HEADLICE

There is no better recommendation than personal experience so here are a few I have received on this vast subject which, hopefully, will be of interest.

A contributor known as "E.R." kindly took the trouble to send in the following very useful information on this subject.

I have some useful information about lice. First, to anyone who has been struggling with lice for months and years: my family physician, Dr P Feldman, reported that her family had been trying for some time to get rid of their lice infestation. They finally discovered that they had lice living in an old mattress. Lice can lay eggs not just on hair, but on other fibres as well. Replacing a mattress or getting a plastic cover for it (very airtight) can be an essential part of treatment. This can apply to wool or other fibrous blankets as well, which should be bagged until the the lice is 100% gone, for a minimum of three weeks. The bag must be very airtight. Lice need air to survive. 

Hairbrushes need only be washed with vinegar and placed in the freezer overnight. Every single last hair must be removed from the hairbrush so use the kind with single plastic prongs, or a large - toothed comb during the lice period.  

Secondly, the only truly effective treatment for lice is manual removal of lice and nits, which is best accomplished of course by cutting hair very, very short. The woman who has had lice for three years is probably getting re-infected. She should go for hair cropping and manual removal (pay someone if necessary), and make sure possible sources in her house are not causing a reinfestation. Spraying a house with pesticides is neither effective nor necessary, and it's extremely harmful to children. A lint roller will do for any non-fibrous substance such as cotton sheets (it picks up stray fibres that could have nits attached to them, and stray lice) and bagging is sufficient for fibrous materials.

Finally: where hair is very thick and for emotional reasons cannot be cut, manual removal of nits is nearly hopeless. If you overlook just two nits and they happen to be housing a male and a female, the cycle will repeat itself. One has to keep in mind that lice cannot lay eggs in the first seven or eight days of their lives, and it takes eggs up to 12 days to hatch.

Thus one must attempt to KILL THE LICE EVERY DAY FOR AT LEAST 12 DAYS (16 to be on the safe side). Nix will not kill lice, unfortunately. I saw a louse alive and well crawling through my daughter's hair after a Nix treatment. What seems to work best is a combination of treatments for ten days, with a different one each day, and daily lint rolling of all surfaces which the head may touch. Thus one can do something like this: 

Day One: Pronto (effective but very toxic and with thick hair it's hard to get it everywhere).

Day Two: mayonnaise overnight (with three TIGHT plastic bags taped to the head, covered by a showercap, which is held by an elastic band). 

Day Three, Four and Five:tar shampoo such as Denorex Extra Strength. 

Day Six: tea-tree shampoo. Repeat cycle. One of the days can include dyeing of the hair, for anyone in the household who is over 16. 

This assault should weaken and eventually kill all the lice. It must be done every single day to prevent the lice that are mature from laying eggs. This round of treatment should work, if nothing in the house (or at school) is reinfecting your family. But again, the best remedy is to shave hair (for boys) and cut it very short for manual nit picking (for girls). Hair grows back.

It's back to school - this only means one thing to me NITS. I feel as though my oldest daughter who is 7 years old has had them since nursery the monsters love her hair. I have tried otc remedies - everyone rubbish, do not even start me on the useless results of Derbac spent a fortune got nothing in returnnot even 1 dead louse. Tried countless combs, natural remedies and don't even bother with haircuts unless you plan to just shave it all off, most hairdressers wont go near you anyway. However all is not lost on my latest visit of complaint to the school nurse she provided me with some free (NHS Provided) combs called Bug Busters they are neon yellow, she informed me that the lice are supposed to be attracted to the colour of it - RESULT. Firstly wash hair with Tea Tree Shampoo (the stronger the better) and then lather on the cheapest Tea Tree Conditioner you can find, and brush through with Bug Buster comb and you get them all baby nits and adult ones. However do not wash conditioner off leave on overnight and comb again following morning. You will see instant results. I then continue to comb hair everyday for 14 days and if you've had no more nits after 14days infestation is over. Finally my secret weapon before my children go to school with either ponytails or buns spray hair with nitty gritty nit repellent it is a great product and the only one out of about the 10 I tried that actually did what it said.

So we will recap expenditure:

Bug Buster Comb - FREE

Tea Tree Shampoo - £2.00

Tea Tree Conditioner - £0.50

£2.50 is not bad considering I used to go through about £30.00 a week trying to Napam the nits with Derbac and any other lotions I could get my hands on.

Experiences of a weary mum.

I have 2 daughters in home daycare and we contacted lice and it spread through the daycare. It was so frustrating trying to get rid of it and from so many kids and people involved it was horrible. I ran across your web site looking desperately for help. We all did the Denorex and coconut treatment and drying the hair. Everyone is lice and stress free this really worked after months of trying to get rid of it. I am so grateful I found your site and recommend it to everyone I know. Thank you again.

Victoria H

I had been researching remedies for those pesty little head lice and came across your site. I gave Denorex shampoo a try, and WOW! It works like a charm!

Experience of Christine L.

Valerie Flowe has sent the following comments which she would like to bring to everyone's attention.