10 days it took, 10 fucking days 😡

[ElGuardiandenoche]

They’ve only been back in school for ten blooming days and we’ve got fucking nits 😡

We’ve been completely clear over all of lockdown and...they’re heerrrre!!

I wouldn’t mind but they’re Year 9 and 10. I thought we would be done with it, but
noooo!! Looks like we’re back to the weekly checks again.

Sounds like they've been failing to keep themselves distanced from each other at school to me! You have to get your head very close to that of someone with nits to catch them yourself, surely?

Maybe the reason they're a thing is that rather than help their kids eradicate them some parents and lobbing them a bottle of Hedrick and expecting them to get on with it before cooking themselves dinner.

Its weird, I have never had them ( not a smug thing) I have been up close to so many kids but they just don't like my hair or scalp or something.

Sorry OP, you just don't need it, horrible.

I'd like to second the pp who said some people just don't itch. Dd1 would never, ever scratch her head, never, ever complained of being itchy, claims she just wasn't itchy. She definitely had them at various times. The ONLY way for us to tell was if we'd had a notice through school and I actually checked. There was one time that I'm convinced she was the person spreading them around her class . She had SOOOO many, but didn't ever scratch her head at all. That was the point when her thick, wavy hair was cut into a short manageable bob (by me, as we couldn't take her to a hairdresser until we'd contained the lice, but couldn't contain the lice until we'd cut her hair).

Some kids literally don't itch with them, so it's incredibly difficult to spot them. Luckily (?) the rest of the family are normal, so outbreaks are easier to spot with dd2 as she starts scratching. I'm also more on the ball with weekly checks with dd2. But once they start dealing with their own hair washing and styling it is more of a hassle tbh.

Not me randomer. Dsis's entire class and teacher had it in KS1. School burnt the carpet and soft toys. She still didn't get them.

I still get DH to check my hair though if I get a persistent itch.

Honestly @cologne4711 you can see them. I was stood behind her in the queue to pick up on Friday and she's literally crawling with them. She scraped her hair up into a ponytail and you can see them in the hair underneath. One of her children is in my child's class and the poor little soul looks like she's never even seen a bottle of shampoo, let alone a nit comb.

My friend is a primary teacher and her child regularly had them and she never caught them!!! She even helped out in orphanages when young where to DC were crawling with them and didn't.

She's always died her hair and suspects there could be a link...

@Couchbettato

I'm itching just reading this

Have you heard about worms?

I remember getting them a couple of times in primary but I don’t remember anyone ever having them in secondary. I always thought that as they got older then we wouldn’t have to contend with them anymore.

I think they are social distancing in school it’s on the walk to and from school that they are not. Oh! Well! Back to the regular Friday night checks and fights.

Anyone expecting a 13yr old to check and treat their own nits needs to give their head a wobble.

OP - hope it's sorted soon.

Baffled at the parents who wouldn't help their kids do the treatment...

It's like dying your hair. Can you do it by yourself? Yes. Will you get all the hair if you're doing it alone? Probably not. Will you get all the hair if you're rushing it and doing it alone? Most definitely not. However, if you have someone helping you it's likely you'll get it all.

Maybe this is why we have such a nit problem. Either parents who can't be arsed treating it in the first place, then ones who will supply a treatment but leave it to their kids. Who will be typical kids and rush it so they can get back to their phones and playstations, therefore not killing them all. Baffles.

I had thought that a tiny silver lining of covid might be the end of nits! How have they thrived in lock-down?

I wonder if they are like fleas and wait for the return of humans??! I watched a documentary about WW2 and it said that fleas from WW1 lay dormant until WW2.

@Monkey2001, I had hoped so too and with SD added on I hoped it would be months before we saw any. I guess it was too much to ask for this year. I suspect that there are some families who do not treat.

We’ve used the mousse and it’s been combed and washed out. I’ll have a check through again tonight before bed when it’s dry if he will let me.

Feel your pain OP just before school went back DD & I stayed at a friend's house, I know she didn't have nits before she went as I checked her properly with a bit comb a few times during lockdown, and they were literally the only people we'd been near since March!

We came back and my spider or nit sense told me to check her guess what she had! We are still fighting them been combing her every 4-6 days left it this time for a week and they are back...I've always found one treatment doesn't work but I know some parents think one treatment and your done, but i've found you never get all the eggs in the first go so are better off repeatedly combing/ treating...evil little fuckers!

I have a theory that they dont survive hot hairdryer and straighteners....that's why some women dont seem to catch them from their kids ( me included ! ) I use hair serum too so that might make it slippery/ suffocating

@randomer

Its weird, I have never had them ( not a smug thing) I have been up close to so many kids but they just don't like my hair or scalp or something.

Sorry OP, you just don't need it, horrible.

Same here. I felt quite left out :-).

I'm so sorry, op but you'll soon be rid of them.

Thankfully it has been a long time since I have had to deal with them, but I didn't find any of the treatments effective. Lots of conditioner and the nitty-gritty was the only thing that worked for us. DS1 was not too bad, but DS2 seemed to have them constantly for at least a year.

@ElGuardiandenoche - it is unlucky to have them in secondary school, but maybe you can have a social distancing chat with DS so that he manages to stay both nit and covid free!

"you can see them crawling through mums hair in the playground"

"yeah right"

I would believe it, there was a girl at my secondary school that had them so bad, you could see them crawling down and through her plaits, poor kid.

@cologne4711

you can see them crawling through mums hair in the playground

yeah right

It is absolutely possible to the big crawlers on someone’s hair in the playground! Especially with a bad infestation.

I feel for you OP! Luckily my autistic DS hates people so never gets close enough to have caught them (and he never really mo did the weekly checks) but dealing with in DDs near waist length hair was a nightmare.

As for teenagers sealing with them themselves... not a chance! I work in school so get DH to check my head regularly (I’ve never got them yet .... touch wood).

Minging. Probably because so many children have been neglected over lockdown and not washed.
My 7 yo is prone to them. We have 3 types of nit comb and have used 4 different types of treatment. Him and 10yo get them every time, 5 yo and 12 yo have never had them. I hate the stigma associated with them, it's so ignorant. I informed the WhatsApp group once when I found them on a Friday evening and some of the comments that came back were horrible, not straight out blame but some not totally diplomatic comments

Are you people that have never ever had them, 100% sure you don't? As in school it was usually the "my kids have never had/don't get them" brigade who were the worst offenders. Heads firmly in the sand, "if I don't look, they aren't there".

We got through the whole of primary and quite far into secondary school before the first experience.
You only have to read this thread yo see why it’s impossible to eradicate them completely if kids are being left to treat themselves.

Tea tree oil rinses once a week keep them at bay. About 15 drops in 2 pints of warm water poured over.

surely by age 13-14 they're old enough to do their own weekly checks and treatments?

FFS @omg35 wouldn't you bother helping your kids if they had nits? Lovely.

Fleas dormant between 2 World Wars, the stuff of nightmares.