Epila Ep 400-04 Lice Zapper

PLEASE NOTE: The Zapper is not for nit-combing, it was not designed with that purpose in mind.Should I start this review with an "Ode to a Louse", I think not. These pesky blighters have received enough of my time and money! After living 40 years in a third-world country, I had yet to have a personal encounter with head lice, however, after two years in a first-world country, I am afraid to say that we have encountered more biological entities than I had in my entire 40 years in Africa, go figure...but I digress...I am, after all, reviewing the Lice Zapper.It was with shock that I had my first encounter with a louse while helping my child style her hair--I seldom do this as they are old enough to care for their own hair. Actually, I noticed a nit first, and never having seen one before, my first thought was dry scalp or remnants of hair-spray. However, it would not dislodge easily and that is when, with disbelief, I began to search in earnest for something I had hoped to never see, and see it I did! While my dear husband rushed to the pharmacy, I stripped beds and began washing all that could be washed and vacuuming everything that could not be washed.My conquering hero arrived with medication and we carefully read and followed the directions of the product we were advised to purchase. We noted that a follow-up treatment should be done 7-10 days later, which we duly did. On the second treatment, I noticed some adult lice, so we decided to follow this treatment with a third treatment, again 7-10 days later. Imagine my surprise when I found another adult louse two weeks after the third treatment! We had also followed treatment with nit-combing, but clearly we had not done as great a job in removing the offending eggs as we had hoped.I had encountered a worthy (or not so worthy depending on your outlook!) foe, one which required some research on my part. So I began again, not only the washing and vacuuming regime, but different "treatment" options. I encountered some interesting "facts" in my research, and no surprise, no-one can agree on treatment or how long each stage takes.Some websites direct that nit-combing is purely aesthetic, but others note that it is of HIGH importance to nit-comb. Perhaps it had more to do with what products were being used? The only time nit-combing doesn't seem to be require is when treating with spinosad topical suspension, in other words: prescription medication, but they do still advise a second treatment 7-10 later. This is an indication that some eggs may remain viable after treatment, even more so for OTC and home-remedies. As many of you have by now realized, a second treatment does not guarantee a lice-free head. The only true guarantee is if you have been able to remove every single louse and every single egg.I therefore focused my research on the louse itself, and here is what I discovered:1. Head lice is not a respecter of person, unlike body lice, good hygiene will not assure you of remaining clear.2. Head lice do not fly or jump.3. A louse can live off the host for 1 to 2 days.4. Your children will receive these "gifts" from close contact with friends or close proximity of hats and coats/sweaters with hoodies. Lice have a hard time distinguishing the difference between hair and fibers of a hat/hoodie which is why they may end up off the original host.5. Coats and hats stored together in one place at schools makes the spread of lice that much easier as they can crawl approximately 12 inches a minute.6. 1 female can lay 6 eggs...or 8, or 10 each day, depending on who wrote the article, and she can lay up to 300 eggs during her life-time of 30 days as an adult--the most common amount used is approximately 200.7. Eggs need to be within 6mm, about 1/4 inch, of the scalp to be viable. Others note that distance from the scalp is not an indicator of viability. Viability is determined by temperature and humidity. Basically, what seems consistent is that eggs cannot remain viable if left at an ambient temperature and humidity lower or higher than that near the scalp.8. These eggs hatch after 10 days...or 12, or 14, again, depending on the author. So I think an assumption of at least 14 days might be the safer bet.9. A louse matures at 7 days. Adults may begin laying eggs from 7 days...or 9, or 12. Again, no agreement, so the safest bet is to say "laying eggs" from day 7.10. Head lice may become resistant to the treatment used.It seemed evident that there was no clear "one way", or even agreement between the sources and therein lies the problem. Unless you remove every trace of the lice AND their eggs OR you hit the exact correct window for re-treatment; that moment right before the lice mature and begin laying new eggs, you will struggle with pediculosis. Clearly, the "normal" treatment dates need to be altered, and more than two treatments may need to be done, but just who wants to subject their children to chemicals every couple of days? We had to find something else...enter this nifty little Lice Zapper.I decided to kill the lice using the conventional treatment option one more time--most home remedies slow the lice down enough for you to manually remove them, and the oils and conditioners assist in egg removal. While my children were waiting the required time before rinsing the product off, I began searching for other options besides OTC medication, home-remedies and prescription medication. I discovered, quite by chance, the Zapper. I decided that I would order this in an effort to forgo having to use chemicals as I sat my children down, yet again, to do some more egg/nit-combing. This time with the sun streaming through the window behind them. That worked well as I was able to see the eggs far easier when holding their hair against the light. The eggs are well camouflaged, matching their hair color almost exactly. Of course, I was not about to assume I got every egg, never again!My plan: Use the Zapper every 3 days for about two weeks from the date of last treatment to kill any nymphs that hatched from missed eggs. Why 2 weeks? The cycle seems to repeat itself every 3 weeks, but the eggs only seem to remain viable for 14 days. Based on the information I had gathered, over and above the combing to be done every 3 days, I decided to mark every sixth day as a VERY important combing day (assumption: no adult lice on the head designated as day 0), completing my combing on day 15 as being the most important day. After that, my plan was just to check their hair, every 3 days, for the week following the final combing. Now, I could have forgone the nit-combing and just used the Zapper to kill any live lice, but I opted to use RID's nit comb in conjunction with the Zapper. I was leaving nothing to chance.My Zapper arrived in time for my earmarked combing days. Now, I'll be honest, I could not initially tell whether the Zapper was actually killing the nymphs. What I did know was the Zapper made a high-pitched buzzing noise, and just keeps whining away. Occasionally I would hear a discharge noise, similar to a static discharge, but I could not determine whether this was just incidental discharge or whether it was actually zapping a louse/nymph. However, I will confess to imagining it to be a louse and experienced a great pleasure zapping these bug...ers. Sometimes, if something was trapped in the comb, the whining would stop, and then I would use the brush to clean. I did not go to the effort of brushing onto paper to confirm what was trapped in the comb.What I can definitely confirm is that on day 9 I found, and killed, a nymph smaller than a 1/16 of an inch, so I felt that my "treatment plan" was working. What I can further state is 3 weeks down the road, we are still lice free!! (I will edit this review if my plan was not successful.)I would highly recommend the Lice Zapper for people who do not want to use insecticides every 5 to 7 days. However, DO NOT be fooled, it does cost you the effort of METICULOUSLY combing through a small amount of hair at a time, ensuring you are checking the hair thoroughly, but considering the alternatives, I would do it again.**UPDATE: It is now 8 months since I wrote this review and my children are still lice free. The Lice Zapper, in conjunction with the schedule I used, was a winner. What a relief to find something that worked without subjecting my children to harsh chemicals. My rating has now moved up to 5 stars! Thank you Epila!

I found out that Epilady is actually the manufacturer of good old Robi-comb but a falling out with their distributor caused them to sell an improved version under their own brand. I've been a loyal fan of Epilady since 1991 when I first used it on my leg hair and I still have that original device all these years later so I was so pleased to see this for sale a couple weeks ago. We had a lice breakout at school and after battling them a year ago I went right to the vinegar for an hour then the olive oil for another 3 for both my daughter and I. A full comb out for my daughter after washing it all out meant confidence that she was clean but you can't do a comb out effectively on yourself. This comb has given me peace of mind that I am clean and clear. Highly recommend this one!

The top broke the one and only use..

Work well in your scalp. It does not hurt when pulling through hair. It was worth the amount of money I spent!

This sucked! The razors would come out and did not feel like it was doing. an effective job in your hair. I went back to the original robi comb.

Rip off. Does not work. Found a live lice in my child's hair day after I spent over an hour using it on every strand of hair on her head. Had better luck combing through with non-electric lice comb, inspecting with me eyes and removing nits and live lice manually. Want to return this product, just don't have the time. I should have known better since it was not recommended by any health professionals, nor did I see anywhere that its efficacy was research supported.

Does not work. Do not buy. Waist of money.

It didn't catch the nits that I thought it would but I could feel the electric shock when I touched it. I was disappointed but maybe it was just this one Zapper, who knows.What I do know is that I have used many different things and the only thing that has worked is checking every night for over a week and then every few days after that using a Nit Free Terminator Comb. I have also put peppermint oil in water that the kids spray with every morning before school. When it comes to lice there are no easy answers.

Battled Lice for a while-almost 2 months, as all the medicated stuff from the pharmacy wasn't doing anything, as the lice was like super bugs!!Started using tea tree oil & seen huge improvements, but the lice has adapted so much to their surroundings, that it was really hard to just pick them out! (Yes I have dealt with them on a variety of occasions, having 6 kids & sleep overs and such).So got this comb & it was awesome! You can hear it working. It kills the live bugs & then you just have to keep working diligently to pull off any eggs.Great Product & easy to clean!& great for prevention of a outbreak too!Thanks! :)

great product realy works effectively with Lice effectively.

Exactly what I expected. It's perfect!

Waste of money it doesnt zap anything on the other hand it even makes hair messy it is definitely not recommended by me.

so far it seems to be working and made it much easy for us to manage this crisis. You comb the dry hair and if you catch any then you can work on cleaning the eggs.

Ca fontionne tres bien...

Didn’t help and got clogged with hair

Seul bémol serait que le peigne ne tient plus aussi bien après usages répétés. Mais a très bien fait le travail, et nous vivons sans ses maudites bestioles maintenant et sans pesticides! :-)

only thing that worked. so glad i got it.

arrived on time and worked well