to want to shave the head of every......

[Mamazon]

horrible 'stiggy' child and their parents at DD's school.

I have just spent the last hour dragging a nitty gritty comb through DD's long thick hair.
She started school 2 weeks ago and this is the third time she has come home with creepy crawlies.

She was in tears yet again because it hurts her, and i know she isn't exagerating as i do my own and it is one of the most painfull things in the world.

Im getting really fed up with my DD having to go through this every week simply because a couple of parents cannot be fecked to do their own or their childrens hair.

Im a bit fecked off that we aren't allowed a nit nurse anymore because it might breach someones human rights. what about my daughters human rights not to get infested every time she goes to school?

I know that headlice is just a childhood thing and we all expect to get them at some point but this is getting stupid.

[Podrick]

Yanbu
letting your kids have untreated lice is neglect and should ve viewed as a serious issue IMO

[greensnail]

Can sympathise, I also have very thick hair and was always getting headlice at school. Is very traumatic when you have so much hair.

In the end my mum got a spray that was supposed to repel them and put it on every morning, which did seem to help. Not sure if this would still be available, but might be worth looking into.

[Podrick]

Although I think it is the parents who should be banded "lice breeder" not the kids whose heads should be shaved

[colditz]

Tight plait with hairspray

[Podrick]

Branded not banded

[NannyBeth]

I have heard tea tree oil is a good repellent - maybe try going and buying some tea tree oil shampoo and getting your daughter to use it?

[cocolepew]

Vosene do a shampoo and condiioner and a daily spray which is supposed to deter them.

[Morosky]

I have just finished de nitting dd again. Unfortunatley dp gets dd ready for school and he seems unable to do a plait which means I spend hours every week combing her hair.

Bit mean to blame the kids though.

[Mamazon]

we are usng the Vosene one thats meant to repell lce. doesn't seem to be doing much good though.

I know it';s not the children's fault. poor things can be seen itching and scratching from a mile away. Quite frankly if she catches them again i am going to go have a word with the parents and explain that yes it is THEIR child that is infesting teh rest of the class and unless they treat the child i shall be contacting Social services as it is indeed a form of neglect.

im also angry at the school tbh as they know which children are causing the outbreaks but they just send home generic letters constantly. why not send home a specific letter to the parents of these children saying that THEIR child has been noticed as having an infestation and that as their parent it is their duty to treat them before allowing them back to school

[Mamazon]

we have been putting in various types of plaits or pig tails. she alwasy has her hair up and i give a quick spritz of hair spray but she doesn't like the smell, Im on the hunt for a childrens hair spray or a spray gel?

[HumphreyCobbler]

I used to phone up the parents of a child in my class. It is not true to say that you can't, but sadly it makes little difference. The parents just said stuff like "Really? I only combed through at the weekend" or promise to treat them and then not bother, or treat them once and then not bother again.

It is awful I know. I once found some lice marching across my lap after a child laid their head down there for a moment. I found lice in my hair every week of that year.

[LuluSkipToMyLou]

DS got them this week, despite a number 3 haircut. Some parents (she says, knowing full well which child is 'patient zero') should be named and shamed, if not for the trauma that would inflict on their DC.

[Mamazon]

have to go Asda tomorrow so will have a look. thanks Korma.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

YANBU. I have a dd with extremely fine, tangly hair. She has a friend with extremely thick nitty hair. Poor child is seldom free of her visitors, mum seems to think it is a joke and leaves all the delousing to the father. The problem with this route is his travelling most of the week, so child M itches and scratches constantly. I don't want my dd to stop playing with M, but do want to stop having to treat her.
I am heartened by the hairspray tip though, she'll be having plaits and spray tomorrow.

[Sonnet]

Add tree tree oil to your normal shampoo and Nitty Gritty do a repellent spray which is great.

You do have to comb comb comb though and the lifecycle of a louse is 4 weeks therefore your DD maynot have caught them 3 times in a fortnight it may be just the same infestation but you didn't get them all the first time.

I also second platts and hairspray!

[lanismum]

I do the plaits and hairspray thing, and so far so good, tho its only been 2 weeks! but I dread dd1 getting them and bringing them back to dd2 who has very think wavy hair, I wish they would just sheep dip every kid in the school in nit killer, I wouldnt object at all, all the kids in one fell swoop, thats the way forward

[colditz]

If you have an outbreak of nits in a residential home, general approach is to treat all the residents, as a precaution. We used to explain fully what we were doing and why, and generally blame it on staff's children. This way the residents felt fine that they were ALL being treated as a precaution, and we could delouse the large portion of the residents who had caught them. Then the staff would go home and treat themselves. Same with scabies (another icky side affect of residential care)

WHY can this not happen in school?

[NotanOtter]

i think the stigma should be taken out of head shaving and it should be introduced to stem the pandemic of these nuisances

dp looked at me like like YOU would shave off your Samsons' locks?

well 'yes' i would id everyone did it we might start to control this thing
it was NO WAY as bad 20 years ago

[Villette]

If you wash hair and put conditioner on it then it doesn't hurt when you put a nit comb through it.

I do sympathise as my son had nits three time when he was at primary level and each time I got him free from nits only only for him to pick it up again later. However, it is easy to be judgemental about who is passing on the nits. I sometimes wondered if it was a member of staff as helpers at primary level do sit close to children.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Villette. I know who it is who passes them on to my dd. I always inform the class teacher and school nurse, nitty M's mother says it isn't anyone elses business!

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Mamazon, it is quite likely I'm afraid that your DD hasn't caught them three times in two weeks, but that you haven't cleared every single egg and more have hatched. Two of my DD's have long thick dark brown hair and it is very hard to clear completely.
May I suggest you do the oil thing at the weekend. Messy but effective and all the eggs will come off.
Massage some oil (olive, almond, baby oil) through her scalp and hair on Friday evening. Comb with the Nitty Gritty comb (it will be much less painful with the oil to lubricate it) and then wrap her hair in a towel overnight. Comb again in the morning. Either wash it out then or if you can stand it, plait her hair, wait until evening, comb again and then wash out the oil.
They will all be gone. Every single last egg.

[Mamazon]

I do use conditioner but trust me when you have very thick hair like we do, it still pulls and it really is painfull.

I have tried the oil option before and it was good. just so messy.

She has definitly caught them the 3 times as there have been blardy HUGE lice that have come out along with the eggs. it amazes me just how quickly they can breed.
I have just bought a regular nit comb and i will run that through her hair every night. its not going to be as good as the nitty gritty but at least i will detect anything that does find its way in without leaving them time to re produce.

It just makes me so angry. it's so easily prevented, or at least limited.
It is very obvious who the child/ren ( there are 2, who are related) that pass the lice about are.
DD's teacher is a friend of mine and she gets just as frustrated a s obviously she catches them too. but other than informing the parents there is little she can do. she has spoken to the head about it apparantly but nothing seems to have happened.

[peanutbutterkid]

Colditz, Re: treat nursing home residents with nits: Did you not need to send out zillions of little permission slips to all their next of kin, informing them and asking for signatures in triplicate? Because that's what a school would have to do...

More seriously, were the nursing home residents all treated with pesticides? I'd hate being compelled to use pesticides when it is perfectly possible (and arguably much more effective) to remove with combing alone.