head lice treatments - help

[Doing my best]

Am I doing something wrong?

After 5 years, 3 of those with dd having long hair, the head lice fairy made a very unwelcome visit..

I noticed them on DD 4 days ago and got a natural treatment with wormwood as the base ingredient.. It was a treatment you leave on for 4 or more hrs.. Due to time of day I did hers (and mine for 5 hrs) before combing through with comb.. It also has a spray on treatment that I have been using twice a day.. And noticed 1 or 2 lives ones each time I did her hair.

This morning I noticed her scratching again and found a large one. I didn't look too hard for anymore, but went and got another treatment. Tea tree based this time.. I did her, DS and myself (DH has no hair).. While combing through I found 2 live ones and lots of eggs.. DS had a few eggs after the treatment, and DH found 2 live ones on me while combing..

Am I doing something wrong? Is it normal to find the odd live one after a treatment and the following days?? Do I need to find yet another treatment? We are going away in 5 days time.. Is it common courtesy to tell the people we are staying with? Do I not go??

The sights I have found are so varying with info.. Some say that if there are live lice after 20 mins, then treatment hasn't worked.. Some say you need to retreat in a few days.. I am so confused!!

Any other suggestions on beating the critters? I am determined that they will not wear me down!!

[Frangipani Lou]

I'm no expert but I've heard that putting conditioner in your hair stuns the lice, making it easier to comb the eggs and lice out. It's important to repeat the treatments 7 days later and continue this until they are gone.
Here's some reliable Info from a government site.
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/b...nt_and_control

Good luck :-)

[kitten2b]

we started of using the natural treatments then went straight to the chemical ones to bomblast the little buggers, retreatment is crucial then I would use a heap of cheap conditioner and comb that through the girls hair to catch any rouge eggs. All up took about a month to fully get rid of them, any time I see the girls scratch I freak and check often.

[Hansie]

The only way to get rid of them is to comb them out. Lots of cheap conditioner & a narrow tooth comb & comb through wiping the comb each time.
Geranium oil & tea tree oil in a spray bottle & spray daily. Tea tree keeps them at bay, geranium oil stops them.
With treatments most you have to repeat 7 days later for any you missed the first time.
Also remember to wash all bedding, car seats if they travel in them within 24 hours. Lice can survive for 24 hrs off the body.

[DreamBabies]

Google robicomb! We bought one online and it took 2-3 days to arrive. It zaps the live ones. We use it on kids everyday when the weather is warm.

We also use kp-24 from the chemist. Fabulous. It kill the eggs too. Wash pillow cases.

[BellyBelly]

No treatment out there kills eggs - only live lice. So they've either hatched or heads have been incontact from someone else with it. Make sure you treat the whole family - you too.

Article on the main site: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/child

Natural treatments are effective - you just need to re-treat to get the hatched eggs as any preparation. Better than harsh chemicals - insecticide - on kids heads.

Good luck

[Netix]

I am back to using phenryl ? Something like that. Whilst it's probably not as natural as would be preffered, it jas very little smell, which makes using it on ds's hair possible. I had some natural mousse, which smelled very strongly, and being that ds hates having his hair washed at the best of times, that was simply awful.

To sidetrack slightly, last week/weekend I babysat a friend's 3y.o. boy (for several days, including overnights), and I saw him scratching a lot but discounted the idea of lice as I know his Mum is so consciencous (sp) and attentive of nits in his hair, especially as at his usual daycar there is a child who 'constantly' has them. Oh my goodness, wasn't I sorry when I finally did check his hair! The poor boy, I felt awful! Treated him, and my two all in the bath together, and the Man picked up a comb set and this phenryl stuff so i could do it when he got home. I'm not sure about how other parents feel, but I honestly didn't have a problem with it. I know his Mum does everything she can to control them, so we just dealt with them, and moved on. Our poor friend though was so upset knowing that her child had passed them onto our kids. Sorry, hijack over.

[AnyDream]

The most important part of the treatment is the bit where you comb thru to get all the nits/eggs out. You can use oil or conditioner to dissolve the glue that holds the eggs to the hair shaft, but you need to divide the hair into sections and comb thru carefully from the scalp, wiping each time to remove eggs/dead lice from the comb. Repeat every 3 or so days until no more eggs or critters appear.

[sepata]

I second robicomb! The only thing that got rid of them when I was a kid, and my mum tried every single thig under the sun.

[~clover~]

Plastic combs won't get the eggs out. You need a metal comb. Kp24 has one, but you can get others. At woollies there's one with a long yellow handle.
The prongs on these combs touch each other, so they will get the eggs off the hair. Even after that always check & get any remaining eggs off with your nails.
Freshly hatched lice are tiny & impossible to get with a comb. They sit right on the scalp & are really hard to see if you're not looking close enough. They just look like grains of sand. They also avoid treatments if not rubbed right into the scalp.
Cheap conditioner is the best thing to comb with.

[nickle730]

I would be very annoyed if someone brought their child to my house knowing they had nits. (Addressing the OP's query here, not your post Netix - I read your post to indicate that your friend didn't realise her child had nits.) Having said that, you have five days to treat the nits and so you should still be fine to go away. I would be treating again and making sure to use a nit comb and a load of conditioner each day until you go away to comb out any eggs. You can buy the metal lice combs from the chemist for a couple of bucks. There is a product (Moove??) in a green box - it's a conditioner with natural ingredients to kill lice and comes with a metal nit comb. You can get shampoo as well in the same range. My DD1 has hair down to her bottom so although she had only had nits once in her life (when she was about 2 and had very little hair!) I comb the conditioner through her hair every month or so just to be sure. Make sure you also wash all your bed linen, towels etc in hot water and maybe throw a cap full of ti tree oil in the wash as well.

Like I said, I would be really annoyed if someone knowingly brought nits into my house, you've seen how hard they are to get rid of!

[Doing my best]

Ok.. Will be doing the conditioner and comb again today, and doing lots of plaits close to DD and my scalp to give them less chance to lay eggs.. All all of us.. DH will just have to suck it up and help me..

I have spoken to the person we are staying with (always had intention to tell her, but it is one of those awkward topics to bring up).. Suppose there is always the chance that a week after new eggs could hatch and I was worried about 'taking' them in someone elses home. I am doing everything in my power to rid of them, but what if I have missed something?

[nothing2lose]

Make sure you wash all bedding and towels in hot water too!

Eta- sorry Nickle, missed your post!

[Calluna]

I got a chemical burn from KP24. Ouch. Not saying dont use it, just be careful.
Best ones we found had tea tree oil in them.
We also filled a spray bottle with water and a few drops of tea tree oil and sprayed on my hair every day. I never had them again after that.

[Doing my best]

Thanks for your all your help..

After spending every waking moment since boxing day trying to eradicate the things (except for the mornings I worked), we have started the new year without a live lice..

My cousin is going to help with another blast and comb through once we reach her house on the weekend.

Now to get sorted for the 21 hr train ride starting Thursday afternoon..