Topic: Head lice

[Borlotti]

Any one got a problem with grandchildren with head lice.  Doctor said not to use Delacet although it says it is 100% natural.  Have used it and it worked really well, but don't want to go against doctor's advice. Doctor said unperfumed shampoo and combing with lice comb.  It doesn't work.  Said Delacet which did work is not recommended as can cause neurological damage, can't see this as it is meant to be natural. Did not recommend any of the head lice treatments apart form combing.  Help, where do we go from here, sort out the problem then back to school and it all starts again.

[betula]

Have you tried putting hair conditioner on the hair and then combing with a lice comb?

[pippy]

I haven't had the problem, as I have boys with short hair, but people have told me Tea tree oil works well and is 100% natural?  Not sure how you apply it though.   Lice comb is also good, but apparently it is v. satisfying to crush the little ****'s as you find them on the comb!!!

Happy hunting!

[Borlotti]

Yes, but I think they are getting more resistant.  They do seem to like certain hair types, not mine luckily as mine is coloured but I am itching just thinking about it.

[jo9919]

Daughter had them once  ::)  I used a product called Lyclear (I think). It does also come with a comb and it is important even if you use a product to continually comb.

It's much easier to comb when the hair is wet, and hold a piece of white paper underneath too. Any that 'drop' will show up on the paper.

If you are treating one member of the family, then all the family should also be treated.

Good luck,
Jo.

[trinity]

you can put tea tree oil in shampoo and conditioner. it dose not kill the lice just discourages them. I use it on my little girls hair and she gets them around once every three month where as before she had them all the time I would get her head clear and the next day she would come home crawling with them!!!
they where all full grown lice so not from me missing the eggs but from other kids a school mind you I am lucky she has fine white blond hair and you can see them easily so they are always caught straight away it must be a nightmare for those with dark hair.
I have found the only way I can get rid of them is the combing method with conditioner but you have to do it morning and night every day for about a week

[grawrc]

Formerly th   e school nurse dealt with this. Now that doesn't happen. So more lice, more nits and more unhappy children...

[Borlotti]

She has brown hair so they are difficult to see.  Was surprised that the doctor was so anti all the head lice treatments sold in the chemist and said about neurological damage, as I said would not even recommend the natural ones.  Spent £10 on a lice comb and special insect repellant shampoo and conditioner so will have to keep with the combing as advised by doctor.  She did say not to use perfumed shampoo as they like that. I can do a very thorough hair wash and conditioning but am surprised at how they stick to the hair.  I wonder what the old fashioned 'nit nurse' used to use when she came to the schools in the old days, did she just use a comb.  Trouble is we have to sort this before we get her hair cut or will get thrown out of the hairdresser, how embarrassing.

[OllieC]

I've had them 3 times - from the work I used to do (sometimes with impoverished families, kids climbing on you...). Wash hair twice daily, condition with Tea tree oil, comb close to scalp with a nit comb, gone in a week. Keep going for 2 weeks.

Even my at the time girlfriend (now my wife) with long hair got rid of them in the same timescale as me. And she still married me after I infected her! Actually, my hair was a couple of feet long at the time too...

Edited to add:
I should add - the impoverished thing just meant that sometimes some of the parenting skills were lacking & they didn't take an infestation seriously. Not always, but sometimes...

[grawrc]

No the nit nurse used all the chemical treatments available. Got rid of the nits but don't know what it did to our children's heads. Although they're still about to tell the tale. better than when I was a kid and they shaved children's heads and painted them purple. Don't know what it was but i guess it was some kind of chemical treatment?

[Suzanne]

The doctors advice is the standard NHS advice. Combing is preferred as no risk of a reaction whether due to allergy to the insecticide or because of its inherent toxicity.

Is quite a painstaking process to do a comb through properly, takes 30 to 45 minutes each time.

Do wish we still had nit nurses to keep a check on these things. At least if head lice were noted they used to treat the whole school - nowadays reinfection appears much quicker as not everyone treated at the same time - also gets well established before people notice.

[OllieC]

Is quite a painstaking process to do a comb through properly, takes 30 to 45 minutes each time.

It took me about 3 or 4 minutes a time...

[Suzanne]

Ollie maybe this helps - advice from NHS. Helped a friend of mine do this with her children - it takes longer if they don't sit still. ::)

"Wet combing, or 'bug-busting' is used to remove lice without using chemical treatments. This method can be helpful because head lice are growing increasingly resistant to the insecticides used to remove them. The best procedure is as follows:

wash the hair as normal using an ordinary shampoo,
apply conditioner liberally to wet hair (this causes the lice to lose their grip on the hair),
comb the hair through with a normal comb first,
with a fine tooth nit comb, comb from the roots along the complete length of the hair and after each stroke check the comb for lice and wipe it clean. Work methodically over the whole head for at least 30 minutes,
rinse the hair as normal,
repeat every three days for at least two weeks.

[Solorn]

I have 3 kids and one is very prone to nits. So, after years of suffering I have tried just about everything you can get. I seem to have found the answer in a comb...a comb that costs £10 but I would gladly pay £50 for it. I did my daughters hair, took about half an hour for shoulder length hair, and it removed EVERYTHING! All of the old eggs that other combs couldn't touch right down to tiny baby lice. Since using it we haven't had a problem with nits in our house. Thats almost a year NIT FREE!

I use it once a week and the kids also use tea tree shampoo in between. The comb is called a Nitty gritty and you can get it from Boots or http://www.nittygritty.co.uk/ng/index.jsp . Before anyone asks, no I don't work for either company, I'm just an incredibly happy parent.

[Borlotti]

This Delacet is herbal head lice solution, 100% natural and it worked last time, but the doctor said no.  Don't like to go against the doctor's opinion but perhaps might ask another doctor.  In the mean time will kept up the combing, conditioning method and hope it works.

[Suzanne]

Solorn - endorse that its the one we used.

[OllieC]

Ollie maybe this helps - advice from NHS. Helped a friend of mine do this with her children - it takes longer if they don't sit still. ::)

Haha, yes! I've never removed them from someone else, especially wriggling child! Also discussing with wife just now, she agrees that the time I remember is about right, but points out that we would also avoid possible sources of reinfection and changed pillow cases every night and would also do the odd supplementary combing in the day if we felt an itch.

[Suzanne]

This Delacet is herbal head lice solution, 100% natural and it worked last time, but the doctor said no.  Don't like to go against the doctor's opinion but perhaps might ask another doctor.  In the mean time will kept up the combing, conditioning method and hope it works.

I probably am going to come across as bit of an anorak about this - but I use herbs and plants as natural remedies so like to know what are the active ingredients and their effects. Using the wrong herbs in the wrong doses can cause health problems - I really worry about the chinese herbal stores that seem to have sprung up everywhwere. But hey ho.

Delacet I believe uses larkspur as its natural herb content. The active ingredient of which is delphinine. This is a natural insecticide but does have some mammalian toxicity - although at the doses used in preparations would be unlikely to cause a problem in humans. Aconite which is a related plant alkaloid has higher toxicity and used to be used on arrow heads as a poison.

[OllieC]

You're not being an anorak at all Suzanne - or at least if you are it's a scientific one. If you or I started opening chemists & selling what we felt like, we'd quite rightly be closed down & with any luck sent to prison.

I'd actually sometimes prefer a lab tested chemical to a "natural" plant extract without testing... Remember, alternative medicine is only alternative because nobody can prove it works!!!

[tonybloke]

You're not being an anorak at all Suzanne - or at least if you are it's a scientific one. If you or I started opening chemists & selling what we felt like, we'd quite rightly be closed down & with any luck sent to prison.

I'd actually sometimes prefer a lab tested chemical to a "natural" plant extract without testing... Remember, alternative medicine is only alternative because nobody can prove it works!!!

or market it successfully!