Okay, so for the past 4 months, we’ve been battling head lice in our household. My oldest daughter has been treated twice, and my youngest one has been treated 3 times, and my two youngest are still not lice-free! We’ve done everything just the way you’re supposed to, washing all bedding, clothing, etc. in hot water, spraying and vacuuming what can’t be washed. We’ve used two varieties of OTC shampoos, and one prescription type. Now, we’re getting desperate. I’ve found this: http://www.liceguard.com/Robicomb.htm and don’t know whether to believe it or not. So, I’m turning to you. Do you have any experience with this product? Any reason to believe it would work? Any reason to believe it wouldn’t? Please help. Thanks.
I wonder if that would work for fleas on cats.
Anyway I suggest the lice shampoo with longer then the suggested time with a towel wrapped around the head during the waiting time.
Yes, it works(speaking from experience of using one on my 6yr old daughter), but you will need to incorporate it into a regime that includes other methods; headlice in our particular part of the world are becoming resistant to the insecticides in OTC treatments (at least resistant to the concentrations that are within the legal limits).
Here’s what worked for us:
Every 3 days, shampoo the child’s hair, then condition it, but use about three or four times the amount of conditioner* that you would normally use - before rinsing it out, thoroughly comb through the hair with a fine-tooth lice comb, rinsing it off in a separate bowl in between each stroke. Rinse out the remaining conditioner with clean water afterwards.
If your child is taking a bath, stand them up and rinse down their entire body with clean water (i.e. not from the bath they are it) as they get out.
Twice a day, every day (after breakfast and immediately after school (or after weekend visits to the adventure playground), thoroughly comb through with the Robicomb, brush the trapped lice out onto a sheet of paper (my daughter used to take particular delight in flushing them down the toilet afterward) - the Robicomb is supposed to kill them, but we found that it often only stuns them.
The Robicomb is definitely effective.
*Tea tree oil is widely recommended as a repellent, although there seems to be little academic respect for the idea of using it, I can personally vouch for it’s effectiveness - using an ordinary hair conditioner with the above technique enables removal of the lice, but we found that using Tea Tree conditioner, the lice that came out would show no signs of life. - we bought a bottle of tea tree oil from the health store and added a couple of tablespoons of it to 3/4 bottle of hair conditioner - give it a very vigourous shake and it mixes right in.
PS, I am itching all over now from thinking about it.
I forgot to mention that the Robicomb only works on hair that is completely dry - it emits a constant high-pitched tone and you comb slowly through the hair, when the teeth encounter a louse, it bridges the circuit (in theory, the louse gets electrocuted) and the tone stops, usually the louse becomes trapped between the teeth of the comb and can be brushed out using the cleaning brush provided. - it is necessary to brush or comb the hair through normally first to remove tangles.
The alternate metal teeth of the Robicomb are electrically charged, but one set is slightly longer than the other, so there is little risk of zapping the child (there’s no danger - it only feels unpleasantly ‘tingly’ if you do anyway), but you have to watch out when combing around their ears as it is quite easy to zap them on the top of the ear.
You have to keep up this regime for at least a month as it only removes lice, not their eggs - it’s a war of attrition, but you will win if you keep on removing the lice before they reach breeding maturity.
Are you sure they aren’t returning to an environment where they might be exposed?
I had the same problem with my daughter for a full year. We had a robicomb, which I feel was useless. The shampoos kill the lice…it’s the eggs you have to manually remove. The “egg remover” goo worked great for that. It has some enzyme in it that makes them easier to remove.
However, they never went away completely until summer vacation because she was probably being exposed to them in school.
If they are being re-exposed to the lice, then the only quick and easy treatment that would work would be completely shaving their heads, which may not be practical for other reasons.
Schools here are not permitted to examine the children for lice any more, neither (as I understand it) are they allowed to suggest to the parents of an individual child that he/she may be an untreated source of headlice. They have to just put out a letter to all parents asking them to check.
As a result, there will be some children in the school who are pretty much infested with lice, making re-exposure quite likely.
I found the Robicomb very useful in this respect if it was used immediately after my daughter returned home every day - with it I would catch and kill the occasional large adult lice, but, as evidence that this was new exposure, no eggs or juvenile lice would be found.
It may depend a great deal on the hair type - my daughter has very fine, straight hair - I can imagine that thick and/or curly hair might render the device less effective.
Mangetout:
I am pretty sure they still do inspections and call the parents of infected kids in the US. What is the reasoning behind not doing this anymore?
The issue of inspection in public school is irrelevant for us, as our kids are home schooled.
Rushgeekgirl , I know the shampoos are not killing all the lice, because one or two days after using the shampoo, I am still finding live lice in her hair.
I fought head lice in my two girls, ages 5 and 11 at the time, for over a year and a half. In response to the OP, I’d say that this thing is AWESOME, and that there’s no way I would have ever beat them without it.
But, I do have to echo some of the other points. The key is eliminating re-contamination.
I ended up switching day cares to accomplish this. The one she caught it from just wouldn’t follow a procedure that prevented the spread. Pay particular attention to nap times. Pick a program that has kids bring their own bedding, not share cots or something, and one that has lockers for each kid to keep stuff separated.
Also, look for other places they can live besides heads and bedding. Stuffed animals are big ones, as well as couches, chairs, carpet, and car seats/upholstery. Spray everything, put toys & stuffed animals in black trashbags for a month. Use the electrocution thing every night. Pick nits constantly.
Beating this thing is a real job. Hang in there.
I’m not entirely sure of the actual regulations involved and I may be incorrect in my understanding, but I’m told that many teachers in the UK are very wary of any kind of physical contact with the pupils due to fear of misunderstanding; here’s a typical excerpt from a guidance document for ‘helpers’:
It’s a case of erring on the side of caution for many, I believe.
So is my daughter these days. 
How about HS groups? Church/temple/otherreligiousgatheringplace? Friends?
Two days later? Damn.
How about the texture of their hair? Are you using enough shampoo to fully cover? I always bought a bottle with two treatments but had to use both because Lara’s hair is so long and thick.
And I combed for hours after with the funky nit comb. I liked the one shaped like a rake more than the flat kind.
Okay, maybe you SHOULD try the Robicomb. It might work for you. I’d say it’s worth a shot.
Okay, bought a Robicomb. Started using it today. Will use in combo with mayo and plastic wrap, except for the youngest, who wouldn’t keep plastic wrap on her head for an hour without physical restraint. However, her hair is fine and short enough that the Robicomb alone may be enough.
Will keep you posted.
In addition to the Robo Comb killing the live lice, you should get a good nit comb. The cheapo plastic ones that come with the shampoo are next to worthless. This one was very good, and helped us finally rid our daughter of nits and lice.
Norinew, your kids are getting reinfected from somewhere, and if they’re homeschooled, then hats would be my guess. Do they share hats? Toy hats in the dress-up box, or warm fuzzy winter hats, or scarves? The eggs get in the hat and then transfer to the next kid’s head. Your kids could just be passing them around and around, back and forth.
Preschools and kindergartens around here will no longer allow any hats in the dress-up clothes other than solid plastic, like a fireman’s hat or a cowboy hat, for this reason.
And I once tried to donate a whole armload of really nifty straw hats to the Nursery at church, only to be told, “Sorry, they’re a head lice risk, we can’t accept them.”
Put the hats in a Hefty sack in the garage or something for the next month, see if the lice go away.
Second most likely culprit is shared hairbrushes. Even if you think you’ve disinfected them, still it only takes one egg to start the cycle all over again on another little head. Try throwing away all the hairbrushes and combs and getting new ones, color-coded for each kid, then keep them in Ziploc baggies, separate.
Eh?
Does anybody have the straight dope on how long head lice can survive:
[ul][li]Away from the host[/li][li]In water[/li][li]As eggs, away from the host[/li][/ul]
My guess is that the eggs won’t survive long at temperatures significantly lower than body heat.
Sorry, I got my threads mixed up. I read the mayo and plastic wrap cure in an old thread that I looked up in regards to my current troubles. The professional sites all say this is ineffective, but the Dopers who have tried it swear by it. It goes like this: coat the hair thouroughly with mayo, wrap head in plastic wrap, let sit for 1-3 hours, wash hair completely and blow dry. This does nothing for the eggs, so a second treatment is needed in a week, but it smothers all the live animals. Meantime, we will keep at it with the Robicomb and a good metal nit-remover comb.
Weird.
I can quite understand kids not liking that one; I wonder if hair conditioner would work in the same way (if indeed the mayo method works).