I think dd has had nits for a year. Help!!!

[Graceandlily]

Dd age 14 has had an itchy head for many months. She has eczema and I just put it down to that. A few nights ago she said do you think it could be nits. I’ve got a comb from when she was little so we had a look and she’s riddled.
I’ve started with the conditioner and combing every other night. It’s taking over an hour and there’s so many I feel like we’ll never be rid. I feel so awful I could cry. What else can I do to get rid of them?

You can just use the nitty gritty nit comb. I had nits from working with kids and this worked perfectly with no other products. I did it with wet hair and was very thorough.

With the combing, anyone who’s not seeing them while combing but sees them when treating – you’re not combing properly!

You need to divide the hair into four (or more) sections and pin each one up. Comb an inch chunk of hair – one long stroke from scalp to ends, don’t pull the comb out halfway and leave a mouse behind! – then wipe on a tissue, then comb that same inch piece another three times, one on each side. Repeat all over that section of hair then clip it up and do another.

As well as wiping on a tissue I keep a glass handy to dunk and drown the fuckers; an old toothbrush is good for cleaning the comb teeth. Done properly a nit comb session should take an hour. I’m convinced DD gets reinfected from the child whose mum says “Oh, I had a quick look and give her a quick comb after bath time”. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon!

@middleofthelittle

You won't get rid of them without the nit treatment and it's really quite cruel to make her continue to have them for any longer using conditioner and a comb? Just buy the treatment it's under £10.

That's not true.

The best way to get rid of them is repeated combing with conditioner. You can put olive oil or similar on the hair with a shower cap and leave overnight to kickstart the process as that will smother them.

@PAFMO

My DD had infestations for almost a year. Hedrin and every other treatment under the sun never quite got all the eggs. It was basically one initial infestation that just never got totally eradicated. The only thing that ultimately got rid was a Nitty Gritty and thick cheap conditioner. Every other day I'd slather the conditioner on and use the nitty gritty through it for about an hour. During all of this I spoke to the pharmacist who said it's rare to get them all with one bottle of stuff like hedrin. If you go at it with a product AND a nitty gritty and conditioner you'll get rid quicker. Good luck.

Completely agree with this. Many people think it's fine to do a Hedrin treatment and then are surprised when they find more bits a couple of weeks later. You need to do a treatment and then conditioner and nit comb every couple of days for several weeks. And put a note out to her class at school so others can check - otherwise your hard work will be futile when she catches then again from a classmate.

Sympathies OP. I prided myself on my childhood not technique and rigour and my person regard was seriously set back with ds18 and his girlfriend this summer. It took 4 rounds and 3 months of thinking they were gone (turns out 18 year olds are not careful enough to comb each other out). I had thought that was behind me. It wasn’t. In the end I combed them every other day for two weeks (as was our childhood routine).

(Before anyone jumps one me, they are autumn borns and yr 13. Ds still clearly in my care)

as someone with thick hair, please don't use a nitty gritty on dry hair without some conditioner etc, it is very painful

@Nomoreusernames1244

You won't get rid of them without the nit treatment and it's really quite cruel to make her continue to have them for any longer using conditioner and a comb? Just buy the treatment it's under £10.

Conditioner and nit combing will get rid of them as effectively as chemical treatment.

Not necessarily. To eradicate head lice, the 6 week life cycle has to be broken. It is very very easy to miss live just through combing.

Conditioner doesn’t suffocate the lice, it just makes it easier to comb through the hair. Using head lice lotion kills all live lice. Then it’s important to repeat the lotion after a week for any lice that may have hatched.
Repeated daily combing for up to 6 weeks will most likely kill the hatching lice before they reach adulthood thus preventing them from laying more eggs (nits).

Soontobe60

the solutions do not kill all of the live lice. Especially if you follow the instructions. They do better if you leave them on for much longer.

But they do effect the live lice which makes them easier to catch.
I said up thread that I have conditioned and combed and combed and combed hair and not found any. Then applied the solution, then combed and found plenty. this is because the live lice run away from the comb! They move quickly. If you are doing short hair, you are probably fine, but if you are trying to comb out a thick head of hair with comb and conditioner, you will miss plenty.

Combine the solution and the daily combing. You need the conditioner to make the comb slide through the hair.

How can a parent not notice their child has nits for months?

I didn’t notice DD’s for months. They don’t cause her to scratch, we don’t wash or comb it often as it’s very curly, and when we do wash you don’t see the nits, then she does her own combing with a tangle-teezer in her bedroom as part of bedtime routine – very dim light. Now she has a “constant vigilance” biweekly inspection with a headlamp and nit comb, but there was no reason to notice them before. I was the alert, when she gave them to me and I did itch.

We used headline solution weekly for months - it doesn’t always work because of re-infection. Those not noticing keep spreading them. So it’s an endless cycle unless everyone combs and combs.

The downside is nobody ever mentions their kids have nits, as if it’s some sort of embarrassment.

@heelforheelandtoefortoe

How can a parent not notice their child has nits for months?

Because she has a teenager with eczema. If your teen itches constantly as normal, I can see how it would be easy enough to miss.

So....your kids never go to the hairdressers? Never come close for a cuddle? Never let you wash their clothes or bedding? Never check their hair brushes? Clean their hairbrushes? Never say to you "hey mum, this part of my body is sore / itchy"? And yes if they had eczema I'd still check and expect them to say "more than usual" or something.

Neither my sister or I ever had nits or worms. Nor did my DM or DU. And nor have my DD or DNs. That's because, like my DM and my DGM before her, I instilled in DD that anything different about her body, anything sore, anything itchy, she needed to tell mummy straight away so mummy can make it better. Also we are super fkn clean and keep a close eye on our children's hygiene. What's so bloody hard about that?

When people say "getting nits doesn't mean you're dirty" - this OP contradicts that. Any parent that doesn't notice their child's nits for months can't care about or observe their child's personal hygiene!

@heelforheelandtoefortoe

So....your kids never go to the hairdressers? Never come close for a cuddle? Never let you wash their clothes or bedding? Never check their hair brushes? Clean their hairbrushes? Never say to you "hey mum, this part of my body is sore / itchy"? And yes if they had eczema I'd still check and expect them to say "more than usual" or something.

Neither my sister or I ever had nits or worms. Nor did my DM or DU. And nor have my DD or DNs. That's because, like my DM and my DGM before her, I instilled in DD that anything different about her body, anything sore, anything itchy, she needed to tell mummy straight away so mummy can make it better. Also we are super fkn clean and keep a close eye on our children's hygiene. What's so bloody hard about that?

When people say "getting nits doesn't mean you're dirty" - this OP contradicts that. Any parent that doesn't notice their child's nits for months can't care about or observe their child's personal hygiene!

It’s a shame you didn’t also check yourself not to be so sanctimonious!

@Alayalaya

If it’s that bad I’d be tempted to shave her head. It can be quite trendy and would solve the problem immediately.

The only time my ds had nits / lice was when he had a grade one all over ,he couldn't have had less hair if he'd tried!

Neither my sister or I ever had nits or worms. Nor did my DM or DU. And nor have my DD or DNs. That's because, like my DM and my DGM before her, I instilled in DD that anything different about her body, anything sore, anything itchy, she needed to tell mummy straight away so mummy can make it better.
No, it’s because you’re the perfect parent. Do you have a book or a newsletter or an ecourse so the rest of us plebs can emulate you?

Just remember that every bug or egg you get out is one less in her hair. Take it day by day and keep up with the combing. It became a bit of a sport for me and DD when she was at primary, to the point where I'd be quite disappointed when I could no longer find any Be sure to tie her hair up for school, too.

Neither my sister or I ever had nits or worms. Nor did my DM or DU. And nor have my DD or DNs. That's because, like my DM and my DGM before her, I instilled in DD that anything different about her body, anything sore, anything itchy, she needed to tell mummy straight away so mummy can make it better. Also we are super fkn clean and keep a close eye on our children's hygiene. What's so bloody hard about that?

No it isn't. Do you think the nits at school know you've had that conversation? I can't jump on that head because she'll tell her Mum?

Aye, OK.

@heelforheelandtoefortoe you sound diluted

Once you've broken the cycle, the best way to keep on top is to brush weekly with the nit comb and leave in conditioner spray like the Aussy one. We used to keep it in the swimming bag so we didn't forget

I would have her hair cut a bit shorter if it’s long and get a few packs of Hedrin gel/mousse stuff. We did us all for about a month every 7-10 days. Yes it’s costly but it works you have to get every part of the cycle. I also nit combed a lot and carried on spot checks for a few months after.
Don’t feel too bad I missed it once for a while didn’t notice my daughter itching and when we looked she had a sore neck under her hair god I felt awful.

@heelforheelandtoefortoe

How can a parent not notice their child has nits for months?

Also headlice aren't itchy for everyone. In fact it can quite often be only when there's a lot of them and quite 'grown up' lice that the itching starts

Hedrin once is great, as long as you do it more than once.

I'd do it now, keep combing every night for a week and then do hedrin again next weekend. Do this on continually until all the bastards are gone.

And by the way, in order to wash out hedrin once, you need to shampoo the hair without water firstly. And you will need tonnes of shampoo. My dd has long thick hair and I used a whole bottle of shampoo to get the hedrin out.

You really have to put a huge amount of shampoo on after the hedrin!

UPDATE!
Thanks so much for all the advice and support on here. We did Hedrin once at the weekend and left it on for 10 hours. Last night I combed it through with conditioner using the nitty gritty comb and couldn’t find a single nit or egg!
We’re going to repeat the Hedrin once this weekend and combing but I think we’ve cracked it.