Heat to kill head lice?

This morning, I discovered lice and eggs in my 9-year-old daughter's hair. I went to the pharmacy and got "Rid" and gave her the full treatment. Those combs are only half-effective, so I have been sitting here, for hours, pulling eggs out of her hair with tweezers strand by strand. It's excrutiating! I have heard that you can use heat to kill both lice and their eggs (with a hair dryer or straightener, etc.) My question is for anyone who's ever tried this technique: since the eggs are glued to the hair shaft, does the heat make them fall out? Or do I still have to pull them out? Please respond....this isn't how I wanted to spend Mother's Day (sob)!

Heat to kill head lice?

call the 800 number on the box of Rid. They can tell you the straight story.

Of course, my response is to late now.

Heat to kill head lice?

bring her to a professional!!!!! i just had a lice outbreak in my school so now we always get checked by professionals after every vacation. If you even forget to remove "one" egg lice can spread to all of her friends and then eventually everyone will have it.

Heat to kill head lice?

My heart bleeds for you! They are nasty little things! My 3 girls all got them at the same time.. The BEST thing i got for them was almond oil with a few drops of tea tree oil. The eggs just slide off and the actual lice cant get a grip of the hair. There is a product called "Nitty Gritty" and it really works. Then every morning, spray some water with tea tree oil in it on their hair to keep them away!! Good luck

Heat to kill head lice?

If the eggs are new and glued to the hair right where it meets the scalp, then I doubt you could apply enough heat to them without burning the skin too.

Things that might help (or that you might know already):

* They hate tea tree oil (sometimes known as melaleuca oil) so a little in the hair is a good repellant. There are some good gentle leave-in sprays available.

* They like nice clean hair that is easy to move through so leave-in conditioner and styling gel both help to make life harder for lice. Do not wash a child's hair more than twice a week for the same reason - squeaky clean hair just gives lice a good grip.

*When you wash the hair after using a treatment, use the nit comb again while the hair is full of conditioner, which can get in under the eggs and make them easier to remove.

*A hair oil treatment can get under the nit glue, too.

* The white eggs are already dead - the louse has hatched out of those. The ones you need to worry about are the small, dark ones. To check if a nit is still live, pull it off the hair, put it between your thumbnails and crush it. This is good to do after a hair treatment - if you find a nit that will 'pop' then you didnt manage to kill them all.

* Finally, head lice go walkabout three times a day - first thing in the morning when the hot spots on your head change as you get out of bed, last thing at night for the same reason, and when they have just 'arrived' off another child. When they are on the move and not biting, they are much easier to brush out - if you damage their legs they have had it, so simply taking care to brush your child's hair at moring, last thing at night and as soon as she gets home from school should almost eradicate the chance of another infection.

Good luck.

:-)