She'd gone to my mother's for some of half-term, and I'm pretty sure she didn't pick them up there because I had noticed a bit of scratching beforehand. (Although I do still enjoy torturing my mother with the idea that she allowed my child to catch head lice in her care.) Anyway, when she came back she was itch itch itching, and when I checked her head I nearly cried because she was literally crawling with the little blighters. Miss London had waist-length hair at the time and it is incredibly tangly. We treated with the obligatory chemicals to start off with, but I think our lice had lived through a nuclear winter, because it hardly seemed to touch them, even with the repeat application after a fortnight.
What really worked for us was wet-combing with a nit comb every other day, using Dr Hauschka Neem Hair Oil. I found it better than just using conditioner because it's transparent and you can see what you're doing/removing. Also, there's meant to be something in the Neem that they don't like, and the oil coats them and stops them moving/breathing through their skin. When we were in full combat mode I'd leave the oil on overnight once a week and wash it out in the morning. We still do a once-weekly treatment/comb on a Sunday before her regular hair wash to help prevent/check that they haven't come back. It's also extremely good for the general condition of her hair; which is shiny, strong and even a bit less tangly.
For combs, my personal favourite is the Nitty Gritty comb. it's available from http://www.nittygritty.co.uk, and I do feel that the rounded prongs do help to make the combing process less painful for the child.
Apologies to the squeamish. Be grateful I didn't add any pictures of head lice to this post; you can google those for yourself should you be so inclined.
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