parents and headlice

sorry if this is in the wrong section i was torn between here, school and punching bag

DD1 has come home with headlice 5 times since starting school yep 5 times!!! Now this school has no more than 60 students so you would think it would be easy to keep on top of. I spoke to the campus head (the teacher we have been having problems with) she said she would put something in the newletter (2 newsletters later and nothing) she also said a school without headlice is like a bbq without sausages ... wtf thats your approach to it? Fair enough in a city school with hundreds of kids but 60 come off it!

Anyway for her to come home that many times with lice it seems a lot of parents either dont care, arent getting rid of them properly or not checking there childs hair at all. Now there is this one kid at school in grade 2 and shes a leech as soon as we walk in there shes all over DD2 trying to pick her up a very very in your face child shes like that with kids of all ages and adults, i know at school she wont leave DD1 alone and i have a suspision this is where the lice are mainly coming from shes a very, how do i say it nicely, neglected child not so much neglected but her hairs never brushed, appearance is very unkept (??)

So i have come to the conclusion after discovering this morning DD2 also has lice and we cant even wash DD2s hair with no tears shampoo without everyone thinking we are murdering our child, so i think the nit shampoo is a huge no for her. Does anyone know a no chemical solution i can make up at home to help rid DD2 or lice and that i can also spray in DD1s hair before school to deter the lice?
Also any other tips to be free of the critters will be fantastic!

In a spray bottle of water put:

5 drops of tea tree oil
5 drops of Lavendar
5 drops of Rose Geranium
1 blob of conditioner

Then shake and spray on their hair every day.

I also make shampoo and conditioner up with these oils as well in unscented shampoo and conditioner I get from my local chemist.

Make sure the oils are 100% essential oils, they're not cheap but the fragrant oil ones won't work.

a vinegar and water solution with a few drops of tea tree oil, in a spray bottle, spray on before school,to get rid of crawlies, smother hair in conditioner and comb through, with nit comb, do eery day or night etc, for a week, then 3 times a week for the next few weeks...till the cycle is done.

One of the girls I used to work with, had the same prob with one of her daughters who kept getting them, what I mentioned above is what she did, also keeping the childs hair up, in a tight bun (harder for them to get in) and liberally spraying with hairspray (i know its not really natural, but it worked for her)

Where do you get the oils from tinks? And the shampoo/ conditioner does it say on it that it's unscented?

I'm at my wits end I'll try anything!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I get the oils from my chemist too.

The shampoo and conditioner I buy in 1 litre containers and i think it's called a base shampoo. They have some on ebay for around $10, if you search unscented shampoo it will come up. I've just had a look, there isn't any conditioner on there though. When you make the shampoo up with the oils make sure it's in a coloured clear or opaque container so the oils last. The same goes for the spray bottle.

Oh I'm so over it too :(
Mine have been free for about 2 weeks now, other than the odd one or 2. I can finally say today that they are also free completely of eggs (dead & alive)!
I have 2 sprays to do their hair in the mornings. Water & conditioner in one, & water with a few drops of both lavender & tea tree oil in the other. When I stick to it & don't forget the tea tree spay, it works well.

Such a pain isn't it clover! Do you use any particular conditioner for yours? Do the sprays go on in the order said?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mrs S I spray their hair every morning when I brush it, it's good for getting knots out too and smells beautiful. I wash their hair every couple of days with the shampoo and conditioner.

I also use the conditioner for combing out the eggs.

I don't see why you couldn't use any shampoo really, i just use the unscented one cos I found it one day.

I put all the oils in 1 bottle, so it's only 1 spray. Is that what you meant?

Tinks Im thinking the base shampoo/conditioner sounds the way to go because i dont want any other scent or whatever they have in it to disturb the oils that are needed to get rid of the nits you never know what they put it in that may effect it so it doesnt work iykwim

I use the conditioner spray for knots. I use oatmeal conditioner coz DD2 gets eczema & all the lice lotions & potions have flared it up, but if it wasn't for that I'd use any. Then I lift the hair & spray with the tea tree before I put it up, then I give it a quick spray over the top when its up. I also use the lice comb quickly in case there are any in there from school the day before, or from friends after. Its too hard for me to find the time every arvo to comb it out. I always get them into bed, then realise I was gonna comb, so now I just do it when I do their hair in the mornings.

The best way to ensure you're getting rid of them is to comb through her hair with cream conditioner and a nit comb every night for over a week. If it is such a problem at the school, then I would suggest doing this once a week (regardless of the status of her head) as it will break the gestational period of the eggs, as well as getting rid of any live lice that are running around. My SIL had this problem at her DD's school, and she now does this once a week for both of them and they have been lice-free all year :).

The lice treatments are all well and good, but they don't kill the eggs, you really need to be combing to fully break the cycle. I know it is the biggest PITA, but it's the only way to do it ;)

How timely!!
DS came home from CC with nits today :( First time! Not bad for a long-haired hippy to go so long, given he's been in CC one or two days a week since 19mo. I rushed out to the supermarket to get a treatment cos we don't have a nit comb and the only way I could get one from the only shop around that was open that would have them was to buy a treatment. Luckily, I found QuitNit, which has the essential oils as active ingredients and no nasty chemicals. DS is in the shower as I type getting shampood. I have all the essential oils listed, just no base conditioner, but might make up a spray using the Moo Goo conditioner I have.
DS is impossible, but we managed to get the stuff through his hair and DP managed to give it a good combing. Lots of critters...I thought I would be really grossed out, but because you can hardly see them on a tissue backdrop, there wasn't much to be confronted by. Except the knowledge that they've been crawling on his scalp and making him itch! He hadn't been around other kids since last week's CC session, really (playgroup he doesn't mix with anyone), so that's be where he got it from.
I'm under no illusion that it's the dirty kids who bring it into schools/CC - I reckon if he didn't have the curls I would let his hair get greasy so that the lice couldn't hold onto it! So, because it's long and curly, it gets washed every day. Probably what's attracted them!
So, should I isolate him from going to playgroup tomorrow? Or will having started the treatment be ok? I'm inclined to withhold him, but then I'll have a very antsy 4yo to deal with...and his long-suffering baby sister and I will have to bear it!

Maya I'd send him. Just comb again with a conditioning spray in the morning to make sure there are no live ones left to share, then make sure you do the follow up treatment in a week. I would do the follow ups for a few weeks to make sure that cycle is broken though.
I'd probably get into the habit now of combing every day or 2 as well.
HTH :)

I have been told that once the child has had the initial treatment which you have just done they are good to go! So i would send him tomorrow :)

Thanks, ladies :D

I've got a Robi Comb which works ok for us. DS was impossible to use the lice treatment stuff on (we got Moov) and I felt like I was torturing him :cry:

So we got the Robi comb which is an electronic comb thingy which 'zaps' the crawling lice. Of course, it does nothing for the eggs, but DS likes it so much he asks to have it done - so we do it every day and as they hatch, we zap 'em and we've now gotten to the point that we think we've gotten them all (haven't seen any for a few days now) so I think the lifecycle is broken! :leap:

oh Nettie whilst the sprays etc will be perfect for my eldest this zapper sounds perfect for my youngest where do you get them (chemist i presume) and a rough cost?

I got a zappy thing from the chemist last week, and it's just an electric comb that gets the lice and eggs. It's about $50, takes just as long as the conditioner method and is about as effective. I find wiping the comb on a tissue more satisfying ;) Apparently it's a safer option for pg or lactating women than the chemicals, so looks like I couldn't use the harsher options anyway...

so dont bother with the electric comb?

also tinks ive looked everywhere for the rose stuff and cant find it none of the chemists or shops in ballarat have it any ideas?

We went through this repeatedly last year when DD1 was at kinder (all thanks to one mother who refused to treat their child!). I found that smothering her dry hair with conditioner and covering it with a shower cap for a few hours killed the little monsters off nicely. It made combing her hair really easy too. We did this every night for a week and then one more time a week later and they would all be gone.

Its nothing to do with the size of the school.

My eldest was at a school with 18 students with a perpetual lice problem, from only two or three of the kids. I'm not really into dousing kids with chemicals several times a week, so I had her hair cut shorter so it was easier to comb.

Then, since we were on rainwater and I was conserving anyway, I would shower with her every second day, and comb through her hair with a big blob of conditioner and a lice comb. I'd get maybe 2 or 3 monstrous adult lice each time but no baby ones. I'd do my own hair on the off days.

She hasn't had lice once at the new school, which has around 250 students. But considering the insane cost of the uniforms and how high house prices and rents are here, unsurprisingly the parents and kids are not so 'feral' as at the old school.

:

---

so dont bother with the electric comb?

---

I would.. Ours cost around $60 from a Chemist and as long as you use it everyday - it seems to work for us! And what's better is DS likes having it done (very different from the wash-in stuff!)

I feel your pain ladies, when we lived in Darwin DD1 had waist length hair and had nits heaps which drove me insane!!
We have 2 families at our school now who have recurrent nit problems and it got to the stage where as soon as we saw the nits in their hair we'd call mum to come and get them because it wasn't fair on the other families whose kids were constantly getting reinfected.
Sadly it takes just one parent who doesn't bother treating properly to spread it and keep it going.

have you asked at the pharmacies if they can special order it in for you? if one of their suppliers has it they should be able to do that.

Yeah I asked and they can't she looked it up and it's not in any of there stores usual products


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don't know if it is true or not, but a special newspaper I get from overseas has a section where people send in their tips & questions about everything & anything (I've learnt a lot from there... like if you want to boil and egg but don't want the shell to crack - put in 1 - 2 matchsticks (something wood) into the water)

Anyway, somebody said on there the best way to get rid of nits is to smother the hair in sour cream for 15 mins (don't let it touch the skin, somebody else wrote in the next week and said if yo leave it on skin after 15 mins it burns??) and then comb out, apparently it works.

We haven't had lice for 2 years here (going well, but when DS had curly hair that when straighten went almost to his waist he got them, and it took around 3 weeks of treatments to get rid of them... luckily now he has short hair and we haven't had it since, and DD has really slow growing boy length hair (i wish they got the hair the other way around :( ) anyway, so I can't try it to see if it is true, but would love to know if it does work. A few people wrote in and said it worked.

Oh, man, I may have to resort to sour cream!! DS has long hair and a week of treating and combing hasn't finished them off...there was a big sucker tonight, so he got the shower cap treatment! His hair is oily as all get out cos it's smothered in olive oil and essential oils. Makes it easier to slide eggs out, though, and to see through to his scalp, without the friction of his normally fluffy hair.

I've heard mayonnaise works well too.

I found olive oil with lavender and tea tree work really well for getting the little suckers. It basically stop them from breathing. First treatment for DD1 had them jumping off her head trying to get away.

The best way to get rid of lice is a metal comb and conditioner. Also blow dry the hair and comb instead of brush until you are sure that you are louse free.

The one time DD had it we conditioned and combed 3 times, then the next day, then in 2 days, then in 3 days then in a week. It takes one egg to repopulate which is why it's important to keep doing it, and if you find there is an outbreak after the week then start the process again (as annoying as it is you will get them all eventually!). We always make sure DD's hair is back and sprayed with hairspray to prevent lice. But unfortunately because parents are told the lice treatment is the way to get rid of them some parents aren't aware of how to actually treat lice and it continues around school for a while until they are properly informed. A lot of people think that if you kill the adults you get rid of them, and this is why it comes back because you will not get rid of them until you have every single egg out of their hair.

These are all getting stored into my memory bank as I rule out ineffective treatments! Meanwhile, the lady who told me about DS scratching his head last week apologised for leaving me in the lurch (she said she had to rush after another child, I can't remember, I just remember her telling me then leaving me stunned) after informing me or the itching and didn't realise that we'd never had it before and that I could have done with a conversation IRL about it, as well as my subsequent BB search! Not to worry, I knew BB would help!