First nits episode-what do I do?

[Howaboutthisone]

Well we count ourselves lucky that we've gotten to 7 and 5 with no outbreaks but they've now arrived!
I have a bitty gritty in the bathroom ready but not sure what else to get/do. MIL is currently in Boots so she's going to ask for a recommended treatment. Is it a case of strip all bedding etc too? I think I'm going to anyway as I'm feeling all itchy just thinking about them!

I would definitely change bedding, don't go to OTT they don't survive long on anything but a scalp and check all hairbrushes and combs.
Happy de-nitting..
My DS had them once and as vile as it is it was strangely satisfying getting those lil fuckers out..

No you don't need to strip bedding. Clean hair out from brushes and wash them and don't share them. Hedrin supposed to be good to kill them. Lots of Conditioner for use with the nitty gritty too

Right- I'm on it!
Is there anything I can use as a preventer??? In the hope they don't come back too quickly?

Keep their hair tied back and hope they keep their heads away from the carrier of them. The preventative sprays haven't really been shown to work

Hedrin is good, although a faff.

Personally I don't really trust the other ones (pesticide based) - there are too many of the little buggers becoming immune to the pesticides.

I bought the pharmacy recommended one once only to google it when I got home and find that the NHS no longer recommended it because too many headlice had gained immunity to it. So I wouldn't necessarily trust the pharmacy recommendation. I think they wanted to get rid of old stock!

Whatever you use, use it again after a week to kill all the ones which have hatched out since then. I have not found any treatment which reliably zaps eggs.

Nitty Gritty combs are very good but you would need a LOT of time (and very patient kids!) to get rid of lice using only the comb. Best used as an additional treatment. Great combs, though.

Best of luck!

I use hedrin. I do wash bedding and towels but it's probably unnecessary. I just find nits disgusting.
Put the stuff on, wait 5 mins and wash off. Comb as many lice out as possible first though else you have to comb out the dead ones and that is 🤮
We also repeat after 7 days. And everyone in the house gets treated, except DH who's bald.

Our school normally advises to use lots of conditioner and comb the hair through . You don't have to use any head lice shampoos 

Thanks all! It's going to be a fun night of combing 🙈

Keep combing, after the initial findings I comb every other day until they are clear for a while and then go to weekly (theoretically, often I get lazy and live to regret it).

Hedrin does seem to clear them the best but it’s so horrible to wash out. Vamousse is lots easier to wash out but doesn’t work as well so I guess it’s best to go through the faff of hedrin.

And yes do yours too, I’ve jusy given mine a comb half an hour ago- as ever I contemplated cutting it all off as it’s so hard to get the comb through, so glad my boys have short hair so it’s easier to sort them!

Don't panic. Yes it's yucky but there are far worse parasites! Our kids basically had them a few times a year throughout Key Stage 1. Oh, and DH and me too. Mmm, the glamour of parenting. Our DC have mega thick hair and lots of it and in DDs case she wanted to keep it, so that took combing out of the equation for her. We like Hedrin 15 minutes gel, follow the instructions carefully and leave it in a bit longer than it says. Everyone in the family treated at the same time. And then again 2 weeks later.

P.S: We've had lots of 'fun' checking living nits and dead nits with this microscope:
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"Natural History Museum NHM1005 Pocket Microscope" (amazon)

We're doing conditioner combing and chemicals this time; I find it more effective than one or the other. We did a condition comb yesterday, we're Vamoosing today (we found that Hedrin did absolutely bugger all last time we used it) and I'll conditioner comb on weds and fri. If we're not clear by then, I'll vamoose again on Sunday.

Fun times, good luck!