Head lice.

[Orangerthanred]

:(
I have caught lice from my friend.

I had someone search my hair after I found out my friend had it. That person has horrible eyesight but I didn't have a choice. She found eggs in my hair (the tiny white sort) so we did the treatment, which failed.

The treatment seemed okay. You have to shampoo your hair (which is fine). But then you must brush your super duper tangled hair with a tiny thin lice comb. Which is also fine, for most people anyway.

Except I have super super unbrushable thick hair. Even if the person combing it sees a lice egg they will never get it out... Because halfway through my hair the comb ALWAYS snags. I do not have money to buy a ton of natural alternatives to lice treatments or to get a professional to do it. I can't go out and buy fancy oils. The closest thing I have to a natural oil at my house is canola oil. I'm going to have icky lice on my head forever at this rate.

I was washing my hair earlier and noticed plenty of lice eggs were still in my hair. Ick.


So has anyone had head lice before and got rid of it successfully?

[Perididdle]

I know you said no fancy oils, but what are you working with? Unfortunately I imagine any treatment is going to be a tick pricey, at least. =( Tea tree stuff is supposed to help. I would imagine you could find it somewhere cheap, at least the amount you'll need. You're talking in tsps and drops -- the Walmart website has a 2 Oz bottle for about $7.

Henna is also supposed to kill lice. You should be able to find this locally somewhere, the BAQ may be trickier. You can get it online for $8/100g, which should be enough for your hair.

That really sucks, I'm sorry! Don't forget, you need to wash EVERYTHING in the house with hot water and soap, especially blankets and pillows.

[Not Lynn Merely]

I haven't had lice, but I had heard of using mayonnaise (http://www.lacetoleather.com/ridlice.html) to smother the lice. Good luck, and keep us updated.

[Orangerthanred]

Thanks, peeps. I do not have tea tree oil, but I do have mayo (and the link also mentioned a vinegar rinse to loosen the eggs, and I have vinegar :D ). Must try it tomorrow

[Angel Barchild]

Some helpful information. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/

Head lice live on your scalp, and lay their eggs at the base of your hair shaft. The lengths of your hair are not what you need to worry about. Any nit (egg) hatches in about 7 days, so any nit very far down the hair shaft has already hatched. The trick to killing lice it to break their life cycle. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/biology.html Use of over the counter medication to kill the adults and nymphs (they may not die immediately it could take up to 24 hours) and pick out most of the nits you can find. Unfortunately nothing we have will kill 100% of the nits. It takes 7 days from a nit hatching for it to mature and be able to lay eggs so retreating in a week should kill anything that hatches before it has a chance to lay eggs.

You can supplement your efforts with an olive oil treatment. Olive oil does smother lice, but it can take hours, and it doesn't do anything about nits, so you will have to pick them out by hand, and retreat often. You need to completely the lice in the oil for it to work. Other smothering agents (like mayo) are harder to get to work into the scalp (lice don't live down the hair shaft). However you can do the oil treatment as often as you want, because other than greasy hair it has no side effects.

It may take several rounds of treatment to fully eliminate the infestation. Don't it stress you too much lice have been a problem for humans since... well forever.

[Rufflebutt]

That sounds terrible! -hugs- I would be so upset if that happened to me.

I've only had lice once in kindergarden. My cousins came over and their mother liked to neglect them at the time. They had lice for quite a while and we didn't know. Long story short, they gave it to me and my mother had to give me an awful bowl cut and use the lice kit that you were talking about in the OP.

My hair has always been pretty sleek and slippery, plus I imagine it was still very fine like baby hair at that age as well. So combing it wasn't really an issue. But getting me to sit still was.

[katfemme89]

Oh man, this sucks. I feel so bad for you. Fortunately I only had lice once when I was in 1st grade. My mom used RID on me and it worked first treatment.

Perhaps when you do the mayo treatment, cover it with saran wrap and use a blowdryer to heat it up really hot. then leave it covered in the saran wrap for like three hours. Then take the lice comb and comb your hair (it'll probably be really easy to comb with the slippery mayo in it) and hopefully the mayo will kill the grown lice and the comb will pull out the eggs.

Once again, I am so sorry for your predicament! :flowers:

[akilina]

Awh :(

If you are in the US, and have a Great Clips in your area...you should look there and see if that particular salon carries "Ladibugs"
They have a lice prevention kit, and a lice termination kid.
They seriously seem so nice.
It is definitely a more "natural" product as opposed to the really harsh ones. The ingredients sound SO nice that I would consider it as a normal S and C.
If I had lice, I would seriously try it and see how it works.

[Kaelee]

Tea tree oil (not very expensive) mixed with oil (canola will work). Coat your hair in the mixture, wrap it up in plastic and leave it on for about an hour, shampoo out.

The tea tree breaks open the eggs and the lice drown in the oil.

[Maybe]

Oh gosh, I am.sorry. My kids got lice last year. I actually called in.the lice squad, best $252 I ever spent in my life. They said the drugstire stuff doesn't work Nymore, lice are resistant to it. The best thing is to get a really good lice comb (mine was $30). Coat your hair in.conditioner and comb it through with the comb. After each pass, wipe what came off on the comb onto white paper towel. You will be able to see the nits.
I did this to my hair on 3 consecutive days, just to make sure I didn't have it. I was able to.get rid of my kids lice this way too. Many other famikies had it come back over and over again. Again, this is because the drugstire stuff doean't work.

Good luck.

[truepeacenik]

My hippy method that worked on kid, then-spouse, the child's father and myself:
Oil/mayo to suffocate the post hatched bugs.
Vinegar to losen nit egg cases.
Slow, careful combing. In my case, pencil-thin strands at a time.

Threat to the school if they didn't get the recurring outbreak under control.

[CrowningGlory]

I'm treating for lice at the moment so I sympathise. This is my second time in under two years. Really annoying as I'm the only teacher who wears her hair up all the time but the other teachers seem to have missed out.

Anyway, this is what worked last time and what I'm doing again. Conditioner (or mayo although you shouldn't leave it on for too long especially in warm weather) mixed with olive or coconut oil and left on for several hours or overnight. Wash as normal and finish with an ACV rinse.

Conditioner or mayo is supposed to suffocate the lice, olive or coconut oil dissolves the exoskeleton (apparently other oils don't work the same) and apple cider vinegar helps loosen the glue that holds the eggs to the hair.

Last time, I dipped a comb (whatever would go through my hair - definitely not a lice comb) in a solution of 50/50 water and ACV and combed my hair to remove the nits. I had lots of nits that time. DH also spent hours removing the eggs by hand. This time we haven't spotted any nits (although there must be some) so I'm not bothering too much with the combing.

You should do the condish/oil treatment at least after four days and then a week after the initial treatment. I was so desperate to get rid of the uninvited guests last time that I did it every day for a week and then every second day and then when I started seeing less eggs when combing, I spaced it out further.

This time because I've only seen two adult lice and no eggs I'll probably do it every day for four days and then every second day. Brushing also helps to damage the adult lice and they can't repair themselves so once my brush dries, I'll be doing more of that.

It's not fun, but you can get rid of them and with minimum damage to your hair. My hair was at least at tailbone last time and now is somewhere between waist and tailbone and thick enough that a nit comb won't go anywhere near it. But I survived - and the nits didn't - so just be patient and you'll get through this.

[fairview]

Everyone has talked about the hair, etc. Remember the eggs are really cemented to the hair shaft and the protective coating is rather impervious to any treatment, organic or chemical. To break the cycle, consideration must be given to bedding, towels, cushions on chairs -you get my drift. Lice can not survive extended periods of time off scalp, but long enough to be a source of continuing re-infestation. Everything needs to be washed in super hot water after each use. Use a sheet to cover A chair and only use THAT chair until the lice are eliminated.

Good luck.

Each of my four children brought them home from school. I salvaged my daughters hair but when it came to the boy, I couldn't break out the horse clippers fast enough.

[Heatherzilla]

Mum works at a school and has the fun job of doing the lice checks on all the kids, so she's had lice a few times. I'm going to chime in that the conditioner/oil/vinegar method in here generally works better than the commercial stuff you can buy and smells less gross. Using a really coney conditioner helps with the combing out. Buy a big bottle of something cheap and use as much of it as you can get to stay on your head. A metal comb will also work far better than a plastic one if you can find them.

[Asprettyasme]

#error

#An error occurred.

[Angel Barchild]

My hair texture does not get lice. My hair is not the type of hair that lice like living in. Thank the lord. But I also heard that people with my hair type fry our hair to much too and they can't live in that climate. So how about you straighten your hair with a really hot flat iron? The one with ceramic plates. That should defiently kill the lice off right? Especially if you do it more then once (not on the same day, I would hate for you to damage your hair). Try it though, maybe it will work.

Lice live on your scalp not the hair itself, and they lay their eggs on the hair shaft right up against the scalp. Flat ironing the hair might get a few nits, but it's not going to do anything to the adults on your scalp. It might also do a lot of damage to your hair.

[Fethenwen]

I've had lice, and I second the mentionings of using oil, vinegar, tea-tree oil, lice comb and conditioner to get rid of them.

First off, get your hair smothered in thick conditioner and suffocate those bastards, let it sit on your hair for at least an hour. The shampoo and stuff you buy made for lice killing is not as effective, especially since it often is meant to have it sit on your head for just 10-15 min. which is not enough to suffocate the lice.

After that put a quite strong mixture of white vinegar, tea-tree oil and water on your hair and let that sit also for as long as you can take under a plastic cap, half an hour or so. It should be so strong that it tingles. This really kills the nits and the lice that are still alive.

Then after you have rinsed that away, massage oil onto your hair. Then comb it thoroughly with a lice comb. The oil lets the comb move easily through the hair and removes nits more effectively.

You might want to do this a second time after a few days. It's especially important to repeat the procedure after 7 days, because there might be some nits left that hatches then and when you get those last ones out of your hair you should be rid of them for good.

[Rish]

The only thing that worked in our family for killing the licewas washing our hair in sheep tick poison with water.. It stank the house and your head for weeks, and it left the hair dry and tacky for a week, but after the treatment we didn't have a recurrence for months. Not saying its the best option, but it was the best last resort for us and I really did not want to shave my tb length hair (I had them the worst, you could run your fingers through my scalp and get the louse under your nails).

After the sheep tick wash we didn't get a recurrence for over a year (I think it also acted as a deterrent), when we did finally get them again, out came the sheep poison and into our hair, and all good after.

The poison also burnt off whatever held the lice eggs so they pretty much dissolved, dropped out and were removable using your nails and sliding off the strand. I believe it was Nucidol 200EC we used - very poisonous, and as I said, prob not the best choice, but we were pretty desperate, and living in a family on a tight budget the lice treatments were just a piling waste of money.

[woolyleprechaun]

The only thing that worked in our family for killing the licewas washing our hair in sheep tick poison with water.. It stank the house and your head for weeks, and it left the hair dry and tacky for a week, but after the treatment we didn't have a recurrence for months. Not saying its the best option, but it was the best last resort for us and I really did not want to shave my tb length hair (I had them the worst, you could run your fingers through my scalp and get the louse under your nails).

After the sheep tick wash we didn't get a recurrence for over a year (I think it also acted as a deterrent), when we did finally get them again, out came the sheep poison and into our hair, and all good after.

The poison also burnt off whatever held the lice eggs so they pretty much dissolved, dropped out and were removable using your nails and sliding off the strand. I believe it was Nucidol 200EC we used - very poisonous, and as I said, prob not the best choice, but we were pretty desperate, and living in a family on a tight budget the lice treatments were just a piling waste of money.
Possibly The most hardcore nit removal I have ever heard. I SALUTE YOU! :D
Ive had lice a few times along with my kids. Best things I found were:
Neem powder (pence from an asian grocers)
The Mayo Method as listed above
Conditioner smothering
Henna glosses
Fenugreek seeds, boiled to a mush and blitzed in a hand blender with olive oil and tea-tree essential oil. This was my favorite as it left my hair incredibly soft as well as nit free :o

[Rinna]

I think hair color/bleach kills lice.

At least when I joined the army (mandatory for guys and girls in my country), there was lice checkup and the girls with colored hair were told they don't need to be checked.

[Firefly]

DD had lice several years ago. Here's what worked for us:

1. Two treatments of Lice Free one week apart. Lice Free is available at the health food store, but it's basically a thick gel w/ anise that smothers the lice-- so I think like others here have recommended, any oil/mayo-- anything that will do the same thing-- will suffice. This does not remove the nits, only smothers the adults, so I think the key is to REPEAT the treatment about a week later, to kill any nits that hatch in the meantime. We did use a nit comb as well, but I think it's very difficult to get them all out. That's why the repeat treatment is so critical.

2. We did a hot water wash of bedding, vacuumed the couch etc, but did not go crazy with it.

Not fun. I never want to deal with that again! We've been using a tea tree oil spray as a preventative, especially during lice season or when I hear it's going around the group, and so far so good. *knocks wood* Good luck!

[Aqua Gal]

Oh, I'm so sorry this happened to you. A big hug.

My DD had it twice and she had long, THICK wavy hair. The first time I used Rid and it damaged and lightened her hair soo much. I felt so bad that I had done that to her.

The way I handled it the 2nd time takes a lot of work, but it worked flawlessly and did zero damage to her hair. I wet it down, slathered it with the coneyiest conditioner we had (Seriously I used a lot) and started combing tiny sections. First with the wide tooth comb to detangle, and eventually the lice comb. I rinsed the lice comb after every pass in a bowl of warm soapy water. I did this about 3 times total in 24 hours and it was totally clear.

We watched a lot of movies to pass the time. It was super gross, but it worked.

I wish you all the best. I know upsetting this can be.

[jacqueline101]

I got a non toxic instant killer called licefreee it worked real well.

[raingirl]

I'm so sorry you go lice! I've never had it and actually...never even seen or known anyone with lice in person. If it makes you feel better, apparently lice like clean hair more than dirty hair (at least that's what they say!)

I saw this on a news channel years ago and always kept it at the back of my mind if I ever had lice!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2123367_treat-head-lice-cetaphil.html

However, not sure how hair friends it is. I figure, it can't hurt to try, right?

[AutumnLocks]

When I first became a CNA I got lice twice from patients. That was in the early 80's and the nurses wouldn't tell us that people had lice. They didn't think we needed to know!
I called my doctor and had him to call me in a prescription. Don't remember exactly what it was but it took care of them in pretty short order!!

[Asprettyasme]

#error

#An error occurred.

[Angel Barchild]

@ Asprettasme
You are right about lice not liking your hair type. Studies have show that their legs just don't grasp the hairs as well for moving through it. Bad for them but great for you. :D

@ OP
My daughter had hair lice for over a year when she was younger. We would treat it, but then she would go to her fathers every other weekend and get re-infested, because he wasn't treating everyone at his house.

I used every treatment under the sun. Mayo was messy and didn't seem very effective, LiceFree seemed to work well on the live lice but doesn't kill nits (nothing really does) so you have to pick. Just like the Rid and Nix, the lice killing shampoo. That's where I found olive oil for nit removal. Any good thick heavy liquid oil can be used to smother the live lice, it just takes a long time. I have used tea tree oil (expensive) and olive oil (cheap) and they work about the same.

I'm sending you hugs, lice can be very stressful, don't let it get to you. They are just an annoyance humans have to deal with sometimes. I'll share with you my secret, a nice glass of red wine.:D

[sarelis]

The only thing that worked in our family for killing the licewas washing our hair in sheep tick poison with water.. It stank the house and your head for weeks, and it left the hair dry and tacky for a week, but after the treatment we didn't have a recurrence for months. Not saying its the best option, but it was the best last resort for us and I really did not want to shave my tb length hair (I had them the worst, you could run your fingers through my scalp and get the louse under your nails).

After the sheep tick wash we didn't get a recurrence for over a year (I think it also acted as a deterrent), when we did finally get them again, out came the sheep poison and into our hair, and all good after.

The poison also burnt off whatever held the lice eggs so they pretty much dissolved, dropped out and were removable using your nails and sliding off the strand. I believe it was Nucidol 200EC we used - very poisonous, and as I said, prob not the best choice, but we were pretty desperate, and living in a family on a tight budget the lice treatments were just a piling waste of money.

In a similar but possibly gentler vein, I used Frontline flea spray on DD's indestructable, resistant to everything lice. The Frontline spray is pretty useless for fleas now as it's quite an old product & the critters are becoming resistant, but it works a treat on headlice, I have used it several times with great success. You don't need to soak the hair & scalp with it, just a light spray here & there (I concentrate on behind the ears & the nape of the neck), voila, no lice for 3 - 6 months. I have been doing this for around 10 years, from when I had dreadlocks & caught them from my son & NOTHING else would work. Have never suffered any ill effects from using this.

[bekstamonkey]

Neem Seed oil is a guaranteed lice-remover. When you smell the stuff, you understand why. Have used this myself, and recommended it to others, also...never seems to fail! I have a friend who is a school teacher, and she kept getting lice from her very young students, the NSO would get rid of them, but then she'd get them again a few months later...until she started adding a little neem seed oil to her shampoo bottle, now she never gets them, even when the kiddies are scratchin' their scalps all day long LOL

[Nera]

Oh i´m so sorry for you! I know the combination of thick long hair and head lice... I´ve had them last year as well. I also read the suggestion to comb it with a tiny comb as well... Haha.. That would be like combing out a wool sweater.
So I didn't bother combing at all, instead I used chemical treatments (a lot of packages at once) and olive oil. Leave it on for hours, it takes a long time to suffocate the bugs. You can cover it with plastic wrap. It's not the nicest thing in the world, but for me it worked, after two times.

Good luck!

[lydiajo]

BTDT. DD and I both had lice last year. We both have thin hair and what finally worked was conditioner and combing. Every night we did the conditioner and combing then in the morning the pillow cases got washed and the comb got cleaned. We did this for a week as it was hard to see the nits in her blond hair.

[Orangerthanred]

Okay, update: I got rid of the lice! The vinegar was really helpful, it kind of loosened the lice eggs, if that makes any sense? The mayo may have killed the last few living adult lice. Nobody can find a single thing in my hair! Thanks to anybody who suggested vinegar or mayo! :D

[katfemme89]

Okay, update: I got rid of the lice! The vinegar was really helpful, it kind of loosened the lice eggs, if that makes any sense? The mayo may have killed the last few living adult lice. Nobody can find a single thing in my hair! Thanks to anybody who suggested vinegar or mayo! :D

YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!! :happydance:

[Aqua Gal]

Okay, update: I got rid of the lice!

Thank goodness!

[Meow78]

My girls had it once the medicine didn't work. Doc and google said coat in vaseline or baby oil and use shower cap and sleep, repeat in 10 days. Suffocates them, and then the hatchlings the week after. It worked, wash and dry hot or freeze any hair items pillows stuffed animals or bag them in storage for 6 weeks. Then used dish soap to get the oil out which is drying so do a heavy conditioning treatment after. I did Vaseline on one and baby oil on the other. Oil distributes way easier, but Vaseline is way less messy in bed.

[Asprettyasme]

#error

#An error occurred.