Head Lice

[MummaBear03]

Well it's the start of a new school year. Many parents are sending their kids to school for the first time, and for many this may be the first time the children are away from them and with other kids.

Of course, this can also bring with it the challenge of head lice, which none of us want to face but quite a few of us have to at some stage. Some are unlucky and seem to be treating kids weekly, others can avoid it entirely.

I'm wondering how people handle it.

How often do you treat your child's hair? Do you do it routinely or wait for head lice to appear?

Do you use a preventer in the hair?

What steps do you take to try to minimise the risk of your child getting head lice?

[nothanksbye]

I hate hate hate head lice.

I cover the dry hair in conditioner and comb it every weekend. A has thick hair and its too easy to miss eggs or lice.
If a letter comes home saying nits around, i comb that night.

I use a spray and I always have her hair up and plaited or in a bun.
Lice cannot jump they can only walk/run so tying up means they have less chance.


DD is banned from sharing a hat or brush.

We have only had it once and i would like to keep it that way!

[Mrs Nietzsche]

My daughter has hair so thick it's difficult to find the scalp, this is an ongoing problem.

My cousin has 6 kids, and she treated my daughter on holidays with kerosene (!!) and apparently the lice just fell out of her hair.

I comb through with conditioner once a week to keep an eye on things but it is so incredibly difficult to get rid of them for good. I don't know whether she gets re-infected or whether we miss an egg or what, but I tend to treat her for 4-5 weeks in a row, and then 3 mths later she always has nits again.

[Myztiks#1Fan]

coop gets some sort of spray in his hair everyday before he leaves for daycare. i will continue this as well as we have had them once(both were a first timer for me n coop) and i never want them again at all. aweful critters they are

[JabberJaw]

VINEGAR VINEGAR VINEGAR :D

I spray my kids, leave it on to choke the buggers and dissolve the nit 'glue' that holds the eggs to the hair...then give another spray before combing.

I spray DD's hair with leave in conditioner each morning and tie it up.

If there is a nit alert, i spray with vinegar and comb, then give them a light spray before school....the smell goes as hair dries so they dont smell when they get to school.

Kids have been nit free ever since.

Nits are bad here, some mums honestly cant afford to treat their children so its like chasing your tail here. We have mutant nits i swear, none of the lotions and potions i was buying worked, they would just come back with vengance.


Vinegar seems to really kill the eggs on the hair, even if you miss one (which happens) unlike the over the counter stuff that claims to kill eggs, vinegar really works. COst about 20c to treat the kids :D

[MummaBear03]

I'm lucky with DD, she has short, fine hair so if she does have any it's easy to see them.

However, when she washes her hair I use the headlice comb through her hair after the conditioner goes in and before it's washed out.

That's every few days.

If there's a note on the door saying a child has/had headlice then I comb it through. If I see any it's treated straight away.

Also, her hair is tied up before school and before we go to the park or a party or anywhere we go where she'll be in contact with a group of children.

Every day once her hair is tied up it's sprayed with a Head Lice Defence Spray to try and keep them away.

Lots of children with thick, curly hair are the ones who suffer from it the most, and that's also the type of hair that's the hardest to comb through.

[ConfettiGirl]

As you know my eldest has that thick, curly hair and does get infested a lot.

I comb her hair with conditioner and a fine toothed (metal) nit comb every Sunday night and again if I actually see any in her hair. I do it every Sunday regardless of whether there is evidence of an infestation or not because with her hair they can be hard to see.

I don't use nit shampoos anymore - they just don't work and her hair is still full of (live) nits afterwards - even after 2 or sometimes 3 applications. I also don't like the idea of exposing her too often to what is essentially a pesticide. I also think that over-use of these toxics pesticides is what it causing the nits to become more and more difficult to kill (theory of evolution where the strongest ones survive the assualt of pesticides and go on to breed more nits that have the ability to survive the pesticides etc).

I gave trying to kill them now and settle for removing them with the conditioner and a metal nit comb - yes it's tedious but at least I know it works. It's become a routine for us now though where we do the "de-nitting" together every Sunday night. We watch tv and chat so it's not so bad.

I found a nit in J's hair the other day :( The poor boy also has the ringlets but at least with his hair I can just have it cut really, really short - which I intend to do very soon.

[~Candy~]

I have 4 kids...3 in school and 1 at kindy (2 girls with long hair and 2 boys with style cuts) and not once have they come home with headlice (and my eldest is 11).
Prevention is the key!
I don't wash my kids hair often, once a week on a FRIDAY at the most and never on a school day. I always have mousse and hairspary in my kids hair and they also have a water spray bottle with conditioner in it to brush their hair in the mornings and the girls always wear their hair up.
Headlice LOVE clean hair, therefore my kids do-not have clean hair for school....hence we have never yet had any headlice :)

[nothanksbye]

I have 4 kids...3 in school and 1 at kindy (2 girls with long hair and 2 boys with style cuts) and not once have they come home with headlice (and my eldest is 11).
Prevention is the key!
I don't wash my kids hair often, once a week on a FRIDAY at the most and never on a school day. I always have mousse and hairspary in my kids hair and they also have a water spray bottle with conditioner in it to brush their hair in the mornings and the girls always wear their hair up.
Headlice LOVE clean hair, therefore my kids do-not have clean hair for school....hence we have never yet had any headlice :)


Its so good it works for you...but I dont think that works for everyone...

I will not use mousse or hairspray on my kids hair..
Also I have to wash her hair every 2nd night.

I dont think there is a cure..just options.

[kiwichuck]

A work colleague advised me a few years ago to buy a 'Robicomb' because I was having endless problems with infestations in my daughter's hair & she has very sensitive skin and scalp so treatments werent an option, and many conditioners burn her scalp too.

The Robicomb is a fine toothed comb that fries headlice (battery operated). You just run it all through dry hair and it zaps them on contact. A noise alerts you whenever one is zapped.

It cost about $50 seven years ago, but has been so worth it - considering how much treatments can cost.

I've used it on myself alot too, for just in case, when DD has had infestations. Aarrrgghhh makes me itchy just thinking about the little critters!!!

[Lin]

Apparently spraying your childs hair with tea tree oil is a good preventative. Some say tea tree and lavender oil.