Headlice..... the final frontier! (Hedrin Headlice Solution)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	Hedrin Headlice Solution
Date:	19/11/08 (770 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Kills headlice without the potent chemical concoction.

Disadvantages: No specific quantities.

Ok, I am finally at my wits end! This is the 7th and I swear as long as I have breath in my body, the flaming last time I am going to sit for 3 hours, going through my children's hair for chuffing nits!!


If you, like me, have got children at primary or even middle school I am sure you will have encountered these little blighters once or twice...... once or twice I could cope with, but as I mentioned earlier this is the 7th time.......... Since September!

I do like to think that I play fair, kid's wise, I check my children's hair regularly, treating as soon as I detect any movement, but I get the feeling that not everyone is so diligent!

I think that yesterday was the final straw, my daughter, yes she does tend to get them a lot and I am in the process of trialling new repellent sprays (next review! Lol), but when I found one in my sons hair, bearing in mind his hair is only ½" long I new I had to try something different.
The problem is I think that my usual first line in defence, Full Marks solution, whilst being normally quite effective, seems to have been used so often that it has rendered itself null and void as far as my daughters "pets" are concerned! Can you believe it she named one of them Nora, I felt like a murderer as I squashed the little buggar between my nails!

After a long and careful peruse of the "nit" products in my local Asda I decided on this particular product.

The product I will now review is - "Hedrin head lice solution".

The first thing that attracted me to this product is the fact that this a none chemical product, what I mean by none chemical is the fact that the main active ingredient is called Dimeticone which is a none chemical poison.
Of course this product should still be treated in the same way as all other irritants, avoid contact with the eyes, don't use on broken skin (which is surprisingly difficult due to the incessant scratching!), and under no circumstances ingest it!

The packaging is actually quite boring and not at all eye catching, the bottle comes within a long rectangular stand up box, blue and grey in colour.
Across the centre of the box is the product name with a list of plus's with this product -

Skin friendly
No nasty odour
Easy to apply
No organo-phosphates

This product also contains penetrol that states that this helps to boost egg kill, I don't think so!

I have to say at this point that I detest the way these products claim to kill lice and their eggs, if that is actually the case, why do you have to treat the child's hair seven days after the first application to kill the newly hatched lice?

The bottle within the box is again quite boring, it is again a stand up plastic bottle, with the clear solution visible within.

The instructions for use are simple, you apply the solution to dry hair, rub in thoroughly or comb through the hair, then leave to dry, the suggested time is at least 8 hours so I applied this before bedtime just laying a towel over there pillows.

The solution works in quite an unusual way. Instead of killing the lice by poisoning them, which admittedly is quicker, this effectively drowns them.

The solution is not only nasty odour free, it's actually very pleasant. When applying you will notice your hair is never actually wet but rather greasy, the solution is an oil based solution, a little thinner in viscosity than baby oil with the fragrance being fresh, but I'm afraid indescribable!
So, I applied the solution. The only problem I found is the dripping factor. The hair is not wet, as I mentioned before, but is more than likely going to drip for the first hour after application, so everything that my kids were likely to come into contact with was swiftly covered with towels, I actually lot like I live in a squat at the moment!
My sons hair is very short, so actually only took an hour to dry, my daughters took considerably longer as I had to tie it up, and the fact that it is shoulder length meant there was a lot more to dry!

As I mentioned earlier I left their hair to dry overnight, so was surprised to find my daughters hair actually looked like it had had a conditioning treatment put on it. Her hair was soft and looked lovely, I actually begrudged washing the solution out but was it out I did!

You are told to simply wash with water and shampoo, then dry the hair, again easy!

My daughters hair, once dried, is again lovely and soft, I didn't even bother conditioning it like I normally do, unfortunately I have now got to the part of the procedure that I truly detest.... The removal!

The product, along with most other head lice solution products, advocates that you comb through the hair with a nit comb, and by god are they dire!
I comb through my daughters hair, bearing in mind the softness, meaning there is no resistance and the comb picked up barely any eggs, so I have then got to go in manually!

I have now the done the first application, the product advises that you treat again in 7 days due to any eggs that you may have missed hatching and re-infesting.
Although after 7 days there may be more lice, they should be newly hatch and not yet ready to lay eggs, therefore after the second application your child's hair should be completely lice free.

Each bottle contains 100ml of solution, which may not seem much, but has so far treated three heads, including one adults (mine, I haven't stopped scratching since finding them!), and this has left me enough for one more application, so I will unfortunately have to get another bottle for the other two applications (also I haven't checked my husbands hair yet, oh the joys are being a parent!).

The price of this particular bottle was more than reasonable costing a mere £4.98, this was a special offer price due to the product being so new, so I am not sure what the full price of the product will be.

Do I recommend this product, yes! It seems to have done the job but I suppose only time will tell. I loved the fact that it wasn't too harsh for my children's scalps and with this not containing chemical poisons, can actually be used on children's hair as young as 6 months old and believe me, I have seen a baby with head lice, the lice had managed to cling on for dear life onto a single strand of baby hair, it was not nice!

The only thing that bothered me with this product, aside from the fact that it claims to kill eggs, then advises further applications to kill the hatchlings, is the fact that there are no specific quantities advised, ie there is no information on the product about how much solution should be applied to the hair for optimum effectiveness, aside from that this seems an ideal product.

For more information visit - www.thorntonross.com/hedrin

Thanks for reading x

Summary: An alternative method of pest control!