Arrrgh Nits!

escortg3

Make sure that all the adults are done aswell.

Parents and grandparents aswell otherwise you are going round in circles. You need to try and find out where they are catching them from perhaps.

I second a really good haircut and tea tree oil and alot of time and patience going through the hair.:)

neverdespairgirl

My son's had them twice, and the list of ingredients in the hair treatments is scary, I wouldn't want to put them near any child's head if it wasn't necessary.

The first time, he was crawling before I realised, because it hadn't occured to me. The second time, a few scratches and I was there, armed for battle.

You really do need to treat all the family, as the little darlings love to colonise.

http://plantsandoils.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-treat-head-lice-without-chemicals-natural-treatments-for-nits

I agree with this article - all you need is lots of really cheap conditioner, and then comb every other day with the nitty-gritty comb (called Nit Free in America, I think, but it's the same thing, with tiny wire wound round the teeth).

dizziblonde

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

My son's had them twice, and the list of ingredients in the hair treatments is scary, I wouldn't want to put them near any child's head if it wasn't necessary.

On my OWN head when I caught them working in a school I walked into the chemists and demanded armageddon strength nit solution and about five different nit combs. Chemist was howling with laughter when offering me the mildest options going and I was "No, I want WAR"

neverdespairgirl

Chemical, biological, nuclear - bring 'em all on!

cakeforbrains

Thanks everyone. You're all awesome.

Ok, so I went to the pharmacist this morning and got Hedrin Once, normal Hedrin, tea shampoo and conditioner and some tea tree oil.

I spent two hours treating the boys. We used the treatment and then washed it off with tea tree shampoo. Then I made a solution of water, tea tree conditioner and tea tree oil, which I sprayed in their hair before combing it all through with a normal nit comb. (I'm going to see if I can find a nitty gritty comb the next time I'm in town/at a supermarket).

My plan is to use some of that solution every day for the next week or so and keep combing through.

I've got a two year old, but I can see absolutely nothing in his hair so I'm not sure about doing him (it'll be a lot of aggro). I'm on my own (OH working away) but I've looked through mine as best I can (mirror and comb) and I can't find anything. I think I might treat myself overnight with the Hedrin anyway. I don't have any of the Once stuff left, so it'll have to be the normal Hedrin.

I've let the boys' friend's mum know, as well as their Dad. Really hoping that he'll take it seriously or else we'll be going round in circles.

Thanks everyone.

Janepig

Bumping this for a moan/sympathy :D

My two have never had nits/lice (they're 7 and 10 now). DD started scratching her head virtually non stop since early last week (or it might have been a bit sooner). It seemed to co-incide with a trip to a water park with her friend - while we were getting dried, her friend sprayed some "styling spray" on her hair and I thought it was a reaction to that as she developed a rash on her neck and behind her ears afterwards. Tried allergy tablets, itchy scalp shampoo, etc... nothing doing.

Anyway, yesterday I was looking in her hair and could see white "bits" but not sure if it was "flaky scalp" (I know, I'm sounding stupid now!) and the rash was quite red so I thought I'd take her to the docs today, but after some research on line after they'd gone to bed last night, it seems she's got nits, and the rash on her neck and behind her ears is also an indicator it would seem.

I feel so awful that if it is nits/lice then I've left her suffer for so long! I can't imagine how the hell she got them in the school holidays - it did say online that they don't always appear straight away, so the only thing I can think of is that she caught them when she slept at her friend's house twice earlier in the holidays ("friend" then decided to turn on DD so they haven't met up since).

She's still in bed now poor thing, but as soon as she gets up we're going to go and get armed and the wet combing will start. I just hope it's only the eggs and no live things crawling about otherwise I'll have to make her sit in the garden until DH comes home! Ewwwww. <joke>

Jx

Alikay

^^Are you sure it's nits, Jane?^^ . Unless you've actually seen live lice or know for sure the white bits are eggs (pick them off and squash them with your thumbnail -they'll crunch if they're nits!) I'd be inclined to go with your initial diagnosis of some kind of reaction to the hair products.

And if they are, for goodness sake don't beat yourself up about it. They don't tend to lay hundreds of eggs unless you've got a bad infestation - in which case I'm sure there would be live lice in situ. The little blighters are persistent, but not that prolific. I could be wrong, but I've dealt with lots of lousy little heads and it tends to be 20 or so eggs you'll get off with an early infestation and if your DD had them for longer than a week or so, you'd be seeing crawlers too.:)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I found that neat lavender oil dabbed on by hand resulted in about twenty seconds of nothing until those pesky illegal aliens all bailed out, slightly stunned and ready for combing and slaughter. And it kept the unwilling host nice and chilled out, rather than moaning that this was taking 'forevvvvvvvvverrrrrrrrrrrrrr'.

It also made it easier to find out if they were there in the first place - no combing necessary until the mass exodus commenced.

And my two girls had extremely thick, long and wavy hair.

merlin1

My son had nits on and off for years through primary, poor little man would cry every time as he had got so sick of picking them up. we tried just about every lotion and potion on the market. One time he got them I treated as normal with one the potions BUT also invested in a nittygritty comb and a bottle of lavendar oil. One week with the comb, with just a cheepy conditioner (it has grooved metal teeth that pick up everything) a little rub of lavendar oil and they were gone. He picked them up twice after, but that comb was a godsend, everything out within 2 days of first noticing them (check head daily) and no lotions or potions. I highly recommend it!

claire16c

I had a particularly bad case when I was about 14 much to my embarrassment and no amount of nit shampoo, combing etc was working.

My dad got fed up & got me to hold a flannel over my mouth and face, I stood with my head over the bath and he covered my head in neat vodka. Killed everything!

My BIl had major nit problem with his kids, I told him about the vodka, he had come to the end of his tether so tried it, and then rung me to say thanks it's worked!!