Hi everyone,
I know this topic has come up before...but but but...
now my oldest (8year old daughter) has head lice .

I was brushing her hair yesterday morning and saw HEAPS of eggs attached to her hair throughout ! YUK. Oddly, this is the first time she's had them - and she has been exposed at least TWICE or THREE times per year and NEVER caught them before.

Okay, I know they like clean hair..strange comfort .

What is really the best and safest method to get rid of them? She is on Calc Phos - so obviously aromatherapy oils are out of the question. But, we need to get rid of them - she is INFESTED.

Anyone know of any sound, proven methods out there? Any that don't take weeks and weeks (ever hopeful)?

Many thanks guys.
Lisa

Hi Lisa

Whats going on? If it's not one thing it's another!

Maybe I can help with this one. We seem to have quite a problem with this at our kids' school. So I have tried all the various options. This is my favorite one (but I'm sure you'll have a hundred postings like this by the end of the day!!):-

Many of the prepared aromatherapy oil blends have NEEM oil (along with Tea-tree and eucalyptus). I have bought Neem oil at the local alternative health shop. It is not mixed with any thing else. It smells of rancid barbequed chicken! But I don't think it will antidote anything.I mix it with cheap cooking oil (eg. grapeseed) and a few drops of lavender and geranium essential oils for improved scent!

I apply it to their dry hair at night (very liberally and massage it into the roots). They sleep on a towel! In the morning it is relatively simple to comb through with the fine toothed nit comb. All the unwelcome visitors leave without a fight! Oh yes and then shampoo as normal (!!!).

I'm sure you know that this has to be repeated until their life cycle has been broken and all that! It's just a matter of finding something that doesn't contain pesticides and which doesn't antidote...

Happy bugbusting!
Debd

Quassia is safer when using homoeopathy.
Use the bb search facility to find the exact details for use.
In the UK and US it's obtained from Neal's Yard Remedies, but I don't think they export. You could try mailing the UK HQ to ask.

Jeez Lisa, you guys need a break!!!
For what it's worth, I've heard that if you saturate the scalp & hair with mayo, put a shower cap & sleep with it on through the night, the eggs & lice will slide right off the next day with a lice comb. I've never tried it, but I heard it works. By the same token, maybe even olive oil would work in the same way.

RF

Okay..thanks everyone. I went to the chemist this afternoon...who carries natural remedies, etc..along with low potency hom rem's (until recently when they were banned from being bought over the counter).

Anyhow, he knows I only use Homeopathy...and he suggested Biz Niz (oddly I wrote Nits Bits to someone else...perhaps those little nits have bitten me to ) - which contains:

Coconut based cleanser (whatever that is)
Salt
Tea Tree Oil
Quassia (yeah!!)
some more coconut something or another - cleansing agent
vegetable derived emulsifier
Citric Acid (pH balance)
some preservative (2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane...this doesn't sound too good reading it now ).
Methyl, butyl, ethyl and propyl paraben (preservatives).

I wince as I tell you that I already shampooed her hair, under great pressure from my husband.

The pressure came when she was doing her homework, and I was standing behind her...looking through her hair...
lo and behold if I didn't see the little critters hatched and crawling EVERYWHERE!! Along with thousands (I'm not kidding..this kid has thick hair!) of eggs...and hubby said if we didn't do something..the whole family, and house would be crawling in them! I couldn't (wouldn't) argue with that!

We took all bedding off the bed, etc...everything is in a hot wash...

UGH UGH UGH...what the heck else is going to happen this week?!!

So, there you have it...and I was told to use the alternate bottle of Biz Niz Oil on her hair tomorrow night - and let her sleep with her hair saturated in it (on a towel of course).

And of course, the rest of us are scratching like mad!!! MENTAL I'm sure. I hope!

I hope these ingedients won't antidote anything!!!!! If they do...I guess we'll have to start again.
Thanks again all.
Lisa

cr*p...
I just read the Oil bottle and it contains different ingredients.

Not sure if I should use this...anyone know? I'm thinking no, from what I've learned from GM....

They are:
Cetearyl Alcohol
Cetrimonium Chloride (palm oil based conditioning agent)
Citronella
Geranium
Eucalyptus
Lavender (which I know has been mentioned as antidoting a wide range of rem's...can anyone confirm this?)
Rosemary
Methyl, Butyl, Ethyl, and Propyl Paraben (preservatives)
2bromo..etc...same as above ingredients plus 3 Diol

ho hum.

[This message has been edited by Lisa007 (edited 14 November 2000).]

Regrettably, Eucalyptus, Rosemary and even Lavender all contain camphoraceous elements.
Lavender doesn't have as much as the other two. I am not sure about Tee Tree, but from the smell of it, I think it is also camphoraceous.
As RF wrote, you can use a base oil, such as Olive oil on her head overnight, wrapped in cling film or her head will get chilled.
Then wash out thoroughly in the morning. Repeat this nightly if necessary until all are gone. And check regularly with a nit comb.
Quassia spray is needed to prevent reinfestation. If you can't get Quassia, you can use a couple of drops of staphysagria mother tincture behind her ears every morning, also a 5ml bottle of staph tincture can be put into the hair rinsing water after each wash.

Homoeopathically, the classic remedy for nits is Staphysagria, or it can signal a need for Tuberculinum.

Thanks Anna..she had Tub CM - it was taken just after a dose of Sulph back in Feb this year...with amazing progress. (wonder if this indicates she needs a higher potency?)

Oddly too, she has been exposed repeatedly to other kids with lice (they've even spent the night while having lice!) and my daughter has NEVER caught them before! And neither have the rest of us.

Thanks for the reassurance on the Oil. I was thinking along the same lines - as those particular oils smell very camphorous, don'they! I'm taking this bottle of Oil back to the chemist (cost about 15 pounds!)for a refund since I haven't used it!!

I don't have any Mother Tincture of Staph...can I dissolve the rem and dab it behind her ears?? Or is that not good enough?????? If not, I'll see if Freeman's can send me a bottle.

Thanks again for everything Anna...you've been most helpful..and its much appreciate .
Lisa

PS does anyone know where I could order some Quassia tincture spray...or even just some bark ?? - I could boil it!



[This message has been edited by Lisa007 (edited 14 November 2000).]

I'm not sure about using potentised Staph as an application - I have not known it to have been used that way. However, if you have a 6x or lower, I can't see that there would be any harm in trying a pill, crushed and dissolved in the rinse water. Please report back as to the result...it would be useful to know if it does work, and it would be much cheaper than using a bottle of tincture each time.

AR AR ARGH...waaaaa, I only have Staph in 12, 30, 200, 1M and LM1.

So I guess 12 is too high?

I spent 2 1/2 hours combing the lice out..and there are so many. Some were mature..and when we popped them (they were JUMPING EVERYWHERE!) they had lots of blood in them . They small ones look as if they just hatched.

So much for that shampoo...it didn't seem to affect them except to make the little creepy-crawlies more energetic . I guess she will have to miss school tomorrow since her head is swarming with live ones.

A big ho hum....and my poor little one put himself to sleep...I was pre-occupied with killing lice . Can't seem to get much under control today....either one of the kids are crawling with bugs, or the other is busting his lip on the wash basin (happened while combing )...and list goes on...
along with the wee broken tooth.....

Better go comb through my hair now..and see if those darn things have gotten to me.

Thanks,
Lisa

PS..I wrapped her head in Mayonaise AND Olive Oil mixed with one drop of Citronella....
can you tell I'm feeling murderous towards these lice?

[This message has been edited by Lisa007 (edited 14 November 2000).]