone.

Bear one thing in mind though as well...the little sods can live for up to 24 hours without feeding, so make sure you wash the bed linen at 60 degrees and check the bed every morning.

Answer 6

Over the counter products should work (ie Nix). Are you also washing EVERYTHING in your home (bedding, pillows, throw blankets?) Stuffed toys are supposed to be placed in sealed bags for a while. If not, you may be getting reinfested w/in your own home. Try to prevent bringing them home from school by getting her to hang her coat away from all the other children's at school (talk to the teacher about this ahead of time); make sure she's not sharing hats, scarves, hair brushes; I've heard that keeping hair pulled back helps.

Is the school aware of the problem? Have you talked to your pediatician?

Note: someone has gone through and given thumbs down to a lot of the good answers ... not sure why they'd do this, one example is indyred20, and also tnbadbunn who has a very good detailed answer, but 3 thumbs down. I used to be a preschool teacher as well as a techer's assistant in elementary schools years ago, so I do still recall many of the procedures necessary in getting rid of lice.

Answer 7

Plait or tie up her hair for school.
When she's got them or you think she might, every day after school sit her in front of tv with a snack and quickly brush through her hair, then spray it with water from a spray bottle and comb through with a nit comb. Do this every day or at least every other day.

When you wash her hair, after washing use conditioner and again comb through with nit comb. Check comb on each stroke.

Dont use all these awful products. They are expensive and in the end ineffective. All you need is a nit comb!

Do it every day, and keep on top of the problem.

Its just part of school life - some kids seem more likely to get them than others. I know its disgusting, but eventually they grow up, or stop 'touching heads' and the problem doesnt occur so often.

Answer 8

Head Lice Treatments
If you do see live lice moving around on her head, then she needs to be treated. In addition to over-the-counter medicines, like Rid and Nix, and prescription medicines, such as Ovide, there are many natural home remedies that you could try. Keep in mind that according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, Nix 'is currently the recommended treatment for head lice, with retreatment in 7 to 10 days if live lice are seen.'

Head Lice Home Remedies
If you don't want to use a chemical on your child's head, the most effective treatment that doesn't involve using any products at all simply involves removing the nits and live lice with a lice comb and/or tweezers. This is the method that is advocated by The National Pediculosis Association. It can be time consuming to do this and you may have to repeat the procedure for several days to make sure you get them all, but this is likely the best thing to do. You still have to take the time to comb out all of the nits anyway even if you use an anti-lice shampoo, as these shampoos don't kill the eggs. If you don't, they will just hatch and you will have live lice again.
Most other natural home remedies involve putting something on your child's scalp and hair to 'smother' the head lice. Popular choices include real mayonnaise, olive oil, and vaseline. These are usually left on overnight, often under a shower cap, and then washed out the next day. They can be very messy though and have not really been proven to work. Some experts believe that this method 'works' because you actually remove the nits and lice as you try to get this stuff out of the child's hair.

There are also herbal remedies to treat head lice, including products with tea tree oil and other essential oils. Because they are 'natural,' these are not regulated by the FDA, have not been proven to work, and should be used with caution and avoided in younger children.


Dog Shampoo
You shouldn't use dog shampoo on your child! Some of the active ingedients in dog shampoo, like pyrethrins, are also the main ingredient in Rid and other anti-lice shampoos. And other dog shampoos contain permethrin, like Nix. Plus there are dog shampoos with essential oils.

Answer 9

Tea tree oil is the best for head lice. The fumes will kill off the lice. If you rinse the hair every week in a few drops of oil it should keep them away. Also over the counter products are not so good, using the oil direct is much better.

Answer 10

The school should be having children put their coats and book bags in separate bags to keep them away from each other. Also the classroom has to be thoroughly cleaned. Any soft toys have to be bagged for a few weeks. At home you can get spray and shampoos at the store. Wash her bed clothes in very hot water. Spray your furniture, the seat in your car, anywhere your daughter is has to be cleaned. It's probably returning because someone isn't thoroughly cleaning. Good Luck to you. Head lice is in all schools at some point. They just have to take the right precautions.