Like a lot of children, Luke recently got his acceptance letter for the school he’ll be attending in September. Loads of parents, all across the country, will have received their child’s placements and are hopefully happy with the finial decision.

With new schools come new experiences and challenges to over come. Yes, it’s exciting, but it’s also a bit scary and overwhelming – there are so many changes your children have to adapt to and school is very different to preschool; secondary school is very different to primary school.

There is so much that we all need to take into consideration, but one thing that many parents worry about (once we’ve got over the idea of our little babies growing up) is that with a lot of new students, come a lot of new bugs, illnesses and almost inevitably: head lice.

I’m low key dreading the moment we have our first head lice epidemic in our household. Just the mere mention of “head lice” makes me feel irrationally itchy and a little bit grossed out. Which, retrospectively, is stupid. At some point in our lives, we will all catch head lice. Luckily for us parents, head lice formula has come on leaps and bounds since we were youngsters!

**This post contains affiliate links**

Hedrin is a brilliant company that produces some great products to combat head lice.

Hedrin Once

For treatment, Hedrin Once is clinically proven to kill lice AND eggs in just 15 minutes. The formula is a thick gel containing Penetrol®, which helps penetrate into the louse egg and kill it dead! Hedrin Once is held in high esteem by many parents, as proven when it was awarded the esteemed ‘Stamp of Approval’ from Mumsnet after 250 parents gave it the all-round thumbs up.

Hedrin Once is available in spray gel and liquid gel (100ml £10.49, 250ml £18.49). Available from leading retailers including Boots.

Hedrin Protect & Go

Hedrin Protect & Go Spray is basically a life saver in a bottle. As I mentioned earlier, with so many new experiences happening at the start of the school year, the last thing you want you child to be stressing out about is head lice.

The spray is fuss-free. Simply apply twice a week to protect your child from the lice. The orange and mango scented spray contains an organic compound called 1,2 octanediol (Activdiol®) which breaks the life cycle of the head lice and kills them before an infestation can become established. Hedrin Protect & Go is easily applied to the hair and is left to dry naturally, making it undetectable. Perfect for the start of school term, sleep overs and parties.

Hedrin Protect & Go Spray is available from pharmacies and leading retailers nationwide. It is skin friendly and contains no known asthma triggers.

Hedrin talked to ex school nurse and advisor to the Medical Entomology Centre, Christine Brown.

1) What ARE head lice? “Head lice are small wingless insects that live on the scalp, feeding from the blood. Baby lice are extremely small but mature within 10 days and only after that are they able to reproduce, with numbers growing more slowly than most people think. Females lay several viable eggs a day and adult lice can live for as long as a month.”

2) How do they spread? “Lice are spread only by head-to-head contact, so sleepovers, after school activities, playing with friends and visiting family are the most common places for children to pick them up and pass them on.”

3) How do you know if you’ve got them (as the child and as the parent looking)?  “Although the best known symptom is the itching, although only about 30% are aware of it – the only true way of knowing is by regular checks with a head lice detection comb. Head lice can be uncomfortable, can prevent sleep and concentration, and can cause bullying. It’s best for parents to check for head lice using a comb made for the purpose – ideally white, so that lice can be easily seen and with teeth no more than 0.3mm apart. Research has shown that detection combing is nearly four times more effective than visual inspection for finding live lice. Lice are around 2-4mm long but immature lice are even smaller, living close to the scalp. Nits are dead or empty shells, which can be removed by hand or by combing.”

4) Why are kids more prone? And girls? “Children are more prone as they are in close contact with each other. Children aged 4 to 11 are most at risk but no one is immune. Girls and women do tend to be more prone as girls tend to play more closely together and women are the carers of the family. But there are certainly plenty of boys and men with lice.”

5) Any preventative measures? eg things to avoid, products to use “ Avoiding will not stop you from catching head lice! Hedrin have just launched a clinically proven head lice protection spray called Protect & Go. It’s a mango and orange scented conditioning spray which should be used at least twice a week. It protects children from the parasites by breaking the life cycle and killing lice before an infestation can be established. The spray is also kind to children’s hair and should be used as part of the regular cleaning regime, much the same as cleaning teeth or using shampoo.”

6) If you’ve got them, what should you do? “If you find live lice, firstly, don’t worry. Head lice are a normal part of life and there is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. Research suggests lice have become resistant to pesticide treatments, so pick a non pesticide treatment which will work by smothering the lice and either stripping them of their waxy coating, causing them to dehydrate or blocking the openings to their air tubes, disrupting their ability to manage water. These physical modes of action mean there is theoretically no chance for the head lice to build up a resistance. Try a treatment containing dimeticone or octanediol, which are used in Hedrin’s treatment products. If you’re unsure about treatment options, speak to your pharmacist.”

7) Are treatments still as noxious and overpowering as I remember them as a kid, or are there gentler versions now? “No – the new insecticides treatments are odourless, non stinging, easy to use and kind to skin and hair.”

8) What’s the key ingredient that kills them and is there a natural alternative? “With non pesticide treatments, the key ingredients in use are dimeticone, octanediol and isopropyl myristate. There is limited evidence to show that natural remedies, such as tea tree oil, mayonnaise etc are effective in eradicating head lice.”

9) Does the whole family need to be treated? “Only if you find live lice on other members of the family, never treat ‘just in case’.”

10) What would happen if you left nits untreated? “Nits are the hatched or dead eggs. They remain on the hair as long as the hair is on the head and having them on your hair will make no difference to the hair or to you. However, leaving head lice untreated thus leading to a long term untreated infection has similar symptoms to low-grade flu and can make a child irritable and can result in a secondary bacterial infection.”

11) Is it true they prefer clean hair? “Having head lice has nothing to do with personal hygiene. Head lice can live on all types of hair and no preference exists between clean or dirty hair!”

12) Does the ‘nit nurse’ still exist in schools? “No! Employing a nit nurse is not an effective method of controlling head lice. To adhere to best practice, each of the 5.5 million primary school children in the UK would need to be checked by the nit nurse once every week! So the likelihood of each child receiving a thorough check is minimal at best. Even if the nit nurse checked and found lice it would still be up to the parents to choose and use a treatment. Parents need to feel empowered to check for head lice regularly and feel confident about using an appropriate treatment when an infestation is found. The website www.onceaweektakeapeek.co.uk has some great advice for parents on managing and treating head lice.”

Hedrin Protect & Go Giveaway

We have three bottles of Hedrin’s Protect & Go head lice prevention spray to give away to three lucky winners. To enter, please fill in the Rafflecopter below. Please ensure before entering you have read through the Terms & Conditions associated with this give away. These can be found below.

Terms and Conditions:

• This giveaway is open to UK residents only.
• This giveaway Starts: 25/04/2017 Closes: 14/05/2017
• The prize will be shipped to you by the brand, not by me. Please feel free to let me know when your prize has been received if you are a winner. In the case of your prize not turning up, please contact me so I can look into this for you.
• You have 28 days to claim your prize should you win. After that, another winner will be drawn.
• Prize is free of charge, no purchase is necessary. There will be three separate winners.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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