Hey there!

While I seriously understand your frustration, please try not to be too angry.

I am a professional head lice treatment clinician and this is a situation I encounter with honestly the vast majority of cases I see. Most of the families we treat have had their lice infestation for a minimum of a month, usually two or more. If a parent doesn't have a lot of experience with lice, they don't really know what to look for. The bugs are expert hiders and it's incredibly easy to mistake nits for dry scalp. Yes, he should have taken this more seriously but your story is really par for the course in the head lice saga.

She absolutely needs to have her sores treated but going to the doctor for lice itself is pretty useless. I've encountered countless instances where pediatricians have misdiagnosed lice as simply dry scalp or skin infection. Even when it is correctly diagnosed, prescription treatments are as garbage as OTC treatments. Chemicals are only somewhat effective against bugs and entirely ineffective against nits. The best way to diagnose is to take a quality nit comb (metal teeth, never plastic. The Nit Terminator is an industry favorite) through the hair in a couple of sections (behind the ears, base of the neck, crown) and wipe it on a paper towel. Nits can be tricky on the hair but they're unmistakable against a white paper towel.

While I of course do recommend professional treatment, at-home treatment really isn't the nightmare it can sometimes be made out to be. Dimethicone oil applied liberally over the scalp and washed out after 30 minutes will kill 100% of the bugs in the head. Repeat treatment once a week (changing bedding after each treatment) and the problem is solved. Alternatively, nightly combing for two weeks with hair dampened with a water/conditioner mixture will also work. It's much cheaper but much more tedious. Either way, though, it's completely possible, even with your long hair. Enlist the help of a trusted friend if you can.

Benadryl will help relieve the itching.

Tips:
-NEVER cut a little girl's hair because she has lice. They live and lay within a half inch of the scalp. Unless you're shaving her head, you're solving nothing and in fact making it harder to prevent because keeping hair up is one of the best preventions.
-tea tree and other essential oils are great preventatives but they are not effective treatments. This is a misconception I have to dispell daily.
-treating the home doesn't involve bagging, freezing and boiling everything you own. Throwing pillows and slept-with stuffed animals in the dryer is pretty much all you need to do.


Happy to answer any other questions you have.

Actually, most OTC treatments now don't work well as many lice have adapted to them. The best treatment is to take your kid to a lice removal specialist who will painstakingly comb out all the lice with a special comb, and then for you to keep combing their hair with the comb over the next few days. This is the comb, the ones that come in the shampoo kits don't work nearly as well.

Also an interesting fact: once the nits hatch, they will only want to feed on the blood type of their original host, so they will only infest someone with the same blood type.

I learned a lot about lice a few years ago. Ask me how I know.

Hey look. I had head lice for 6 years as a child because of neglect. My baby sister, who I'm raising now, had it for about 4 on and off. I know how to get rid of lice.

Get this comb.

Comb yours and your sisters hair incessantly. If they are threatening to shave your head then comb through it yourself. Wash all your linens and such. Do a hair treatment with some over the counter stuff again, and then comb your hair some more.

The way to prevent them from coming back is pretty simple. Hatched lice cannot live for more than one day without a host, and their eggs cannot live for more than 8-9 days without a host. Easiest way is leaving your house for two weeks, continuing to comb your hair, and washing anything you brought with you in hot water.

You can also use food grade diatomaceous earth. This stuff I recommend no matter what. Sprinkle it around baseboards, under furniture, etc. Any bug that crawls across it will die. So over time with treatment and combing, any newbies will be dying off also. I don't have to deal with lice anymore but I still use diatomaceous earth to prevent roaches and other stuff creeping into my apartment. It's safe for pets and people just try not to breath it in while you're sprinkling it around.

In a pinch, rubbing alcohol will kill them too. So you can keep a couple bottles to spray on things and kill immediately.

I am so sorry you're going through this my dear. If I can help you in any way or if you have any questions, please message me.

Edit to add: the comb I mentioned specifically slices open lice eggs. the metal nit comb does not and will leave them behind to hatch later.

If anyone reading this is prone to lice or knows someone who is, this electric comb is a lifesaver... my sister used to get lice a lot in school and this takes maybe 15 minutes in the morning to kill anything that isn't hair on your head. Possibly one of the best most time-saving, hair saving things I have ever owned.

I totally get not wanting to have her over if she has lice. If she called you herself, that could be a bit of a "cry for help" but not wanting lice in your house makes complete sense, especially if you have a child, too. Your sister's response to lice as "no big deal" is just face palm Especially if this is chronic. Poor kid. As someone who is also NC from part of my family, I would be trying to resist my ingrained "enabling/rescuing" impulses, unfortunately, because 1) there is helping the niece, and there is also 2) opening the door to the niece is potentially opening a Pandora's box of interactions with people who are super toxic.

The rest of this comment is to point something out to those who are all "not every child gets lice" and "my mom made sure we didn't get lice." Guys, you were lucky. Lice is a possibility for every child unless they are wrapped in saran wrap or never leave the house. Treating lice appropriately? That's where responsible parenting comes in.

And, treating lice, while super gross to think about, is not impossible. Time-consuming and boring, yes, but not impossible. So many of the comments in this thread are bothering me ("burn my house down!"; implications that only dirty/neglected kids get lice). It is completely possible for clean, well-loved children to get lice at least once in their childhoods. Now, not treating for lice? That is a whole different story. But lice is not the Scarlet N of childhood neglect.

Lice are easier for a young child to catch because young children don't think through things. They'll try on each other's hats; try on dress up clothes at a kids museum; try on things in stores, hug each other (putting their heads together); have their heads resting on the back of the seat in buses or other vehicles (instead of above the seat); etc.

Proactively? Keep their hair short or in braids, use tea tree oil shampoo or mist it on their hair, discourage them from trying on the clothes of others, etc.

If your kid gets lice, you are not a bad parent or neglectful. If your kid gets lice and you don't tell the other kids that he/she has come in close contact with or if you don't treat it? Then you are a neglectful parent. So many parents don't tell the school or other parents to check their kids because they are embarrassed, thus keep the lice going. The very worst outbreak of lice I've heard of that would not end (went on for the entire year!) was at a nearby private elementary school (I know some of the parents) full of rather well-off, majority white, professional white collar families. Everyone was pointing fingers and "no, not my kid" etc instead of just buckling down and getting rid of the damn lice.

The good lice combs are easy to get (Amazon!).

https://www.amazon.com/Nit-Free-Terminator-Professional-Stainless/dp/B000HIBPV8/

The treatments can be purchased over the counter. But frankly...no chemical treatment is going to work as well as comb-outs. Using the very cheapest, thickest conditioner you can find. Saturating the child's hair with said conditioner (coating EVERYTHING), getting a bright desk lamp, a roll of paper towels, and a good lice comb. Then, section by section, combing through the child's hair. It takes about 90 minutes with most kids. Each time you comb a section, the conditioner (which has slowed down any active lice) will come out with the combing. Wipe the comb thoroughly on the paper towel, check it for nits and lice, new paper towel, repeat. Until you have combed absolutely every section of hair. Wash the sheets, pillowcases and pillows in hot water and Oxy-clean. Bag up anything that you can't wash in plastic for a couple of weeks. (Stuffed animals etc.) Lice cannot live off of their host over 24-36 hours, but I'd err on the side of caution. Wash any hats or clothing that would have touched the child's hair in the last few weeks as normal, dry in the dryer. If you can't wash something in hot water or put in dryer, bag it up, leave it for a week.

Then, mark it on your calendar because you are going to do the same thing in five days.

Done. 99% of the time, this will get rid of any infestation (unless it is a really bad one that has been going on for a very long time...that may need more repeats and more washing.)

Chemicals alone won't always treat it. DIY remedies that you leave in the hair, same. Comb outs. That is the only way to go. And you don't need to pay for expensive ones. Comb outs are a DIY solution.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to show a mom or dad how to do this for their child, patted their hand, told them that it is not a mark of neglect to get lice. I never did as a child, but I think I got lucky.

Also, lice are nothing compared to scabies. I did get those (twice!) from backpacking overseas and sleeping in hostels...two different areas of the world. Those can be self-treated as well, but damn, they are going to drive you mad in the meantime.

The LiceMeister® Comb https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FVR0KG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_IzLEybZ0TEP13

This got them all out of my daughters hair in one round. Only took about an hour and a half to get them all. Follow instructions and make sure you check again every few days after.

Good luck! You'll be fine!

I have two girls with long hair, and the youngest kept getting reinfested every time she'd go to her mom's house. This cycle continued until a lady at the drug store suggested this stuff to my husband.

It doesn't get rid of them, but once I got rid of them, I started washing her hair with it before she went anywhere she might pick up lice, and she hasn't gotten them since, even though she's been exposed to them many times. My oldest also uses it anytime another kid in her class has lice. We've gone a whole school year through several super lice outbreaks at the school without them picking up a single bug. It's amazing. I also swear by Nix Ultra in addition to the daily nit combing. It made it way easier.

Good luck!

Buy this comb. Ulta sells it too if you need it immediately. I've survived 3 or 4 lice infestations with my daughter, so I feel like I'm an expert at this point. Start out with combing morning and night, then go to 1x a day when you don't find any, then after 10 days of none you are fine. Lice are pretty resistant to the pesticide shampoos now, so combing out the nits - and live lice - is the best way to tackle it. I'm raising a glass in sympathy. My daughter got it most recently as we traveled for Christmas, so I didn't have any of my supplies with me. Also, pretty sure my sister was gonna burn her house down after we left.


Nit Free Terminator Lice Comb, Professional Stainless Steel Louse and Nit Comb for Head Lice Treatment, Removes Nits, COLORS MAY VARY https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HIBPV8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.2mXAbH88NXCM

First, so sorry for this misery! Ack, I remember it all too well! I did a butt-ton of research when my kids got lice and found a non-pesticide treatment that worked. It took time and patience, but it was worth it. It's called LiceMD and basically it's just silicone. It makes the hair super slick so they have created difficulty holding on, an it plugs their butthole; the nasty things breath through their butts! And can hold their breath for up to 10 hours. :/

So, here's what we did: apply silicone. Use nit comb to comb through. Between each stroke dip the comb into a drinking glass filled with water and a couple of drops of dish soap. You'll see the little buggers come off of the comb and float, but the soap and silicone combo stops them crawling out. Dry comb with paper towel. Take another stroke. Dip. Wipe. Repeat.

I used this time to have them read to each other or work on homework.
Then I'd put a little more silicone on and let them sleep in a soft beanie cap. You can make your own by cutting the sleeves off of an adult tshirt and tying the cut end into a know. A little stretching and you can pile the hair up under there while the sleep. Wake a half hour earlier, drag the lice comb through the hair really quick and toss the kid in the shower. Fast hair wash removes the critters killed by over night suffocation.

Cheap. Annoying, but painless.

http://www.amazon.com/LiceMD-Lice-Treatment-4-Ounce-Bottle/dp/B0010Y5EV0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Oh, and here is a HYSTERICAL article. Must read!

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fine_whine/2006/12/im_a_lousy_mom.html

My daughter used to get lice after sleep-overs sometimes. Suuuch a pain to wash everything in sight/check her head all day. Bought this thing and it caught everything, the lice and nits. The plastic combs used to just get some lice but this thing caught them all. I run it through her head a few times after sleepover just in case now. Sorry for sounding like an infomercial but that thing is amazing!

http://www.amazon.com/Nit-Free-Terminator-Professional-Stainless/dp/B000HIBPV8/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453433957&sr=1-1&keywords=lice+comb&refinements=p_72%3A1248903011

When I was young I had lice that lasted a year and a half. Initally, they were obvious black nits, but eventually they evolved to match my blonde and it made them impossible to comb out. Washes didn't work. Mayo didn't work. Vasaline didn't work. It was the worst expierence and just a total nightmare. In the end after going to doctors and trying every home remedy, someone suggested this licefreee stuff which killed them almost instantly (a few literally fell off my head, I remember being so grossed out). It works wonders, but the black licorice smell is overwhelming and made me hate licorice for the rest of my life. Still, a good trade off not to have things eating my head I guess.

Good luck, lice are the worst.

The site design is horrible, but my friends and I use this schedule. Plus an electric comb helped us, though it has its detractors. Good luck!

My preferred method is after the treatment to kill the live ones, use a bottle of cheap hair conditioner and a metal lice comb - the type with spring steel prongs, [this kind] (http://www.amazon.com/Rid-RID-Ridvantage-Lice-Comb/dp/B0049ZI59U/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1376680402&sr=8-7&keywords=lice+comb), and sit down, put on a movie, plaster on the conditioner, and comb away the eggs.

From one dad to another, best of luck and be patient! Don't be squeamish about re-treatment. Better to get them GONE!

My niece had a really tough lice problem last year. Her mom kept using over-the-counter stuff and combing like crazy but they kept coming back. It turns out, she just never really killed them all, because you can remove all the full-grown lice, but if you miss any eggs, they'll just start up again. I have a feeling you've had one long case of lice. But I have some great advice! It's so hard to kill them, but you CAN physically remove every bug and egg. It's possible!!!

1, If you don't already have it, you NEED this comb. It's the only one that works because the tines are spaced tightly to catch the eggs. The one that comes in the box isn't good enough.

2 - I know you already tried a professional, but I would highly recommend finding one that specializes in the "strand by strand" method, which literally goes through each strand of hair, with the Nit-Free comb. Some of these companies guarantee their services, so if it comes back, they'll keep doing it for free until it's done. My niece didn't need a second treatment and had quite a serious case.

3 - If you want to try the strand-by-strand method on your own, here's what they did. Get the Nit-Free comb, some Pantene conditioner (or similar thick conditioner), and a clear container of water. Working in sections, slather the dry hair with copious amount of conditioner and start working the comb through. After every pass, rinse the comb in the bucket and flick the tines to clean them off. You'll start to see the nits floating to the top. The conditioner holds them still while you comb them out. Change the water as needed. Don't miss any sections. When you're finished, tie up the hair for a few hours, and then rinse out. (Careful in the shower, it's slippery). Do it again about three days later and keep doing it every three days until you are sure there aren't any more bugs or eggs. The idea is that any eggs you initially missed will grow into a bug that can be caught on a second pass. The experts can get this right on the first run, so it's not impossible.

I hope this is helpful to you somehow. Good luck!

this treats AND prevents:
http://www.amazon.com/Babo-Botanicals-Essential-Prevention-Ounce/dp/B0097EEEQ6/ref=sr_1_19?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1371229025&sr=1-19

All you need to know now is this. No more lice problems

I had lice FOUR times as a kid and pre-teen. We'd get rid of it and the same effing girl would come spend the night at a birthday party and I'd get it again.
If you find this locally all the better, otherwise order off amazon and just spring for the next day shipping so you can get them off your head. LiceFree Spray is the ONLY thing that worked for me and worked really well. It smells like black licorice, it's super oily (wear a hat, seriously) and it has to be left on like all day or something, but it WORKS and it won't torture your hair.

EDIT: whoops, heres the link http://www.amazon.com/Licefreee-Instant-Treatment-Bottle-6-Ounce/dp/B003KYNNTS

All the shampoos ruined my hair when we used them and left me itchier than before. I totally feel your pain about the little shits running around on your head, it's freaked me out so much as a kid.

Get the spray, use it, and stick to the whole washing everything routine. Also, for the things you put in storage- either leave them there for a good 60 days or find a way to wash them in hot water, lice are pretty resilient and you dont want to reinfest yourself two weeks from now.

there is a electic lice comb. electrocutes the fuckers and zaps the nits. We only have the resistant lice so the store bought shit does nothing.

also, there is a lice repelent shampoo and detangle spray. We enjoy the smell, but some may not. We have been using it at every shower and so far lice free this year.

No need for that anymore.

Thanks to this amazing electric lice comb!

But no foolies, that thing is awesome if you have little kids in school. Works like a charm.

For now, feel free to treat it as if it is lice. Get a nit-picking comb and learn how to use it via a video like this.

You also might choose to use a medicated lice treatment. The medicated treatment alone is NOT enough. It usually kills the adult lice, but any remaining nits (eggs) who survive and don't also get removed can hatch. Once they hatch, they can reproduce. So the medicated treatment can be good to get most of the adults, so they stop reproducing (or get seriously slowed down), but you'll need to continue picking out the nits for a while. Its very difficult to ensure that you've gotten them all at once, because they are so tiny. That's why you have to check daily for about a week and do the nit combing, and then when you don't see any for a day or two, start checking every other day, then every few days, then every few weeks.

If you're also looking for preventative treatment - two pronged approach. First, lice love CLEAN hair. They do not like dirty hair. So don't think of this as a cleanliness problem. Its not. If you're washing your daughter's hair every day, I'd stop. 2-3x per week is more than enough. That doesn't mean you can't get her hair wet, because I understand kids get crap in their hair that needs to be washed out, but limit the shampoo usage. Second, tea tree oil. Lice don't like it. Dilute it in a spray with water, or in the shampoo.

Skip the pesticides and go with a dimethicone treatment. It’s non-toxic, doesn’t contribute to pesticide resistance, and is very effective.

My daughter came home with lice this school year and consequently I got it too. The one major thing that helped us get rid of them was this comb. It's the kind that professional nit pickers (yep, they exist) use. It easily gets out the live ones and their eggs that are glued to your hair shaft. A regular lice comb will get the live ones, but you still have to nit pick by hand. This comb gets out the eggs too. Day one I used a metal comb that came with the kit and it took me 12 hours to properly go through both of my daughters hair. This comb made that job easy and much less time consuming. I seriously cannot recommend it enough.

My advise. Get the comb, get your hair wet and slather it in conditioner. Let it sit as this will suffocate the live lice. Then section off your hair into four sections (two sides, two in the back). Then think of your hair as though it has four faces. You want to comb the front side of it, the two sides, and the back of it because those little fucking eggs are so damn tiny! Also, after every comb through, rinse the comb in a tub of water (this comb all you have to do is hold it under water and run your finger over the tines, they'll fall right out into the water). This will prevent the eggs or live ones from getting redeposited in your hair. You'll need to work in small sections and once your comb starts coming back clean, pin up that section and move on to the next. Comb daily until you don't find any bugs or eggs for 5 days straight. Then comb every other day. Same thing, clean for 5 days, comb every two days. Oh also, make sure you start combing right at the scalp because the eggs will be close to the scalp for warmth.

Anyway, it's a HUGE pain in the ass. I totally get it, but if you want to be rid of them you'll have to be diligent. We got them twice in three months, I totally feel your pain!

My ILs once gave us a horrible flea infestation. It wasn't a big deal to MIL until they were no longer allowed at our house and we refused to come to theirs.

OP, as someone with two children in school (and thus at least one yearly lice infestation), I bought this comb from Amazon and keep it handy. Best $11 I've ever spent. And if you have to use chemicals on your hair look for the stuff that kills lice and eggs.

I faced the same problem for my beautiful 6 year old daughter. Once the schools re-opened there came complaint of lice on her head.

The over-the-counter lice treatment medicines I used were of no good and they also called rashes on her sensitive scalp. Then I came across a natural head lice treatment oil on Amazon website. Apply it for 20 minutes and rinse it. A rough combing with nit comb was required after that. All the dead lice were to be seen on her pink towel and nits stuck in comb were seen. The best part is the nits, remained in hair, never hatched. They were washed off with subsequent hair washes.

Please see link to purchase LiceNil - an amazing lice removal product.

https://www.amazon.com/Lice-Nil-Lice-Eggs-Eliminator-Ounce/dp/B00OXZGQRE

You might need this.

If you have severe dandruff, you can try using a lice comb to pull dandruff flakes out of your hair. The teeth on these combs are made of metal and are able to pick things out of super fine hair. When I have a dandruff outbreak, it helps make my scalp look and feel cleaner.

https://www.amazon.com/Nit-Free-Terminator-Professional-Stainless/dp/B07KGVX8S9

Just got over this with 2 of 4 kids, we used Rid and about 6+ hours of combing per child. We ALMOST went the haircut route, if it was my son, instead of my two oldest daughters I would have just cur his hair. That is a bit more dramatic for girls though. Even so, if they have REALLY long hair, youll want to go shoulder length if they/you can stand it.

Follow the directions and Rid works very well. www.amazon.com/RID-Complete-Lice-Elimination-Item/dp/B0045XF6AM/

After treatment, we locked all their sheets, pillows and stuffed animals they normally have on their beds away for 2 months and did shampoos once a week for 4 weeks afterwords just to be safe.

The eggs can wait to hatch for 10 to 20 days, so you have to get them all or starve them or both.

No worries. If you have a long haired kid who attends school, you're probably going to have at least one run-in with them. Remedy has had them twice over the years :/

If you want a couple of product recs, this is great for treatment, and this line works well for prevention :)

>Hegron Gel Spray

Is it that one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hedrin-Once-Spray-Gel-100/dp/B002OE7F9E/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1538869143&sr=8-1&keywords=hedrin+gel+spray

​

Do I spray it at warmed glass or before?

Also speaking of levelling the bed one of springs (rear left when looking at it from the front) is squeezed even though it's at the same level as the rest. Might it affect my levelling?

Dimethicone works well. It's the active ingredient in LiceMD. They use a 4% solution, as do the studies that support its effectiveness. The inactive ingredient is another silicone. Dimethicone can be purchased as a cosmetic ingredient. This is a very frugal solution to the lice problem, particularly if you can find a cheap silicone for the other 96 percent of the solution. An ordinary four ounce bottle of LiceMD costs about $10. Since it's 4% dimethicone, that works out to $62.50 per ounce of the active ingredient. On the other hand, you can get pure dimeithicone for about $6.50 per pound, which is closer to $.40 per ounce. Even if you can't find a cheaper inactive ingredient to use, this price makes it much cheaper than LiceMD or any other store-bought solution.

I raised 3 girls to adulthood, and dealt with numerous lice infestations. I found that 90% of the medicated Lice treatments are at best ineffective.

A decent hair conditioner (makes the hair slippery so the lice lose their grip), and a GOOD lice comb - finding the right comb is half the battle.

I found a comb - http://www.nittygritty.co.uk/products/52/the_nitty_gritty_comb/.

Admittedly, we are in the UK, so this is easy to obtain. I am not sure if its exported to the US. That particular comb (would be about $15 in the US) is amazing, and does the job VERY effectively.

Edit: Found it here: https://www.amazon.com/Nitty-Gritty-2946366-Nit-Comb/dp/B000KUALPE. Its only 10 dollars as well. You have nothing to lose. This was invented by mothers in the UK, and I seriously cannot recommend it enough.