to baby sit or not to baby sit is up to you my friend but if u want a cheaper alternative to all these treatments, buy some tea tree oil and put one or two drops into your ordinary everyday shampoo and conditioner, plastic combs are cheaper than the stainless steel ones and are less abrasive on the scalp. the tea tree oil may help but sometimes prevention is better than the cure. if u know for a fact it is this person say no, as a human being no one should be subject to this, especially when expense coming from your pocket not theres, washing clothes and bedding in hot water after these incidents occur will help to control infestation. hope this helps

I typed an answer to this the other day but it's not here - must have not saved.

what I said was that maybe the boy's mum feels ashamed that he has headlice, she may think that it means that her son is dirty, and that therefore she's not a good mum. This isn't true!

Headlice prefer clean hair - dirty hair makes it hard to move about and very slippery. Perhaps if you point this out to her, then you will reassure yher that she is a good mother, and that head lice are just something that kids with clean hair get!

Perhaps you can pick up an 'impartial' pamphlet about treating headlice from teh pharmacy or doctor to give to her. It might be easier for her to accept advice from an 'impartial' source that from you (perhaps that's why she's getting defensive)

Good luck!

There is one benefit to our freezing cold Canadian winters... that our friends in Vancouver don't get to use! (hiiihiii). Lice freeze. Even the gnits die at -30C. So, for things that don't wash well, we bag them up and leave them outside for a day or two. In the middle of winter, they don't last long!

It can work well for things like mattresses and furniture too. An unheated garage will often do the trick in 3-4 days.

Just a thought for those who may be able to use this technique!

Foster parents have also told me that using hair dye kills the lice. apparently it is toxic enough to kill them. This is especially effective with teenagers, as it helps them emotionally cope with having had the bugs!

1. Conditioner and comb method is the cheapest and safest way to get rid of head lice and it can be done repeatedly without harm. This is described in this linked article under the section called Head Lice.

2. CATS? Cats don't get head lice. Head lice are an exclusively human problem.

3. Prevention works wonders. Lice can only crawl and get about from head to head by swinging on loose strands of hair. Keeping hair short, tied up, stuck down with hairspray, wearing a hat, etc, works miracles for stopping them getting into hair.

4. Harsh fact of life: despite a million and one theoretical remedies, there is nothing you can put in your child's hair that will stop head lice from hitching a ride and finding a new home - unless it's something that is stopping loose strands from flying around such as hairspray. Although, some smelly oils and ointments might work for stopping other kids from wanting to get close enough to spread them! LOL

Some great advice I have picked up some tips too.  Firstly you are right in not wanting him in the house, however, if you choose to look after him again, I would treat all of you - make it a game (you can check his hair first-save you some time).

Alternatives, 1.  don't wash anyone's hair for at least 3 days prior if you can - they don't like dirty hair.

2.  Put heaps of hairspray, or the comb through and leave in conditioner or detangler - they don't seem to be able to hang on to this.

3.  Use Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.  They don't seem to like this either.  Using Mayo is the same principle as conditioner and just cover the head - but you will have to comb through at the end with a nit comb which can be the painful bit.

Good Luck

A lot of the treatments out don't work because the little buggers are very hardy and can very quickly develop immunities to all the varied chemicals the treatments contain. We went through a huge epidemic of 'em at my primary school and while that was over 8 years ago, I've found only one way of dealing with them consistently.

We found that thickly applying either conditioner (any cheap type) or plenty of olive oil to dry hair and combing through every darn inch of the hair with a proper nit comb (be sure to get a light coloured one) was most effective. You've got to be sure you separate the hair and get the hairline, the nape of the neck and behind the ears especially and just keep going until the comb comes through clear. What happens is that the conditioner/oil temporarily suffocates the lice and stuns them. Using a nit comb you're able to catch them and get them out quickly. Wipe the comb on a tissue each time you spot one and be sure to squish every one, because they're only unconscious and will soon enough be up and at it again (they leap a good 3 feet!).

Then there's the nits! (the eggs) The conditioner or olive oil (in particular the oil!) help to loosen the glue that sticks them to the hair shaft, making them easier to pull out. They tend to be situated more often at the nape of the neck and behind the ears. If they're white they're either empty or dead, so focus on the darker ones. Then just wash with shampoo and hot water to get the oiliness out and a bit of conditioner as normal, maybe tossing over a quick tea tree oil rinse (of a couple of drops to 1L water)

It is an utterly annoying problem, because of the way you can clear the hair and then find that the few you missed have hatched and they're BACK! Plus it's horrid for the kids, coz it's uncomfortable as anything! I would stop babysitting the kid until the mother gives in and does something about it, because it is such a complete HASSLE for the whole family and you don't need to put yourself through all that just because she's either too lazy or embarrassed to do anything about it. It's a known fact that lice love clean hair, and will pick a beautifully clean head over a dirty greasy one ANY DAY!

They're hardy little buggers and will eventually learn to fight any chemical treatment you use, so I recommend using a combination of the physical removal and throwing in one of the chemical treatments (but when you've finished one type, change to another) and continue washing (boiling!) the linen.

As I say, we found this works (well, works better than just chemical treatment) because it's not something the lice can adapt to, unlike developing immunity to the treatments, there's no way to fight having conditioner stuck up your nose!

YOU ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING!!!! never undermine youself. i was in a similar situation and had enough and i did what i thought was right. If the mum doesnt listen and the child comes over do his hair too or even show her the lice. As a preventitve you can use tea tree oil behind the ears and the back of the neck because thats where they start and they hate it. Some people use turpentine but it is harsh on the skin.

When our kids got lice we tried the over-the-counter medicine and it did not work.  My sister-in-law told use to use Mayonaise and it worked.  Cover the child's hair in mayo and wrap it in saran wrap for two to three hours.  We bought some shower caps to put over that to keep in any mess from the mayo.  The mayo suffocates the lice and loosens the nits from the hair.  Then we washed their hair and combed there hair with some Nit-pickers.  We repeated two days later and a week later to be sure that they were gone.  We also washed sheets, pillows, etc when we did the mayo treatments to be sure everthing was clean.  The mayo was cheaper and more effective than anything else we tried.

Hi. Fortunately I haven't had any personal experience with head lice - apparently they don't like my hair or my children's hair.  I have heard the following though (and I have friends who have had them real bad)

You don't have to wash the sheets - the lice can't stay alive without a warm blooded body.

Use plenty of hair product in the kids hair - the tighter to their head the less chance of the lice catching on. Also apparently the lice don't like the hair products either. Anyway my daughter (7 yo with long hair) has never (fingers crossed) had nits even though there has been epidemics around.

Good luck. A girlfriend of mine who's daughters were always infested, refused to believe that it was her girls that were passing it on, until her girls were so bad they were pulling their hear out. It can be really hard getting to the source of the problem....

hey there, i've had the problem with lice with my daughter, she kept getting it constantly...i was ripping my hair out with money and treatments and she kept getting them lol...thank god she hasnt had them for 1year now-touchwood. i used conditioner, teatree headliice is the best that worked for me, stinks really bad, but did the job and its natural...kp24, bannit mousse, vinegar is a good one too...\

also i took her once to a hairdresser which treated and comb nits out for me and that cost 60dollars...costly but worked well too..awww i'm itching now lol.

hope that works

I deal with this alot when kids in care go home for visits, then come back to the foster parents. We don't discontinue visits due to head lice, so the families get really frustrated like you are.

What I suggest to them is this- as soon as the child comes home, clean their hair. They become very proactive about it, and the kids don't mind. Some even get used to putting their jacket, mitts and toque in a certain place where it won't invest everybody. If you needed to, you could even bag up the child's stuff as soon as they arrive. Then sit them down and clean their hair. And if your being paid to babysit, i'd just charge a bit extra to cover the louse shampoo. It's work, but it's less than de-lousing your house. Our foster homes get really used to the drill, and it's just part of the welcome home process.

Sadly, some of our kids have lice so badly that it is a relief to have their heads cleaned. I've had children being bullied by other kids who could see their lice crawling.... ick. Now i'm making my own skin crawl.

Just some thoughts for if you want him to keep coming.

I am's child.

theres heaps of advice on headlice on minti so maybe u want tyo have a look at a few of them? the most natural way of getting rid of headlice is by using conditioner and tea tree oil but really you need to comb daily untill all the eggs are gone and leave conditioner in overnight for it to work so this wont work with your cuz coz hes not with you everyday....

headlice needs to be treated then treated again 3 days later and then week later to make sure that youa re reinfesting yourself.

There are a lot of products on the market but I do not know anything about any of them.  Sorry I can not help with that.

I think you are totally correct about not babysitting.  The health of you family comes before any feeling that may be hurt along the way.  It is hard that your husbands cousin does not think that there is a head lice problem in her home but stick with your instinct. 

Good luck!