Nits question!

[twinsetandpearls]

I am on virgin territory here so be patient with me.

As I was finishing work yesterday a colleage said she saw a nit in dd hair. This did not surprise me as dd comes into contact with lots of children, I work with children in a school where Headlice are a constant problem and they are a fact of life.

I have washed her hair with tea tree shampoo and conditioner, left the conditioner in and combed it through with a nit comb for about 40 minutes and have found nothing. My colleage said she didn' see any lice, just the nit egg which is why dd isn;t itching. But the egg must have come from somewhere. Could she have had a single lice which has left eggs and buggered off?

I have also added some tea tree oil near the scalp.

Now I have combed through should I leave that conditioner in? Should I put fresh conditioner in for her to sleep in - have washed her sheets in a hot wash. Or should I just rinse her hair out.

Thanks.

[twinsetandpearls]

Have just ordered a nitty gritty comb after reading other threads incase my Boots comb is not picking them up.

[puppy]

My dsd recently had nits, I found tons of eggs but only found 1 or 2 lice. We bought the nitty gritty comb and found it was worth every penny. I put tea tree condioner in her hair and combed through every two to three days for a fortnight we rinsed this out afterwards then spryed her hair with a leave in conditioner (tea tree). she is now nit free.

[twinsetandpearls]

Thanks I am hoping as I have caught it early it should be relatively easy to sort.

[moretolife]

Tea tree spray leave-in conditioner? Where did you get that? i looked in Boots & could only find TT shampoo & normal conditioner

[moretolife]

sorry forgot to ask as well: what's nitty gritty comb, is that a brand name or somehting?

[frannykenstein]

Where was the egg? Near the shaft? If so it was probably an unhatched egg. If further down then an old egg which has hatched. I do think it's possible for a louse to wander on, lay a few eggs and wander off. I found empty egg cases on ds a while ago but no lice. A few weeks later I was itching like mad - they had all migrated onto my head!

You don't need to treat your dd further unless she has live eggs or live lice in her hair, as found with a nit comb. The conditioner is just to make it easier to comb and to help the lice lose their grip on her hair - you don't need to leave it in. However I would check the whole family, check your daughter's hair weekly (by wet combing with a nit comb) for as long as she is at risk of catching them, and use the tea tree oil occasionally as a deterrent.

[moretolife]

I posted prematurely before, sorry. Have been to nittygritty website now, and read all that. But still would like to know do they sell nittygritty products in Boots, or do you have to buy off the nittygritty website?

[twinsetandpearls]

I would like to know where to buy tea tree leave in conditioner as well, to use as a precautionary measure.

It wasn't me that found the egg, but i asked the lady whi did and she said she found it quite a way down the hair shaft.

Dp and I checked each other and found nothing, I have combed dd again tonight and found nothing again. So will follow your advice and keep checking weekly.

[PeachyClairPumpkinPie]

Safeways sold one of these shampoos in their baby section last time I looked (by all the l'oreal kid shampoo ranges). Asda do one though that isn't leave in for £1. It shouldn't work IMHO, but the 3 ds's haven't had nits since I started using it. They do a matching shampoo same price.

[frannykenstein]

We have got Lane's leave-in tea tree conditioner, from our local independent chemist. I expect a chemist would order it for you if they don't stock it. (I don't know if it works because I never remember to use it. I do know it doesn't work just by having it sitting on the shelf.)