Does hair dye kill head lice?

[naturalnails]

I have tried and tried for many years to rid my kids heads of these little blighters.

I have spent a fortune trying all the lotions and potions on the market and nothing seems to get rid!

I comb through with my nitty gritty comb every time they wash their hair but every time I do it I get some so I am obviously never getting to the end if that makes sense.

I wondered if hair dye killed them, if so then it might be worth having a hair dye treatment.

Or any other fool proof solutions. I suppose part of my problem might be that even though I am doing lots of things, it only takes one child who doesnt get treated and it all starts again.

 

[deanosnana]

I've heard mayonaise or olive oil will kill 'em for good. Slather the head and SCALP with mayo or olive oil and sleep with a shower cap on. My heart goes out to you! Best of luck! :hug:

 

[angelina221]

I remember a hairdresser telling me years ago to spray my daughters hair with a bit of hairspray every morning. It worked!
She never had them again.

 

[Ruth Mills]

I thought most head lice treatments from a pharmacist contained nasty pesticides, such as carbaryl, or malathion (which is an organophosphate!).

I have heard varying levels of success from natural treatments based on neem and tea tree (for example) too.

It would be interesting to see how the peroxide in the hair dye nukes the little beasties though. It is a strong oxidising agent, so should at least have some success on the lice themselves; not so sure how well it woul do on the eggs attached to the hair shaft though...
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[pure]

Because my daughter has long, fine hair I spray it every morning with Avon Detangling Spray, and she NEVER gets head lice. But my son is forever getting them from pre-school, so I put the fact the my daughter never gets them down to the spray.

 

[mandaxmx]

my daughter is 5 and she so far (touch wood) has not had them yet... dont know if its down to me every morning before doing her hair i spray in teatree oil (bought from a chemist) its mixed with leave in conditioners and so far so good .. and i actullay am gettin letter nearly twice a week with reported headlice in school but seem to miss her xx

 

[number1kitty]

My kids have had them on and off and i use various things although recently they have had them week in week out despite what i do ~ unless there off school and then they are clear ~ i have heard that they do not go on colour treated hair too.

If it works let me know x

 

[NailedON]

Hi all.

This answer goet particularly to number1kitty.

I was a nusery nurse for many years working with 3 to 4.5 year olds. I have had my hair highlighted for more years than I can remember. I never once had head lice in all the time I worked in nurseries, even though I could see some of the children's heads heaving with them!!!

Therefore, why didn't I ever get them as the children were in very, very close proximity to my head! I put it down to the peroxide, lol!

X

 

[min11]

I really feel for you, with five kids you can imagine how often I've seen these pesky critters. I now condition Noah's hair after washing it, leave it in and comb it and any lice out, it seems to work much better for me than the chemical approach. The problem is as you say, you can do all you can but if everyone isn't doing the same you are back to square one.

Hair colouring isn't an option for Noah but I'm intrigued to know if it works, I'm assuming you mean permanent rather than semi permanent?

 

[liana kay]

They will go on any hair - but maybe they avoid some people because of the natural chemicals in the skin , like some people never get stung or bit by bugs . the only sure fire way is to comb through ( leave the conditioner in it makes it easier in the morning for a spray down) and keep combing through every 3 days until any babys have gone . they lay 10 eggs a night which in tern take 10 days to hatch , so if you miss one , in a fortnight there will be 20 with a 120 eggs to hatch , and its the eggs that stay in the hair not the nits , so you literaly have to get them as they hatch or b4 they mature (3 days )
mY cousins had them and ive been round and tackled it twice because they are so bad , but his parents dont bother ( and didnt catch the eggs as they were hatching - they would of had to do it what ,twice for the rest of te fortnight) and now they want me to go cut his hair because its full of scabs and his ill , and noone willl talk to him at school . NMP.

 

[Cathie!]

I'm the same, fighting a constant battle.

My hair is coloured and they still manage to find their way onto my hair!

Constant combing is the only way to do it IMO. It's a viscious circle, you get rid of them on your own chid's hair, they go to school and get them again....bring back the nit nurse lol!

 

[number1kitty]

Hi all.

This answer goet particularly to number1kitty.

I was a nusery nurse for many years working with 3 to 4.5 year olds. I have had my hair highlighted for more years than I can remember. I never once had head lice in all the time I worked in nurseries, even though I could see some of the children's heads heaving with them!!!

Therefore, why didn't I ever get them as the children were in very, very close proximity to my head! I put it down to the peroxide, lol!

X

Thats what my nursery teachers told me (not MY nursery teachers my kids lol!).

I don't get them either although I itch like mad thinking about it x

 

[xxclairexx]

My lil girl had them over christmas and they just would not die, such a pain, but then I gave up on the lotions you can buy and just conditioned her hair everyday and combed them out, and a squirt of 100% tea tree oil mixed with water mixed in a spray bottle every morning and that has worked for her, not had them since and they are rife at our school. Claire x

 

[Gee]

My daughter had them a few years ago constantly for nearly a year so i know what you're going through....we tried EVERTYTHING! We managed to get rid of them each holiday but as soon as she went back the little critters would be back too so obviously someone in her class had them pretty bad.

She stopped getting them when we moved to another town and she changed school (not because of the nits!).

I did find a nit in her hair last year so i though 'oh no, not going through this again" . I cut her gorgeous long hair to a bob and now wash her hair with tea tree shampoo and conditioner and dab a bit of tea tree onto the nape of her neck as recommended by my local chemist. She hasn't had them again so far thank god!

Its a really awful problem to sort out if a child in school isn't having their head lice sorted and your child happens to play with them!

Definitely bring back the nit nurse!

Oh and the whole year my daughter had them i didn't get them once and my hair is coloured so hmmm....

xxx

 

[minky]

Hi, I used to take the hot straighteners through the hair in small sections all the way through the hair every other day and also use a nit comb every day after school
if I thought there was anything about ,

and the kids liked this a lot better than all those smelly lotions

but with being a hairdresser I could get the straighteners quite close to
the roots without burning the scalp by placing a very flat comb on the scalp first

plus nits dont lay eggs directly onto the roots
they lay them a little further down the hair so this does the trick on the eggs ,

but the live nits themselves can cling onto the actual scalp so you will also need a nit comb to get those ones out ,
once you get all the live nits out with the comb
the eggs will be dead by using the hot irons before they have a chance to hatch out so the cycle will eventually be broken


(but don't do the hot irons straight after shampooing or on greasy hair as it steams a bit too much )

the good thing about this is that I didn't have to use any chemicals,
so if any live nits were in there they would basically be heat ironed and any eggs would also be dead too :green:

plus with the hair cuticle being very smooth from the hot irons
the nits found it harder to cling on to ,
and the children never seemed to get them after I started doing this

but I guess it would be a bit tricky for the kids scalps especially if your not a hairdresser :cry:
so I would not reccomend doing it unless you are a hairdresser
as heat travels up greasy or freshly shampood hair very quickly and can really burn :cry:

as for colouring that would kill them if you got it done regularly
as once again it would break the cycle
:hug:

 

[Apex73]

Add a few drops of tea-tree oil to your shampoo & conditioner.

It WORKS!

 

[naturalnails]

Thanks all - I have tried the Tea Tree shampoo, conditioner, leave in spray etc. etc. but no difference.

I will just have to persevere and hopefully over the Summer get rid by trying everything LOL.

 

[Gee]

I just did a groups search on facebook for 'bring back the nit nurse' and it came back with 74 groups!

You're certainly not on your own hun, I for one feel your pain!

Good luck with the little critters!

:hug:

 

[Bagpuss]

I have managed to keep them at bay buy just using the nitty gritty comb after each hairwash....and my kids only have their hair washed twice a week....( we ain't grubby just that kids don't sweat like us adults and there is no need to wash kids hair every day )

Nits lay eggs and they take about 7 days to hatch....so the trick is to keep doing it every 4 days until clear....( i do it it twice a week every week though as part of the bath time routine)

Each morning i brush their hairs well and then put into a pony tail and plait it...then spray with hairspray...(they don't jump, its only head to head contact...so hair that dangles is more likely to get them) then when they get home i take the pony out and brush well again.

My girls love hugging their mates at school...and although its cute i don't know if their parents are doing nit checks like i do....so i have to tell mine to just try and keep their heads away from other children's heads.

It actually pee's me off that some parents don't bother doing it regularly and so my kids who do have it checked and acted on all the time get it from them...its just one of those things thats part of being a parent IMO...like brushing their teeth and clipping their nails....some parents just don't bother though....i heard one mum at the school say "they are harmless anyway so why waste my time"

Mine have been free from them for ages now...but like i said its something that i think needs to be done ALL the time until they are past primary school age....my eldest is at secondary school and hasn't had them once since being there.

This site is good.... Head lice - symptoms and treatment of nits

 

[Snugglepuss]

Fi - hope you get it sorted out soon :hug:

I know this doesn't help much but I thought that it was interesting that the Victorians would shave all the childs hair off and then use gentian violet painted all over the scalp

You will get rid of the pesky mini beasts soon I'm sure - fortunately for me, the boys with having such short hair, have escaped them!

Love n snuggs to you Andy and the girls :hug: