Headlice (merged)

miserly_mum

Carmina_Piranha wrote: »

i'm wondering how he's getting them. the girls come into our house sometimes (but my husband discourages that because their hair and clothes smell of fags) and they are in our car once or twice a week. the 2 year old plays with them but the 11 year old does not. he isn't getting close to them so how is he catching them?

i'm assuming it's these girls because everyone else says they always have nits. it's the holidays so he hasn't been to school, but is it possible that these nits i found today are from eggs left behind when i used hedrin 14 days ago? in which case maybe it's not coming from the girls, but from school where he might be getting his head close to other kids for all i know.

If these little girls had nits your 2 year old would have them too.Just because their parents smoke doesn't mean the kids are anymore likely to have nits than anyone else.

You need to contact your 11 year olds school and make them aware there is a problem with headlice. They will send out letters for parents to check their childrens heads.

If he has big full grown ones they are most likely coming straight from head to head contact with someone at school.

From past experience its usually snobby peoples kids who are more likely to have them as these folk think theres no way their children could have nits and don't feel the need to check regularly.

Years ago my daughter kept getting them from her friend. They lived in a big house thought they were a cut above everyone When I rang her Mum she was adamant her daughter didn't have them because "We are very clean and I never had them as a child" The childs head was hotching with them

katiepops_2

I believe it's a proven fact that nits much prefer clean hair ... this would probably explain why my 14 year old hasn't had any for a few years!

TASHMA

katiepops wrote: »

I believe it's a proven fact that nits much prefer clean hair ... this would probably explain why my 14 year old hasn't had any for a few years!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

sarahg1969

If they were leaping like fleas - are you sure they were lice. Lice don't jump.

Also, I don't think they have a preference for clean or unclean hair - I think that's just what people like to tell themselves if their children have nits!!

My girls had them all the time - I'd check them 2/3 times a week, but they were always being reinfested at school. My older girl stopped getting them when she used straighteners.

The worst time was when the younger one had a gymnastics competition. I thought I'd got rid of them, and put her hair up, and secured it with hairspray. They obviously DON'T like hairspray, as they ALL congregated at the front of her head!!!

annaangeluk_2

This comb is the only thing that works on my hair becasue it's so thick and my daughter's becasue her hair is so fine it just slips through normal combs!

I got my nitty gritty on presciption from the docs. Their website has a letter to print out to give to the doctor. My doctor was really good about it although it took him a while to find it on his system becasue he'd never heard of it! The prescription was in my daughter's name so i got it for free. Good job really as I was really struggling to find the money for all the different nit treatments and none of them were working!

HTH

Anna x

miserly_mum

katiepops wrote: »

I believe it's a fact that nits much prefer clean hair ... this would probably explain why my 14 year old hasn't had any for a few years!

It was the same with my oldest son. He was living proof that even nits have standards :rotfl:

Poppy9

I sympathise. We've been nit free now for almost 3 years:T :T :T . Nothing I've done, just DD has moved to senior school and they don't seem to have an issue with them.

I never used chemicals on DD and her hair was too long for the electronic comb. I found it difficult to see the eggs if I combed through conditioner so she just shampooed and conditioned her hair in the show, rinsed thoroughly and then I just wet combed. I wish I had known the first time she had nits that soaking wet hair paralyses the bugs so they are easier to remove. I found my nails the best tool for removing eggs from her hair.

When I had a persistant problem with DD coming home from school with large live lice when I knew she was clean going to school I rang the 3 mums on the table she shared. I apologised for sending DD to school with nits for the last 3 weeks but I couldn't seem to clear them. Two of the mothers took the hint and said they would check their daughters hair, they were clear, the other mother acted a bit offended but her DD came to school the next day with her hair tied back and it ended my problem.

I did read somewhere that having your hair tied back or very short makes it more attractive for the lice to get straight to the food source i.e. the scalp

stefejb

My eldest dd is 22 now - our first experience with the dreaded nits was at the hairdressers who found them just after she had started school - she agreed about the dirty hair and advised me to wash the girls' hair on friday so it was nice for the weekend, delouse at the same time and then not wash for a week. She also advised us to wind the hair into a bun secured with a scrunchy to minimise head to head invasions. Apparantly if the hair is dirtyish and greasy the lice find it hard to grip. dd(18) never gets nits despite her son (3) getting them all the time - we think this is because the daily regime of heat (straighteners) and chemicals (products) makes for an undesirable environment for them. dd(11) gets them all the time - i rub a drop of tea tree oil through her hair which is "supposed" to repel new infestations but also helps prevent infection in the bites - anyone else itching now by the way?

miserly_mum

Am I the only one who's head feels itchy when reading this thread?

Carmina_Piranha_3

yes they were actually leaping! his hair was dry and i just used a nit comb on the dry hair, then wiped the bugs onto a tissue but they kept jumping off the tissue. could he have fleas then?

by the way i wasn't thinking that because their parents smoke they are more likely to have nits. i just said that because of the smell they're not in the house much so it's different to them spending hours here in close proximity to the eldest. eldest doesn't play with them outside or go to the park etc with them so he doesn't see much of them really.

my 2 year old has never had nits, even when i have seen the girls heads absolutely covered in them.

the girls may be using treatments all the time, i wasn't suggesting that they weren't. i can't imagine anybody having nits and not begging for treatment, i had them myself 4 years ago and it was horrible.