The bugs to make you feel lousey! (Full Marks Head Lice Solution)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	Full Marks Head Lice Solution
Date:	22/03/08 (319 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick and easy to use.

Disadvantages: The price.

Anyone with children of a certain age,(primary school age!!!), know that the dreaded head lice is part and parcel of school life.
My poor daughter has had, since starting school 18 months ago, head lice 7 times!!
So to say that i was happy that there was a product out there that, was extremely effective and quick and easy to use, would be a slight understatement!!!!

First some information on the little blighters!!!

Where do they come from?

Head lice come out of the air or from out of the ground. They are human parasites and have probably been here since the beginning of time and have even been found on the scalp and in the hair of Egyptian mummies!!

What do they look like?

Firstly the egg, which is called a nit. The nit is a small, smooth oval shaped structure attached to the side of the hair shaft. The eggs range from off white to brown and are slightly smaller than a sesame seed.
It is however not to be confused with a hair cast which are thin, elongated cylinder shapes of dandruff which are located in the same general area as a nit.

A head louse is not much larger when hatched, but can thankfully be visible to the naked eye.
They are clear when first hatched but soon become reddish brown in colour after their first feed.
They have six legs and claws to grasp the hair with.
These creatures are crawling insects, they cannot hop, jump or fly!!!

How can you catch them?

First off let me dispel the myth that you can "catch nits", nits are, as i mentioned before the eggs of the head louse therefore meaning that they have to be laid rather than caught!
Head lice can be caught through direct contact of the head or hair. They can also be spread through sharing hats, towels, brushes, helmets, hair ties.......etc.
They can also possibly (according to scientists), be caught via pillows and headrests!!!!

How long do they live?

A head louse can survive on its human host up to 30 days, although they can't generally survive for more than 24 hours off their host.
The female louse lays 3 - 5 eggs a day which in turn take 7 - 10 days to hatch. They only take a further 7 - 10 days to mature enough to start laying their own eggs!!

The product

Full marks solution comes in a large plastic bottle with a slim nozzle for ease of application, also with it you get a sturdy nit comb with steel blades,(which is a damn site better than the traditional plastic combs which in fairness are worse than useless!!).
The bottle holds 200ml of the solution, which equates to four treatments, in which, if the application procedure is followed correctly means the treatment of two people,( i will go into that in more detail presently!)
The solution itself is clear, fragrance free and is the same consistency of baby oil.
The full marks solution is one of only two products currently on the market with cyclomenthicone, (a non insecticidal solution) and isopropyl myristate( which is a compound that promotes absorption into the skin), in them, thus ensuring that this solution is not harmful to skin or eyes.
This product is also demartologically tested.

How to use

First the dry hair has to be brushed to ensure no tangles remain, then the solution must be put onto the dry hair (50mls worth), then massaged in well.
The solution only needs to be left on for 10 minutes, then the real fun begins!!!!
The hair must be sectioned into quarters, then into quarters again. each section must be thoroughly combed through with the enclosed nit comb.(this is the longest and most tedious part but unfortunately is the only way to ensure the nits are removed!)
Once you are satisfied that all nit eggs are removed then you may rinse the hair with a non - conditioning shampoo.
The hair must be checked again after 7 days, if any eggs had been mistakenly left in the hair, they would have now hatched, so you must repeat the whole procedure again!!! If this is, the case the hair must then be checked again on day 14.
The use of Full Marks solution on day 7 and/or day 14 will break this life cycle and remove any lice that have hatched since the first treatment.

Natural alternatives

Ok so these are not technically well known tried and tested methods known by all, but i have found them to work for me!!!!(My daughter has been nit free for 3 months!!!!, god i must touch something wood now for luck!).
Ok so everyone knows that head lice apparently don't like the smell of tea - tree oil, but they also don't like lavender, so i use either shampoo's of that sort or a nifty little spray combining the two which you can get from asda!!
I have also found that spraying some hairspray on my daughters hair helps and as a last resort you could put a wash in wash out colour on, as i was told that people with dyed hair very rarely get them!!!!

My verdict

This product is a godsend, its easy to apply, quick working and has no unpleasant fragrance. And unlike many other products has no insecticides in it making it safe to use on any child over the age of 2 years old.
Also with many products out there you hear of these super lice that become immune to the solutions and so far,(fingers crossed!!), i have had no such problems!!
There is however only one thing that tends to get my goat....... the price!!!
For this 200ml bottle it cost me 10 pounds, not a lot to keep the insects at bay, some of you may think, but in my reckoning this is a health and social problem so should really be something that could be got on prescription, or if you were to ask my mum........................................ BRING BACK THE NIT NURSES!!!!

Thanks for reading my review!

Summary: An effective lotion to kill the little buggars!