Head-lice grrr

[bunzfan]

For the past two weeks i have been battling with head lice i have only tried the olive oil method as plenty of people reported that this works, but after two weeks of regularly combing every other day i still have them. I know my hair isn't the longest but i have a lot of hair and its getting difficult to get rid of the blighters .

I read that mouthwash left on your hair for 2 hours and then white vinegar on for 1 hour works? have anyone tried this method? the difficult bit is getting the eggs out as i have a lot of hair. My eldest son passed them on to me he has that many i am going to have to cut his hair:(

[enfys]

When I had lice my hair was classic length. I only used one method; soaking my hair in conditioner and combing, combing, combing.

With my mum's help I did it daily. Dampen the hair so it's not dripping and slather it in conditioner. Totally. About half a bottle. We used the cheap Schwartzkopf one; now I'd use the pink Boots Essentials 58p one purely for it's consistency being best as price per ml.

We started detangling with a wide tooth comb, then a regular, then a rat tail then the wider side of the nit comb, then the narrower side. Once no live lice were found we went to every other day. In all this probablly took close to a month.

My sister had them too and her hair was about waist I think? Her texture is 2-something I'd say, so closer to yours. We used the same method.

It was time consuming and frustrating, but not as bad as cutting would have been. My mum refused to buy the treatments as it was when they were in the news as being possibly dangerous.

I've never heard of the mouthwas and vinegar method. I just wanted to let you know it can be done, and I think most longhairs have been there at some point. If not more than once. (Three times myself!)

[bunzfan]

Thanks for your reply. Maybe were i was going wrong was combing every other day instead of every day, i have gone out and got the tea tree conditioner as i know a few people swear by that and also the tea tree oil i don't want to use a shop treatment as i am a asthmatic. I had been using the cheap Inteco coconut conditioner which is only £1.49.

[enfys]

I know the Inecto one; I think it's a bit runny compared to the Boots one. If you can get hold of that, then try to simple for the value for money. Because it's an "essentials" item, it will probably be in every Boots shop except the teeny pokey ones.

I never used tea tree oil, but I have heard good things about that too. maybe add a few drops to each palmful? That said, I have used it neat before now on skin, which I wouldn't do with any other EO. If nothing else, it will help your scalp heal from the nasty bites :grouhug:

I think doing it everyday is best if you can find time because with every day new ones will be maturing and laying new eggs. Once you aren't finding live ones you can slack off a little and just catch them as they hatch by doing it every other day.

ETA: This page explains the life cycles of when they start laying eggs and whatnot
http://www.killnits.com/head_lice_life_%20cycle.html (http://www.killnits.com/head_lice_life_%20cycle.html)

[bunzfan]

Thanks for that i may just try the Boots one instead, i use the Bodyshop rainforest range shampoo but i find the conditioner a bit to thick.
The baby in the family has them to but thankfully i have only found 2 head lice so far i have been told the tea tree oil is perfectly safe to use on a 1 year old but for now i have tried the combing method with the tea tree oil conditioner as i wonder if the oil may irritate the scalp.

[spidermom]

Vinegar makes the nits much easier to comb out, so definitely use it. My doctor told me you can use full-strength vinegar without damaging hair or scalp, and she seemed to be right. But you'll need something else to smother the live lice.

I've also been told hair dye will smother them. That's how my 7-year-old granddaughter became a blonde, now two-tone. It worked.

[Nera]

Ahhhh I have them too! It's terrible. I have so much hair:(

[Amraann]

When we were younger my little sister came home with lice.
(Actually my cousin came home with it and my sister got it too)

At the time my sister still slept in my mothers bed. Amazingly my mother never got lice.
She had colored hair.

Since you said your asthmatic I am guessing that coloring is out?
If not then maybe you can just dye it the same color your hair is?

My children brought home lice once when we lived in the keys. The school sent home a de-lice kit that was natural. I cannot recall the name but maybe somebody here will know it?

It smelled like black licorice and was not harsh on their hair at all. Maybe this would not trigger and asthma attack?
Also remember to wash all bedding and bag for about a week or put all stuffed animals in the dryer. And of course vacuum all carpets and furniture the same day you do the treatment.

[littlestarface]

Lots of oil,mayo if you can, find neem that kills lice also if you henna it kills lice and repels them too. I henna,oiled and did coconut milk soaks all the time and when a family member got lice I didnt get any my mom only found 2 eggs which she quickly removed. Thanks to god I didnt get infested with knee length hair *phew*

Just make sure you have someone checking your head everyday, use a nit comb and kill them non stop. I used tea tree oil on the family member along with alot of evoo then did vinegar and tea tree oil rinse, then got them suckers out with my sis it took 2 days but they were gone!

[Copasetic]

My mom used vinegar and club soda on my hair, with one of those knit combs.

If I got lice, I would not be doing any "natural" home remedies. I would go get a bottle of Kwelada (sp?) and get to work!

[GRU]

Try reading through these threads for ideas:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=539

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=30563

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=32723

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=40602

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=36838

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=46963

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=47579

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=56549

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=58876

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=59076

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=16208


Good luck!

[Purdy Bear]

On the Edwardian Farm BBC programme, she said any oil could be used to coat the head as the lice breath through their skin, so you need to dose it up so they suffocate.

[aenflex]

Henna is supposed to remove them

[bunzfan]

On the Edwardian Farm BBC programme, she said any oil could be used to coat the head as the lice breath through their skin, so you need to dose it up so they suffocate.

I saw that to ( i love those type of shows) so i originally coated my hair in olive oil for about five hours i'm not sure if that was enough though??