nits, nits go away.....AND DON'T COME BACK!!!! (Headlice Treatment in general)

Member Name: shelley222

Product:	Headlice Treatment in general
Date:	01/08/01 (447 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: can take a while to get rid of completely

For years I had heard other parents discussing the many unpleasant virtues of head lice. Indeed going back to my childhood, I can vividly remember the regular visits of the ‘nit nurses’ to our local school. Luckily, they never seemed to like to accommodate themselves in my scalp, so I never even knew what one looked like.

My problems with head lice began when my daughter began nursery school a couple of years ago. One evening I was blow drying her hair ready for bed, when horror struck me. Okay, I admit that sounds a bit dramatic, but it was a shock all the same. As I have already explained I had never seen these little creatures before, but I instinctively knew what these were.

A quick visit to the late night chemist, saw me back armed with leaflets, lotions and a trusted ‘nit’ comb. Since that evening, my daughter seems to attract head lice fairly regularly. I suppose I am quite lucky in a way as she is blonde and has very fine hair, making them very easy to detect. Myself, husband and son have all managed to remain infestation free during this time, but the mere mention or sight of them is enough to bring us out in phantom itching.

Over this period of time we have been offered various advice, good and bad, read numerous articles and leaflets and even considered shaving all my daughters hair off (only joking). Here I hopefully can offer my wealth of experience on this subject and help some other parents going through the same dilemma.

THE FACTS

Head lice are small, six legged wingless insects. They are the size of a pin head when they hatch and fully grown they are no larger than a match head. They are a grey/brown in colour and are difficult to detect in dry hair. They can cause itching, but not always, especially when they have recently arrived on the scalp. Head lice cannot fly, jump or swim, but instead they spread themselves by clambering from head to head. Obviously, schools pr
ovide an ideal opportunity for them to do this.

Lead lice survive and feed through biting and sucking blood through the scalp of their host. The female of the species lays eggs in sacs (called nits) which are tiny in size and dull in colour and hence are very well camouflaged. These are securely glued to strands of hair where the warmth of the scalp will help them to hatch out in 7 – 10 days. The empty egg sacs can be found further along the hair as the hair grows. Head lice only take a couple of weeks to become fully mature and at this point they are fully capable of reproducing.

Head lice are not fussy about the type of hair that they settle on – condition and length mean nothing.

HOW TO DETECT HEAD LICE

My advice is to regularly check the hair, by giving it a good combing, with a fine toothed comb a couple of times a week. Conditioning the hair well first will make this a lot easier and more comfortable for your child. Make sure the teeth of the comb slot into the hair at the roots and then draw the comb through the very ends on every stroke. The comb must be fine enough to catch the lice and a special ‘head lice comb’ can be purchased from the chemist for a couple of pounds. Check the comb for lice after every stroke and do all the hair section by section.

This routine should be undertaken on a frequent basis to detect any presence and to prevent its spread to other family members. The other family members should be checked at the same time and treated if lice are found.

TREATMENTS

If you do find head lice then there are various treatments available. Shampoos are available from your doctor or nurse, and one called Derbac, is a prescription only preparation. This has to be left in the hair overnight and the smell is revolting. Unfortunately this one didn’t work for us.

Full Marks mousse is a fairly new product on the market and is available over the
counter at the chemists. This smells a lot sweeter and only needs to remain in the hair for an hour. The only drawback with this one was the cost. A can, which is only enough for one treatment, cost £4.50 and if you have the whole family to do, it soon adds up. This did however work for us for a time but eventually the lice got immune to this treatment, which is a common problem.

Another point to remember is that all the lotions and shampoos contain insecticides and are only effective on living lice and so will need to repeat the procedure periodically as the eggs hatch. Make sure you read all the instructions carefully and do not use if under any doubt. If the person is under 12 months old, suffers from asthma or allergies, is pregnant or is breast feeding, always obtain advice from your doctor or pharmacist.

Electronic head lice combs are now available, but as yet we have not tried these – if anyone has then, please let me know as to their effect.

Combing the hair systematically with a fine toothed comb as described earlier and physically removing the lice, was the only treatment that worked long term for us. As you are removing the live lice you can see how many eggs are there and so you know what you are dealing with. This really is a labour of love and very painstakingly boring but it does work.

PREVENTION

For the past four months now I have been washing my daughters hair with tea tree shampoo and then conditioning it with tea tree conditioner. Fingers crossed, we have had no more unwelcome visitors since then. This was an idea by my mother from an article she had read in a magazine and so far, so good. I have even gone as far as putting a couple of drops of tea tree oil onto her scalp every morning and it seems to be working as a deterrent – apparently they don’t like the smell.

Of course I will keep you updated as to the effectiveness of this so-called remedy, but I hope that
I have been of some help.

Meantime if you want any advice ten you should contact your school nurse, health visitor, pharmacist or family doctor.

UPDATED 09/08/2001 Have decided to update this slightly after the numerous comments on this subject. The overwhelming opinion is that Tea Tree Oil seems to be a massive favourite with others for prevention and cure and I can tell you that it is still working with us. Fingers crossed.

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