Lice and Nits

[Luminescence]

I've seen plenty of great threads telling how to get rid of lice; however, my problem is nits. Nothing seems to explain how to get rid of those. Combing doesn't work, not well enough. I don't have live lice, but I can't seem to get all of the nits out. ACV helps, by making my hair much smoother, but I would appreciate any other recipes people might have. :( Help, please.

[Clarisse]

Hedrin is my #1 wonder drug against lice. Frontline vet works well too, but I will never use it again as it is maybe toxic to humans!
If you keep combing with a nit comb, the eggs will hatch and you can comb out the nymphs, without any lice being able to grow big enough to lay new eggs. You should keep combing 14 days - 3 weeks from the point where you got rid of the entire adult lice population to be sure that all the eggs have hatched and the new lice been caught :)

[Luminescence]

Hedrin is my #1 wonder drug against lice. Frontline vet works well too, but I will never use it again as it is maybe toxic to humans!
If you keep combing with a nit comb, the eggs will hatch and you can comb out the nymphs, without any lice being able to grow big enough to lay new eggs. You should keep combing 14 days - 3 weeks from the point where you got rid of the entire adult lice population to be sure that all the eggs have hatched and the new lice been caught :)
It's been three weeks already. Most of the eggs are dead, I think, but they still have the glue on them, and I just can't get them out. I can just keep at it until they're gone, but I'm pressed for time. My mom combs the nits out of my hair, and it really strains her eyes, so she's threatening to chop it off. So I would really like to get rid of these as soon as possible.

[TawnyRoots]

The only way to remove all eggs is to coat the hair is conditioner (I really mean use a lot!) then use a fine tooth comb. The conditioner makes the eggs more slippery and easier to detach. Do this every day for a week and they will be gone.

[Clarisse]

Dead nits is not something to worry about - they do no harm. I found that Hedrin takes them out very well, but if there is a few still glued to the hair, I don’t care. :)

[enfys]

The only way to remove all eggs is to coat the hair is conditioner (I really mean use a lot!) then use a fine tooth comb. The conditioner makes the eggs more slippery and easier to detach. Do this every day for a week and they will be gone.

Yup. I believe that's the best method to get rid of both nits and live lice. I've used it several times on classic length hair, so I know it's a chore.

If the live lice are gone and it's just dead nits, could you do the combing yourself? I assume it's just aesthetic you want to remove the nits? If so, it doesn't matter if you miss a spot since you will catch it the next day, say.

[CindyLea1]

A good Olive Oil soak will do it too...Soak in olive oil overnight(or a few hours) comb with a nit comb in the morning.

[Mesmerise]

Ahh lice and nits... I've had wayyy too much experience with them over the years! Usually on my daughter, occasionally on my sons and once or twice I've found a lice or nit in my own hair, but I've always been able to remove my own without treating!! (I'm a compulsive picker lol).

For my kids, I use a mixture of conditioner (just a cheapie one) and I add a good quantity of tea tree oil, plus some lavender oil and I smother the hair, then cover it with a shower cap and leave it for several hours, before I go through with a lice comb. Now, you may think that commercial treatments work better... well they don't. I had a friend who caught lice from my kids (very embarrassing that lol) and went home from Australia to Germany, and apparently whatever he used (the harshest stuff he could buy) just would not work, even when he left it on over 24 hours lol. So I gave him my recipe and it killed them ;).

Now my daughter had, until recently, very thick but fine hair (she'd be at least a iii thickness but her hair strands are super fine), and it is GHASTLY to try and remove nits from it. However, even though I couldn't necessarily get every nit from her hair with combing, any remaining nit after treatment was dead.

My only problem is I've taken her to get a hair cut before and had a hairdresser refuse to cut her hair cause there were dead nits in it (OMG you'd think a hairdresser could tell the difference between a live and a dead one!). Other hairdressers (those with kids usually) are more understanding and can definitely tell the difference and tell me not to worry about it!), and my son actually had the same thing last time he went. Not a single live louse, but dead nits (my youngest son has an incredibly sensitive scalp and screams blue murder when I try and run a nit comb through it...and he's 10 so not as if he's a toddler!).

I suppose it depends how fussy you want to be about dead nits? I've found ones quite far down my daughter's hair shaft that must have been there literally months! Now, if it were my own hair I might just give my hair a super slather of conditioner and then go through it with a lice comb every second day or something, because each time more will come out. But my kids loathe the lice comb and I can't deal with all the crying and screaming, so I only do it when it's completely necessary.

[Luminescence]

Thank you, everyone! I'll try all you've suggested.



If the live lice are gone and it's just dead nits, could you do the combing yourself? I assume it's just aesthetic you want to remove the nits? If so, it doesn't matter if you miss a spot since you will catch it the next day, say.
I can't seem to remove any myself. The combs are useless, my mother has to find them by sight and take them out with her fingers.

[Miuku]

When I was a kid we used vodka. Just take some cotton puffs, pour a bit of vodka on them and rub the hair with them. Wash it off and condition well. You are likely to smell like a liquor store for the rest of the day though.

Good luck!

[motormuffin]

Tell me more lice stories. I just found out today that my kid has these. I've never had them so I really don't know what to do.

[zombi]

Nits (head lice eggs) are very difficult to kill. Currently, there are few medications on the market that are truly ovicidal (egg killing). If a product claims that it kills nits, ask for the scientific evidence. It is VERY hard to kill nits because of how protected they are within their "cocoons".
This chart has all FDA approved treatments and indicates if they are able to claim to kill nits as well as active, live lice: http://www.myheadlicetreatment.com/head-lice-treatment-options/product-comparison/

[lapispimpernel]

Tell me more lice stories. I just found out today that my kid has these. I've never had them so I really don't know what to do.

As the paranoid daughter of a public health worker: don't skimp on the shampoo and comb, comb, comb. Let the school know. Your local health department usually stocks free or discounted shampoo. Don't bother with the cheap plastic combs that come in the package- get a nice metal one that can be sanitized. Wash the whole household's bedding and coats, tumble your pillows, vacuum your couches and car seats. The poor afflicted should be relegated to a wooden chair until you can't find any live lice. Repeat the process in two weeks, but keep combing the entire time.

I'm sorry about it, it's such a pain.

///off to wash hair, subject makes my head itch...

[motormuffin]

My daughter said someone came to the school to check out the kids. She said that the lady thought she got the ones she saw and that she should be fine. Is this a bad suggestion? I guess there were maybe two. I figure there are probably others and I should worry more... Should I treat myself too?

[Nera]

I have not read this thread, so maybe it's already there...
But.

I've had lice for months. It was months ago also. And as opposed to what a lot of doctors and websites claim: you can hardly remove nits. Nits are glued to the hair. You can kill them with chemicals, and maybe on very short hair, you can remove one or two. But whenever I managed to get one out, i ended up pulling my hair out too. Oil and ACV didn't change anything for me. I killed them with oil and chemical treatments. Now the dead nits are still in my hair. It looks terrible, but as long as they are dead, I'm relieved.
I have a lot of lice expierience, and from my experience I can say that you can't comb them out, you can't pull them out, and you can certainly not rinse them out!
Good luck with this!

[lapispimpernel]

My daughter said someone came to the school to check out the kids. She said that the lady thought she got the ones she saw and that she should be fine. Is this a bad suggestion? I guess there were maybe two. I figure there are probably others and I should worry more... Should I treat myself too?

:confused: How odd that she would say that. Maybe she didn't see any nits? You can check pretty easily when your daughter's hair is wet. The picture at http://www.headlice.org/faq/notnit.htm may be helpful to you. You don't need treat yourself unless you find something- the treatments aren't preventative. Hope that helps you a bit!

[motormuffin]

:confused: How odd that she would say that. Maybe she didn't see any nits? You can check pretty easily when your daughter's hair is wet. The picture at http://www.headlice.org/faq/notnit.htm may be helpful to you. You don't need treat yourself unless you find something- the treatments aren't preventative. Hope that helps you a bit!

Ah Ha! I went to talk with her teacher this morning. She had no lice. I think my daughter was confused. There was a girl in 3rd grade who had them so they went and checked everyone. :rolleyes:
Yay, no lice! The teacher said if they had found any, they would have sent her home....good to know.

[blueraindrop]

if you have a walgreens nearby that has the little "take care" medical clinic inside of it, they actually offer nit removal as a service. no clue on the cost, but might be a solution to your mom having trouble seeing them.