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AIBU?

To be pulling my hair out at head lice

126 replies

Flatasawitchestit · 12/11/2013 21:55

Excuse the pun Hmm

My daughter is 7. Sunday night is usually nit night and I run the nitty gritty through her hair (and bribe her to do mine as I love the feeling Blush) within a week of being back after summer break she was crawling with the nits.

I informed the school and went back to nightly nit watch. Did the usual running the bedding on a hot wash, she always keeps her hair in a plait as otherwise she looks like one of the twits with her curly unruly mop I tend to pop a few drops of tea tree oil through it too.

We got rid, they returned. We got rid they returned. You get me? We ended up using a treatment although I hate this as I read that chemicals are becoming ineffective and its the combing that does the trick. She had a weekend free of them, and recent half term we were de-nitted. Back go school last week and guess what? Confused

I've sat for an hour again tonight and found them. This was after a free few days.


What am I doing wrong? I'm tempted to ask her to change seats at school in case its one of the girls sat next to her. AIBU? I'm getting mightily pissed off now. The head has sent 4 letters out after I emailed each time saying she was infested.

AIBU to assume some parents are just dousing their kids in shitty chemicals and not taking the time to comb through and take time?




Are you all scratching your heads now? Grin

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Gruntfuttock · 12/11/2013 22:01

It's because a heck of a lot of parents don't bother. When my daughter was at primary school there was a girl who always had masses of head lice and nits and my daughter, who was in the same class, was constantly getting them, despite my efforts - which were as thorough and frequent as yours. Whenever I saw that girl's mother, which was usually on the bus, her own hair was covered with lice and I got the impression that she just didn't bother about them at all. It is infuriating I know.

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heartshape · 12/11/2013 22:01

you are doing nothing wrong its the laziness of other people to blame ,i heard a mum chatting in the playground when my dd was in the infants saying she didnt bother getting rid of the nits as its a waste of time because she keeps getting them, when i looked at her dd head it was cover with eggs at the neck and round the ears and i saw some live ones crawling.

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mrspremise · 12/11/2013 22:02

Yes. I hate the bloody things., no matter what we do they keep coming back and my bloody mother never ever ever lets the subject drop

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sunbathe · 12/11/2013 22:07

On my older dc, using straighteners or crimpers finally saw the end of head lice.

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WorraLiberty · 12/11/2013 22:14

If she was crawling within a week of being back at school, the chances are she didn't catch them there.

Eggs take between 7 and 11 days to hatch, so she probably had them before going back to school?

Of course they crawl from head to head but I'm not sure loads would decamp from one head to another all at the same time.

Are you sure you're not missing any eggs when combing?

Does she spend time with any kids who don't go to her school?

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Flatasawitchestit · 12/11/2013 22:45

Just her siblings worra. My boy has been checked, and the baby has see through hair so its not her Grin. I've had a couple and treated myself too, but have been free for weeks. My lovely hairdresser checked me last week too when doing my hair.

Oh and Mr Flat is bald!

We had a cheap comb but then I invested in a nitty gritty and its great, I sit in the bathroom with her, douse hair in conditioner, section and comb. It takes ages.

I'm going to go into school again tomorrow. Apart from tying hair up any tips? I thought about maybe dousing it in baby oil to make it slippy. Not sure she'd be happy with that but still.

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aquashiv · 12/11/2013 22:54

Hairspray is the best deterrent nits hate it . Plus your children can have the best quiffs going.
Am itching just thinking about them.

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PrimalLass · 12/11/2013 22:54

I don't think that Hedrin and Full Marks count as chemical lice treatments. You are fine with them.

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jendot · 12/11/2013 23:07

Tea tree and lavender, put in an empty spray bottle with some ordinary hair conditioner and water. Shake well.
Liberally spray every morning and tie her hair back tightly.
Obviously wont kill them but should help deter her getting re infected!

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IhaveNoOpinion · 12/11/2013 23:38

The nitty gritty won't get out the new eggs that are laid right next to the scalp unless you are really brutal and dig it right in.

I was nit combing DD every couple of days and was getting frustrated that I couldn't get rid of them. I spoke to the school nurse who told me that they lay so close to the scalp, it can be very difficult to get the brand new eggs out.

I resorted to chemical warfare and she has been mostly fine ever since. (Apart from the odd infestation)

You may want to try hedrin or something to break the cycle and then go back to your weekly lice detection combing (and hopefully get the fuckers before they lay too many eggs)

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recall · 12/11/2013 23:42

You need to break the cycle - use the treatment, then use it again a week later to kill the eggs that will have hatched.

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patchworkchick · 12/11/2013 23:45

I tried all sorts of things. my child has very curly hair and besides wet combing, use lots of conditioner all over the hair from the scalp down. Also combed through silicone gel from the roots down, this really helped. Good luck, horrible things and so many other parents do not bother.

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Budgiegirlbob · 12/11/2013 23:46

It sounds like you may be missing eggs. It's not really possible to get rid of them quickly. You need to comb everyday for at least 7 days to ensure you are getting every new hatchling. Eggs are really difficult to remove, even with a nitty gritty comb, you only have to miss one and within a week you are back to square one.

I'm never convinced my kids are free of them until we've had an entire week of not finding any.

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StarlightMcKenzie · 12/11/2013 23:51

I do dd every 3 days. And sure enough she always has them. I' not giving up but I think I have just accepted it as a way of life. Thank god my other 2 are boys, though they always have them too.

What's the conditioner for? Does it kill them? Only gave up as dd's hair is a bit too fine for the nitty gritty and conditioner seems to prevent me from getting out the eggs.

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arkestra · 12/11/2013 23:53

Oh God, we just got another infestation ourselves Sad

It's a really hard one. One thing that will always work in my experience at least is Hedrin Once: 3 treatments at 5/6 day interval (it kills all live lice, eggs take at most 10 days to hatch, and new lice need to be 6 days old to lay new eggs).

BUT this only works if everyone else is killing lice! Otherwise you clear the lice and then get reinfested.

Maybe we should go back to bald heads and Regency wigs?

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bigbrick · 12/11/2013 23:53

Thick hair conditioner all over and then go through with the nit comb. This will get all eggs out. Do this every evening.

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bigbrick · 12/11/2013 23:54

The eggs & nits slide out with the conditoner as it loosens the grip of the lice on the hair.

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StarlightMcKenzie · 12/11/2013 23:54

But what is the conditioner FOR?

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StarlightMcKenzie · 12/11/2013 23:56

Oh.

Well I use vinegar to melt the glue.

I'm not sure I could do the conditioner thing tbh. It makes me feel ill and slimey.

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bigbrick · 12/11/2013 23:59

It's awful to see the lice come out on a comb of gloop but it's very effective. The comb doesn't pull on the hair making it more tolerated. A big mess though and must avoid getting in the eyes. All towels washed on boil & put aside for three weeks.

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StarlightMcKenzie · 13/11/2013 00:03

I mean I can't stand conditioned hair. How do you get rid. Do you have to wash it again with paint stripper?

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saulaboutme · 13/11/2013 00:05

Conditioning and combing EVERY night is the only way I got rid from dd and myself. Poor love felt for her but they went and stayed away!

Definitely was coming from a friend whose parents weren't bothering.

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bigbrick · 13/11/2013 00:06

Most is combed out and then a normal shampoo - so no heavy or greasy after effects. It's not ideal but really gets the lice sliding out of the hair and the eggs. Makes me shudder though

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lessonsintightropes · 13/11/2013 00:49

Oh Flat it's miserable and feels never ending doesn't it? I had this problem when I was about seven so speaking from personal experience Grin My Ma always rinsed us with cider vinegar before shampooing and conditioning (only washed hair twice a week pre-puberty as it was/is very long and thick). The only thing which seemed to work was regular maintenance and upkeep/combing.

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AdoraBell · 13/11/2013 01:15

I had To resort To natural remedies as DD has reacted To every chemical based treatment available here, forrin land.

Olive oil kills the little fuckers by disolving their exoskeletons, which I think is a nice touch , and vinegar disolves the glue they stick their bastard eggs on with.

One year I Spent every fucking night for THREE MONTHS treating one or t'other, then realised that their best mate's Mum never combed after applying the treatment. Apparently there just wasn't timeHmm.

Also, I know that the chemicals weren't getting all of them because when I did both DDs on the same day the Lice in DD1's hair had started moving slowly despite appearing To be dead 30 mins before. With the olive oil they stay deadGrin.

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