A. To this, our response was...
Wow, that really, totally sucks. I'm not sure what to say, except that it is NOT right to subject other people around you to your filthy infestation - that's not cool at all, and you would certainly not wish for someone else to do that to you. If he's been to a doctor and tried different medicated shampoos to no avail, then he'd better stop thinking of himself and start thinking about what he's doing to the people around him. I don't mean to speak harshly, but honestly he has to do the right thing in this situation, it's just common courtesy. Hope that helps, and let us know how things turn out...
A. Here are also a few tips emailed us about lice removal, use at your own risk and don't contact us about them, as they are not Knotty Boy tested!:
Knotty Aaron:
"I found out that had lice about a year ago. The denial was overwhelming! I can now say that I don’t have them any more! I hope my advice will help other dreads across da planet!

To kill da enemy, you must understand da enemy!!!
This is so true, so here are some facts to get you all started:

- Nits (eggs) will hatch within 6-7days
- Hatchlings are sexually mature and able to lay eggs within a few days! A fully mature female can lay up to 15 eggs a day! Times that by 15 and that’s what you might have in less than 2 weeks! A lot of scratchin’!
- Lice are very adaptable, and can become immune to a product/chemical after a short period of time (hard as nails, they are)!
- The chemical they release, that causes the itching is released in such a small amount, that it takes about 6 weeks for it to have an itching affect. Meaning, the itching you might be feeling now may be from bites from 6 weeks ago!
- Lice love warm spots. Behind the ears and on the crown of your head is ideal!

Keeping these facts in mind, it makes the task of getting rid of them a lot easier!
I used a product (found in the UK) called Full Marks Lice Mousse. Being a mousse I found it easier to work with, and the white color helps you make sure you have covered all the areas of you scalp. A helping hand is always appreciated.

Pay most attention to behind the ears and the crown of the head. Most products do very well killing the lice and not the nits (eggs). So the secret is repeating the process every 5-6 days. That gives them chance to hatch. I did this for about a month, washing my hair with tea tree oil between the treatments. Tea tree oil isn’t proven to kill lice, but it does help repel them, making them drop out and not lay as many eggs. You also might find that the product you’re using isn’t killing the lice after a while. Changing the product helps, as they get used to products after a while. The closer you find the eggs to the scalp, the more recently they have been laid. They are laid as close as possible to the scalp to help incubate the eggs. The unhatched eggs will be almost brown in color and transparent. White eggs are hatched and harmless. Do your best to pick the eggs out. It may only seem like a little amount of help and pointless efforts, but one less egg is one less louse, and fifteen less in a couple of weeks!

Anyway, good luck! Like I said, it worked for me and it can be done! May I be hope to you all!

Knotty Anonymous:
"After discovering I had lice, I carefully and painstakingly took out my dreads. After NiX and RiD (lice treatment stuff) wouldn't work, I took Vaseline and just caked it on my hair. I worked all my hair with thick globs of the stuff. Wrapped my oily, greasy hair with a towel and after about 48 hours (I think), I shampooed and shampooed until most of the junk was out and I had nary an itch! It works by suffocating the little buggers and nits until they die (bugs need air, too!). Now I am lice free, so it's a pretty foolproof method of lice removal. Just lots of grease! I did it *after* I took my dreads out, so I have no idea if it would work if a dreadie tried it. You have to completely saturate your hair with the Vaseline, so it might prove difficult to get in the little spongy gaps of air (where the lice might hide). But if someone with dreads had lice, and they could get the Vaseline into the dreads enough (without ruining the knots), it might work. But getting the Vaseline out might be a problem. Anyway, let it be known that it is strictly by chance that I got lice while I had dreads. Having dreads has absolutely nothing to do with getting lice (although it might be more difficult to get rid of the lice if you've got dreads). Since my dreads were loose and young, I had the good-ass fortune to get away with not cutting my hair off."
Knotty Ryan:
"I have heard of another way of possibly ridding your hair of bugs if you get them. I have no idea if it works, or its side effects, but it goes like this... Supposedly if you soak your scalp and dreads in rubbing alcohol, them put a plastic bag over your hair to trap the fumes in, it will kill all the bugs if you leave the bag on for a while. I have no idea how this might affect your dreads, or scalp, but if it is a last resort, it might be worth trying."
Knotty Adam:
"I was just reading your page on lice, and wanted you to know that there are a few solutions besides chopping off your hair. For instance, you can soak your head in tea tree oil and then put all your hair up in something airtight like a shower cap or saran wrap for a week. **A week??** The tea tree oil kills live bugs (not their eggs) so you need to keep it applied until all eggs that were in your hair have hatched and died."
Knotty Amanda:
"I've read a bit about combating lice in your dreads. Shortly after I started my dreads I went to India. The whole time I was super paranoid about getting lice. Ironically I spent six months in India with no problem but after being home for just a few months... that's right, I got lice. Everyone I talked to told me I would have to cut them off, but after the long process it took to just make my dreads look somewhat good, I wasn't going down without a fight and I am happy to say that I still have my dreads...lice free. I started out with the super strong lice treatment (nix?) that claims to kill not only lice, but also the eggs. Then I went to my local organic food store and got an organic lice treatment shampoo and conditioner that could be used daily. Yeah it cost almost $15 for the both, but it was well worth it. After a week, I retreated my hair with the super strong treatment. I used the shampoo and conditioner until it was finished, but by that time, there were no more bugs in my hair. I am happy to say that I didn't spread the bugs to anyone even though I have two roommates. Just be really careful, and as soon as you suspect that you have bugs in your head, do something. It is really easy to be in denial. It was almost a week before I really realized that yes, I had lice and something had to be done. I don't know how my roommates, especially since one of them has long hair, avoided the bugs. I think the key is to combat them on a daily basis and that can't be done with super strong drugstore lice treatment. So that is it. Hope it helps!"
You can contact her for more info at: zulululu002@yahoo.com
Knotty Naomi:
“Just a quick tip about lice which I would like to share: if you don’t like putting chemicals on your head to deal with the little buggers, I have the perfect solution: Vinegar! Not only does it kill the offending creatures but it works to dissolve the 'cement' which holds the eggs to the hairs, thus ridding you of your affliction. (A lot of chemical stuff just kills the lice but does not deal with the eggs). Plus, it’s totally au natural! I would suggest using something like cider vinegar or maybe white wine vinegar as they don’t stink quite so bad as the normal fish'n'chip type. Just pour the stuff all over your head, wrap your head in a towel or plastic bag, and sit there for about half and hour stinkin’ the place out - then rinse, and voila! The lice are dead and the eggs are dead, too - so no more lice! Yay for you!!!!”
Knotty Brooke:
“Recently I had lice/nits in my dreds. I tried everything on the market in the way of treatment and nothing worked. Finally I went down to my local health food/naturopath store and asked if they could suggest anything. They made me up a small bottle of pure alcohol, citrus, tea tree and clove and told me to apply it, wrap my head in cling wrap and leave it in for a day or two. Low and behold… it worked. Lice free, it killed the eggs too.”
(Soon to be) Knotty Danni:
“Hello Knotty Kids, I have been wanting dreads for about 6 months, but have had a pretty big lice problem every now and then because of home remedies and such, I searched the web a little and I found www.headlicecure.com a very good and effective way to get rid of the damn things XD.”
Knotty Pete:
“Hey, I just have some stuff about one way to help get lice out of a head of dreads. Here it goes:
It took me about a week to realize that those little bugs crawling around in my head were indeed lice. Before I could save up any money, I just kind of totally blotted Vaseline in between all of my dreads. Actually, because some dread wax's contain petroleum jelly, just waxxin' up the roots REALLY well would probably work too. I then bought some Nix and followed the directions on the box. Just afterwards I covered my entire scalp with shaving cream and left it there for about half an hour. Then I soaked my dreads in vinegar and rubbing alcohol and let them sit in a plastic bag for about nine hours.
After that I bought a bottle of Tea Tree Oil Shampoo and washed my hair with that every other day.
I'm sure you can see that I wasn't going to let my dread goes without a fight to the death, and I've been bug-free ever since. And I also didn't spread it to anyone else. I'd just be super glad to think that I could help some other dread-head out there.”
Knotty Toy:
“Hey...was just reading your page, playing with my dreads, the usual. Anyway-
I have another cure for bugs with the name of the stuff that didn't seem to be on there. Hope it helps.
I've been a Knotty Boy user from my first set of dreads, only I had to comb them out last year 'cos I got horrible head lice. I tried every different kind of chemical smelly stuff available and nothing worked. Rather than cutting my dreads off, I combed them out, got rid of the bugs and redid them.
So...my dreads were doing fine and then I got bugs -again- over the summer!
I found this herbal stuff called NEEM which is utterly amazing. You're supposed to put it on your head, leave it for an hour and wash it out and then do that every day for three days. I put this weird smelling stuff in my dreads, stuck a hat on and reapplied it every day for a week without washing it out and it worked!!!! My dreads were saved....
Anyway, my dreads are doing ok now and I'm happily bug-free and the prospect of bugs no longer terrifies me to the point of avoiding all small children!”
Knotty Melody:
“I've had my dreads for three years now, and my number one concern when I first started my dreads was LICE. I always feared that if I got lice, I would have to cut my precious babies off. Well, about a year and a half with my dreads had passed, and I noticed that my head was itching more than normal. It seems that the people that my brother was rooming with had a bad case of lice, and unfortunately I caught it after sleeping over at his apartment one weekend. I read so many things on the internet about getting rid of lice, and nothing worked. I wasn't going to give up that easily. I went to the store and bought some highly concentrated pet shampoo (for ticks, lice, and nits). My brother suggested that I take a large turkey injector (syringe-type thing) and fill it with the shampoo, and inject each of my dreads and let them sit for an hour or two. Oddly enough, it made sense. And it worked. I rinsed my hair clean, disinfected my pillows/sheets/clothing/hair accessories, and the lice never came back. And even better, I did not have to sacrifice my dreads.”
Knotty Yasmine:
“I love the website. I was surprised that a tried and true method for keeping lice away was not mentioned: a drop of rosemary oil, applied behind each ear, will repel lice naturally. Repeat once a week. If you have lice, rubbing about a teaspoon of oil on your hair will usually drive them away, but since this doesn't kill eggs, you need to keep up the treatment for 1-2 weeks, applying every 2-3 days. Important to note here that this method doesn’t kill the eggs but it is crucial to kill both those nasty nits and their eggs when treating your dreads for lice.”
Knotty Nat:
“This is for those with lice in their dreads!
I have 6 year old dreadlocks,and I came back from central america with a
head infested with jungle lice! I tried everything natural first...tea
tree oil, vinager, even boiling water, then all the lice shampoos on the market...nothing worked. Then, I remembered...my friends' son came home last year from Mexico with a dreaded head FULL of lice...so I called her.
Unfortunately, this is a little bit smelly and chemically, but if nothing works - bleach your hair, and then dye it. It killed everything...on both of us. He had cow lice and I had jungle lice. So last resort...you will not have to shave your dreads. dont do it. Save them!!!!!“

Knotty Vanessa: