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Parenting

Head lice nightmare! How to keep them away?

60 replies

Shootingstar2289 · 26/06/2014 10:33

My three year old son keeps getting lice at nursery. I think the problem is my son is very cuddly and often likes to cuddle the staff who perhaps have lice or he gets them from other children. I check his hair all the time and I'm almost guaranteed to find one in his hair.

My son has never had loads as I check regularly and use the nitty gritty comb twice a week. Which is a struggle as he's started to hate having it done :/ I give up with treatments such as Hedrin as they are expensive to buy often and never seemed to work properly.

I wash his hair every day as it's very blonde and he seems to get it so dirty when he's out and about.

I've tried using the vosene shampoo and spray which is meant to act as a repellent but hasn't seemed to work.

Any other ideas to keep them away? I'm going slightly mad at combing so often (as have to do my long hair too). I've heard tea tree oil is good but worried as me and my son appear to have sensitive skin and worry it will be harsh on our scalps.

Any advice?

OP posts:
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AlpacaLypse · 26/06/2014 10:39

You've already tried all the things I can think of. You don't say how long his hair is, but if it's comparatively long, you might consider having it cut really short so that the combing/washing etc takes less time?

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Iwillorderthefood · 26/06/2014 10:47

What about sticking oil in it? Moroccan oil or something. My two were pickled and as I was about to give birth I dropped the ball, and I had a couple adults and some eggs. I regularly use this oil in my hair. Only other thing to do is to comb with conditioner and bribery.

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HelpMeGetOutOfHere · 26/06/2014 10:54

dd is the same, she has thick long blonde hair and as soon as we get rid of them, we are clear for a week and then that following weeks come through we will start getting live ones again.

She is 8 and at school, I always make sure I tie it back and usually plait it to make contact minimal, I know you can't do this with a boy but make sure hair is short. Ask nursery to send a note out to all parents to check, some genuinely may not be aware that their child has them. Or can the nursery put a sign on the door asking parents to check and treat their child.

I wash dd's hair in tea tree shampoo, and if we go the product way to remove, I treat 3 Fridays in a row as well as wet combing on the sunday, Tuesday and Thursday (hair wash nights). I also spray dd's hair with a very light coat of hairspray as someone said that prevents them, but nothing works.

I have 2 older boys who's hair type is very different and neither of those ever got head lice as much as dd. I can only think that some hair types are more susceptible than others and unfortunately dd has that hair type.

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YourMaNoBraBackOfMyCar · 26/06/2014 11:57

I use a spray from Bodycare that you can use every day. It's similar to the hedrin spray but cheaper. I've found it really good. Still get outbreaks but only when I get sick of the daily grooming and take my eye off the ball. Just wait until the threadworms start op. :( dd keeps getting them but do you think the school sends out letters like they do for headlice? No bloody chance.

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CoteDAzur · 26/06/2014 12:56

Change nurseries? I can understand once or twice, but it is not normal to get lice all the time and for you to find one in his hair whenever you look.

If not, I'd consider giving him a crew cut.

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MyAngels · 26/06/2014 12:57

I was going to suggest tea tree shampoo and conditioner (Alberto do a cheap one, about 1 a bottle), but I see that it hasn't helped HelpGetMeOutOfHere.

But after a stubborn lice infestation 2 years ago, I have used it on both DD and DS every hair wash since (three times a week) and we haven't had a reoccurance...but that might be luck!

Worms - yes, we had those instead!

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17leftfeet · 26/06/2014 13:11

You think he's getting them from the staff? Nice!

Every adult I know that works with this age group is religious about checking their hair

The chances are there are parents that don't check their child's hair as it doesn't occur to them

With dd1 I didn't check her hair until I was brushing it one day and discovered she was crawling -since then I check both my dds every week

Keep his hair short and make using the comb a twice weekly routine

Also tell the staff every time you find them, letters should be going home asking people to check

If you are finding them every week you might not be getting every egg -I find its easier to miss eggs with short hair as you can't section it off like you can with long hair

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BuzzardBird · 26/06/2014 13:17

I will actually recommend tea tree shampoo and conditioner (lots of it) and a few drops of pure tea tree oil in a detangling spray applied every morning before combing. DD is 7, and is yet to succumb (touches every piece of wood in house). Her nit ridden friend's DM is always telling me how my method doesn't work Hmm

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BuzzardBird · 26/06/2014 13:18

Oh, sorry, forgot to mention, DD also has very sensitive skin and it causes no problems.

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HelpMeGetOutOfHere · 26/06/2014 13:24

Buzzard perhaps your dd is just lucky and has the hair type that they aren't attracted to? H has never had them in hi life, not at school and not when all 3 dc and myself have had them, he has always been clear. So for him it would appear that using a tea tree shampoo, regular combing and brushing was working as a deterrent when in fact he has to do precisely nothing as he just don't get them, lucky thing.

Ds1 is almost 17 and ds2 12 and they've had them a handful of times over the course of school life.

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BeCool · 26/06/2014 14:04

My DD's (6&3) have curly hair which I wet most days unless they have kept plats in overnight. I add 10 drops of tea tree oil to the spray bottle each time I fill it. No nits yet - TOUCHES WOOD!!!

You can try tea tree oil diluted in a bottle of water on your DS.

However it does sound as though your DS is simply staying infested, rather than getting reinfested. You say you see them all the time. All you need is one lice or even just one egg left, and you have nits.

THE LICE PROGRAMME explains the life cycle of lice really well and has a great elimination programme mapped out to follow. No fancy chemicals required.

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LocalEditorDudley&Wolves · 26/06/2014 14:42

You can make your own prevention spray:

140ml water
50ml conditioner
TTO
Lavender
Geranium
Eucalyptus
10-15 drops of each oil, mix all together in a spray bottle and shake well.

You can also add
Rosemary
Lemon
Ylang Ylang
Peppermint

Same essential oils with 50ml olive oil or other oil (no water) make a treatment, wrap in cling film and leave overnight. Vinegar before combing will break the egg glue.

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fakenamefornow · 26/06/2014 14:51

even just one egg left, and you have nits.

Wouldn't you actually need two eggs? Grin

Waits to be proved wrong and have grin wiped of face

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cdwales · 26/06/2014 14:56

I well remember the endless combing! It all ends when they get older. We never used chem warfare - we didn't on our sheep so it seemed hypocritical to use it on our children. The combing was strangely bonding though - like great apes it seemed sort of natural! Some children would notice one and others could be crawling with them and not even scratch. When I was little we had nit nurses into school but I never had lice and do not recall anyone else having them except for one poor girl. It is a good opportunity to chat to your children actually. When this generation are parents they will be able to share their experiences with their children and will hopefully be empathetic.

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BeCool · 26/06/2014 14:59

Ok so one egg = nit! Grin

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PeterParkerSays · 26/06/2014 15:09

DS (4) has, touch wood, never had them. It might be that he's an antisocial bugger so doesn't get close enough Grin but we also use the tea tree oil shampoo from Home Bargains as a deterrent, which seems to work well.

I seem to remember that nits like very clean hair, so I'd wash your DS' hair less often. I only do DS' once a week.

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AdoraBell · 26/06/2014 15:23

Peter my DH, and apparently his entire family, has never had them. Didn't help our DDs to resist them though.

I use olive oil to kill them and vinegar as previously mentioned to unglue the eggs along with combing, combing, combing and then combing just to make sure. Then more combing to double check.

It does get less frequent as they get older, we haven't had any for the last two years now and DDs are preteens.

Oh, and if the teachers have them they've more than likely picked them up from one or more of the children they are teaching.

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KateMoose · 26/06/2014 15:27

Apparently is rubbish about them liking very clean hair- they wouldn't have evolved all these years only liking clean hair! It is known to be something nit nurses said to make parents feel better. However, there have been studies to show that blood rhesus negative people are less likely to get nits and nits who dine from rhesus positive people tend to die when trying rhesus negative blood. Not that any of what I have said helps you OP!

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CruCru · 26/06/2014 16:04
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CruCru · 26/06/2014 16:05

I haven't had to use it yet though.

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JontyMyers · 26/06/2014 16:11

just comb pur tee tree oil through his hair each day and style it how would normally his hair will smell great and be lice free i think there should be a world headlice day where everyone on the planet uses hedrina dn washes bedding at 60c to get rid of them once and for all. it will never happen though the lazy parents would bother

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CruCru · 26/06/2014 16:11

Or try these people?

www.thehairforce.co.uk

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BeCool · 26/06/2014 16:53

hedrin won't solve anything on it's own as it only kills lice, but not their eggs. So you can kill all the lice, but eggs will hatch the next day and for the next 7 days etc. So you are still infested.

To really get rid of lice, whatever method you use, you need to know and understand the life cycle of the critter. It's like killing all the frogs (I don't want to kill frogs BTW), but not the tadpoles and frog spawn. In a day or 2 of course you will have new frogs. Lice are the same - they have eggs which take a week or so to hatch, you have freshly hatched larvae and then adult lice.

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skyninja · 26/06/2014 17:39

Haven't tried this myself but ....www.ehow.com/way_5682924_lice-home-remedy-vinegar-listerine.html

and the same approach pediatrics.answers.com/remedies/the-top-home-remedies-for-head-lice

Always thought Listerine was suspiciously strong! I don't want to tempt fate by saying I can't wait to try this out, but I'm sure it won't be long anyway, we have a few people in my DD's class who refuse to treat their kids it seems.

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skyninja · 26/06/2014 17:39
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