I have been a hair dresser for over 20 years and a health nurse for five.
My advice for adults is to dye your hair. The ammonia and peroxide in hair dye will kill the lice. After you have rinsed the dye out, add the conditioner that comes in the box (or if no conditioner comes with it, then use your own brand) then use a metal nit comb you can buy at a dollar store or pharmacy and comb out the nits. Comb up taking little sections at a time and wipe the comb on tissue or toilet paper so you can see if there is anything. Do this through the WHOLE head. Repeat until the nit comb goes through and comes out clean EVERY TIME! This can take a couple of hours but you have to do it. There is NO WAY around it. You have to comb the nits out or they will hatch and you will be infected again.
For kids, if they aren't old enough to dye their hair, just coat the hair in conditioner. It doesn't have to be expensive. Just make sure the whole head is covered. And again, comb, comb, comb! Comb through small sections wiping the comb on tissue or toilet paper after every swipe. Do the whole head through. Repeat until the comb comes out clean.
Now the MOST IMPORTANT part is do the conditioner/comb through every second day for 10 days. You WILL NOT get rid of them until you have done it religiously for the ten day cycle. Believe me, you HAVE to do this. You can battle them for months on end if you don't do the comb/conditioner treatment every second day for 10 days. It just needs 1 nit to hatch to get re-infested again.
Oh and for those ignorant people who talk about dirty people and lice. Lice like clean hair. They feed from the clean scalps. It is not being dirty that makes you have lice, it is just very, very annoying. BUT you can clean it up by being very diligent! Wash and then dry bedding and stuffed toys in a hot dryer. Vacuum the beds and the play areas and you should be good to go.
Alcohol or anything with alcohol in it (like mouthwash) will seep into your child's skin through the pores on their head. You can seriously harm a child by doing this!!!! Never, never use alcohol or anything with alcohol in it to kill the lice or nits. This is just dangerous! You don't need to cap the hair or leave the conditioner in for x amount of time either. Just put it in and comb like there's no tomorrow!
