Lice - need help!

[cinderella97]

DD has lice, yuck! I need to know what I am doing wrong. We did one chemical treatment and that did not work. I am not in the process of using olive oil with tea tree oil in it every 4th day. I found a "treatment plan" using this formula on the web. It seems to be working, but I check her hair every day and I am still finding 6-8 nits. and I am cutting those strands out. She had very long thick hair. I have washed everything. I am going crazy. Help!!

 

[hm1975]

The only way I got them out if my daughter's hair was to put Cetaphil (the face soap) in her hair and then fully dry it with a blow dryer. Wash out the next day. Repeat 10 days later. I think it works by suffocating them.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

I would do the chemical tratment again

 

[stobaugh6]

My dd had lice back in fall. My daughter is 7 and has long, thick hair down to her bottom. My heart goes out to you!! We did a chemical treatment then covered her head in olive oil for 48 hours (she slept with her hair in a bun and a Walmart bag tied over her hair). Then we combed every day and did another chemical treatment a week later. I also bagged all stuffed animals and washed her bedding daily, and bought new brushes. Yes, it was extreme, but it got rid of the buggers. Good luck!!

 

[Karebear]

I used a lice removal service--they come to your home and get rid of it for you. It costs about $100, but it was so worth it! I used Nit Picky after I saw them on Good Morning America. There are similar companies all over. Good luck!!

 

[mjkacmom]

I used a lice removal service--they come to your home and get rid of it for you. It costs about $100, but it was so worth it! I used Nit Picky after I saw them on Good Morning America. There are similar companies all over. Good luck!!

I'd go this route. Otherwise, I assume you have been combing (good metal comb with conditioner) several hours a day? Because that's how you get rid of them (and what the companies do. The lice shampoo will kill most of the live ones, but not the nits - they're the problem. The treatments also make the nits stickier, and harder to remove.

Eta - $100 is cheap! It costs more here, and you have to go to them.

 

[Airship Ariadne]

What you "did wrong" was not combing out every single last nit...which is almost impossible. So you really didn't do anything wrong. And of course make sure you have treated EVERYTHING her head comes in contact with, including the back or the car seat of headrest in the car where she might rest her head.

The shampoos don't kill the nits, only live lice, so you have to try to comb them all out, and retreat to kill the hatched nits you missed in combing (because you WON'T get them all). You have to retreat at the right window, after the nits would have hatched, but before they can lay more nits.

DD went through this this past summer, and it was annoying...but we finally beat it.

 

[KayW]

When my daughter had it we used the treatment from the Fairy Tale brand. Then I would put the spray in her hair and check constantly.

She got is again and I slathered her hair in coconut oil and tea tree oil. Made her sleep with it in. Her hair looked gorgeous after that!

Then we both got it after a cruise this summer. I invested in a robi comb. The best $30 I spent. As you run the comb through the hair it emits a high pitched noise. WHen it comes in contact with a louse or egg the noise stops and kills it. We use it once in a while now when we feel extra itchy. I bought the comb at CVS, but saw it at Walmart too.

Good luck!

 

[chris31997]

DD has lice, yuck! I need to know what I am doing wrong. We did one chemical treatment and that did not work. I am not in the process of using olive oil with tea tree oil in it every 4th day. I found a "treatment plan" using this formula on the web. It seems to be working, but I check her hair every day and I am still finding 6-8 nits. and I am cutting those strands out. She had very long thick hair. I have washed everything. I am going crazy. Help!!

Not sure that you did anything "wrong" per say

Did you wash bedding?
Did you vacuum and throw out the bag?
Did you wash stuffed animals?
Did you wash all hair brushes?
Throw out all hair ties/wash hair bands?

Make a spray with cedar oil and tea tree oil and spray bedding and floor.
Get a shower cap for DD
Add tea tree oil to ALL shampoos and EVERYONE uses it.
Combine coconut oil with tea tree oil and apply it very liberally to DD's hair, comb and braid her hair.
Coat her hair at night and cover her head with the shower cap.

We did this for a month. My DD has long, thick, brown hair. Down to her butt Did I mention super fine??? But we got rid of it.

You will need to check her head for lice/nits. It will take some time. I have found that the chemical treatment will kill the lice and nits but also cause scalp to "shed" skin flakes which could be confused for nits.

We also went from washing hair every night to only 2x a week. Lice can't hold onto dirty hair

 

[mariolatry]

I'd go this route. Otherwise, I assume you have been combing (good metal comb with conditioner) several hours a day? Because that's how you get rid of them (and what the companies do. The lice shampoo will kill most of the live ones, but not the nits - they're the problem. The treatments also make the nits stickier, and harder to remove.

Eta - $100 is cheap! It costs more here, and you have to go to them.

I paid a butt-ton of a money for one of the services to come to my house when my kids got lice (and then I got it from them). She taught me a lot.

It isn't about killing the bugs. They die if they don't feed in 24-48 hours anyway. 20 minutes in a dryer on high, overnight in the freezer, or two days seeled in a plastic bag takes care of it.

The trick is getting rid of nits. They have to be pretty close to the scalp to be the right temperature to develop and hatch. If you can even comb the egg to the end of hair, it won't hatch. You need to comb on a vigorous schedule with the Lice Terminator comb.
http://www.fairytaleshaircare.com/terminator-metal-lice-comb

Check out headlice.org.

This is a link to some good combing techniques.
http://liceaunties.com/resources-instructions-for-removing-head-lice-and-nits.php

 

[KayW]

The pain of taking away the bed full of stuffies was hard. Washing the bedding was a pain, but it needs to be done. I took all hair ties/stretchy head bands and washed all of those.

We use the fairy tale spray all through softball season since they share helmets. I spray the helmets too just in case.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

There's also this: http://www.natroba.com

 

[G719]

First I tried the chemical but didn't seem to work and I didn't really like the thought of the pesticide on my kids head. So after some internet reading I mixed some coconut oil that was liquified with tea tree oil. Smothered her head and put a shower cap on. Let sit for 30 minutes. Then washed and rinsed and combed with conditioner. Then I combed my daughter's hair every night for about a week in the bath tub with the lice comb. Used lots of conditioner and did small sections and worked around her head. DH held flashlight so I could see better. I had to scrape comb back and forth when I saw a nit or used my nail to scrape it off. They really stick to the hair. Look under the hair at the scalp for live bugs usually right above the ears and at the neck.

 

[ldadar]

We also used Cetaphil successfully after the harsh pesticides totally failed.

 

[SweetMissy]

Aww, I hear ya! My daughter had lice a couple years ago as soon as she started kindergarten! It took a couple months to finally get rid of them! I was doing like the kits said....5-7 days or whatever. No, I FINALLY did the treatments every other day for almost a week and they were gone. Good luck!

 

[Camshell]

We are in Canada and used a product recommended by our pharmacist. It is called NYDA. http://www.nyda.ca/en/ Not sure if you can get in the USA. It does not contain toxic chemicals. It is an oil based product.

We used it and the lice were gone after one treatment. We also washed all bedding in a bleach solution. All stuffies on the bed and the pillow used were bagged and tied off for 2 weeks in plastic (if can't wash them - as lice will die without a live host).

We also combed for lice and nits everynight for one week - didn't find any. We did the follow-up treatment a week later even though we had not seen anymore lice during the week. After about 14 days we felt we were in the clear.

 

[amyren]

I used an olive oil treatment on DD's hair and it worked. I hesitated to use shampoo with harsh chemicals / carcinogens on my 5 year old's scalp.

You have to be super vigilant with the treatment. I used it every 2 days for a week then once a week after that. I smothered her hair in olive oil then put a shower cap on her for 2-3 hours. I had to rubber band the shower cap to her head because there was so much oil it would seep down her neck & forehead. after the 2-3 hours I combed each and every strand of her hair... It was the biggest pain ever. She has fine hair and it took minimum 45 minutes to comb through her hair. After we that we would shampoo her hair X2 then I stripped it with vinegar. I took a lock of her hair doused it with vinegar and combed through it with a fine tooth (lice comb).

Additionally we washed her bedding with hot water and bagged up all of her stuffed animals. They were sent away to the attic for 6 weeks.

After alllllll that it worked and we haven't had any issues since.

Good luck. Lice are the worst!!

 

[MommaRN]

First post ever.. thought I'd share my lice tip. A physician I worked with suggested this when I was having a hard time getting all of the nits out of my daughter's butt length hair. She said nits are temperature sensitive and cannot survive a high heat flat iron.. so we flat ironed her hair daily for a few days and eventually I couldn't find anymore nits, and obviously none of them survived to hatch because we haven't had a problem since.
Unfortunately, combing her hair over and over again with that stupid nit comb completely ruined her hair.. broke of off like crazy. We finally cut it all off last spring. Be careful with those combs, my daughter's heart was broken. Good luck!

 

[GotLabradors]

Another vote for the cetaphil. It smothers the lice. You just have to keep up with the combing for a few days, too. Lice are such a pain in the butt.

 

[cinderella97]

Thank you for all of the suggestions! Last night I i went through her hair and did not find any live lice. Whohoo! Just a few nits. Hopefully this is the end. I'll have her flat iron her hair and see if that helps. How concerned should I be about the niits? Doesn't there have to be a live one??