Dealing with nits for the first time - what do I need to know?

[BornToFolk]

So, DS was scratching his head today. I conditioned and combed his hair in the bath and found live nits! The bug things, not the eggs, I couldn't see any of those. I combed until I couldn't see any more coming out.

What next? The comb is just as cheap one from the chemist - do I need to drop a tenner on a Nitty Gritty? And are chemical treatments worth it? Do I need to comb every day? Help!

[ilovepowerhoop]

I dont like the nitty gritty as the prongs are too long. I normally use a treatment. Stuff like hedrin suffocates the lice or you can get insecticides that actively kill the lice. With the treatments you have to re-treat a week later to get any baby lice that have hatched from the eggs (not all treatments kill the unhatched lice)

[Noggie]

Hedrin worked really well on my dd- need to repeat treatment week later though.

[BornToFolk]

thanks for the responses!
I bought a Nitty Gritty and have been combing with conditioner. There were a few baby nits on Weds, and only one last night, so I seem to be winning the battle. I plan to keep combing for a week, to make sure I get any of the new hatchlings out but I'll definitely go for the Hedrin if the combing isn't enough.

[er1507]

Use hedrin but its also really important to slather a load of cheap conditioner on his hair daily and go through with a nit comb, then re treat a week later. The conditioner works really well to get them out and you'll prob have a better chance of ridding them. Keep an eye out for eggs, they look like small flakes of dandruff but generally don't move as freely when your moving hair around. If you pick it out and pressit between your thumb nails, if it clicks they're live and if they don't they're dead/hatched.