Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if your daughter has nits you should tie her hair back for school

75 replies

wagonweel1 · 01/12/2011 22:00

one of the mums from my dd's school rang me last night to warn me that her dd has nits. At school this morning her dd was walking into the playground with her long hair flowing in the wind. Surely she has a duty to tie it back to try and avoid passing them on.

OP posts:
whatstheetiquette · 02/12/2011 11:11

In our school, long hair must be tied back regardless of nits. If children arrive with long loose hair, the teacher will put a hairband in it and rightly so.

Tmesis · 02/12/2011 11:13

If she was treated last night then she would be nit-free this morning, so is probably the only guaranteed nit-free child in the school and won't be passing anything on whatever she does with her hair.

However, if she doesn't have her hair tied back then she's more likely to re-catch them from someone else, so from a pure self-interest point of view tying it back would seem sensible.

Tmesis · 02/12/2011 11:15

(or, apparently, she's not more likely to re-catch them. Oops. My only nit-aged child is a boy, so I am hazy on those details)

QuietNinjaMincepie · 02/12/2011 11:35

How does tying hair back prevent nits? Surely if they're gonna jump on your head then they jump? Genuine question.

vess · 02/12/2011 11:54

They can't jump, only crawl. Tied back hair is may make it a bit more difficult for them to spread but not prevent it altogether.
Ds, who has short hair, has had headlice several times. DD1 (shoulder length hair, doesn't like it tied up) has never had them, strangely. Maybe they just don't like her hair.
Generally if you know your child has headlice, you should treat them straight away. You need to do it a week later, then two weeks later to make sure they're all clear.

rockinhippy · 02/12/2011 12:15

YANBU -

DD has very long hair & I've managed to have her keep it tied back in a plaint or similar all through school - but as there is no blanket ban at her School (I'm so Envy of that) all her friends have theirs loose & flowing & as she's getting older it's become more & more of a battle to tie it back every morning & I've just had to give in, because she sees it as her looking babyish & doesn't understand why the others don't have too -

thankfully nits aren't an issue & haven't been for a long while & the repellants we use generally work really well touching wood frantically just incase

The woman is an idiot to herself more than anything, but I don't blame you for being miffed

mamasmissionimpossible · 02/12/2011 12:25

We had a policy at my school of hair tied back to prevent nits. I hated it, as I have slightly prominent ears and prefered wearing my hair down to cover them up. I never got nits though, so I suppose it was worth the humiliation!

ErnesttheBavarian · 02/12/2011 13:28

in our school, any kid with lice has to stay off until they have a doctors certificate confirming they are nit-free.

Very few headline outbreaks.

moomoo1967 · 02/12/2011 14:46

wow Ernest if that had been my daughters primary school then the whole school would have been off. There were certain parents who obviously didn't give a toss if their child was crawling with them. I wet comb DD's hair every other day and the only time she is free of lice is in the school holidays. I am hoping now that she is at secondary school it will get less and less

ErnesttheBavarian · 02/12/2011 15:40

but if they were forced to deal with it, then they would and most kids would be nit free and therefore lice free and present. 2 of my 4 dc have had it once (eldest is 12). You rarely hear of cases. Because people have to deal with it and aren't able to just not bother. Can't imagine having it repeatedly.

GrungeBlobPrimpants · 02/12/2011 15:52

Tying hair back completely irrelevant - as another poster has said, lice live on scalp (sucking blood) and transfer is due to head-to-head contact

Otherwise boys wouldn't get nits ....

Lizcat · 02/12/2011 17:10

I have to say our GP's surgery would collapse laughing if you asked for a doctors certificate to say free of lice.

a) doctors very busy and don't have the 30 minutes to properly comb a head of hair
b) certificate would of course only be valid for the precise moment the combing was done as who knows what happens when they walk out the doctors door.

BoffinMum · 02/12/2011 18:34

I think we should effect a citizens arrest on parents who refuse to treat their children's hair.

tanmu82 · 02/12/2011 19:01

We've recently moved to Canada, and here, any child caught with nits/lice has to stay off school until they are clear. The staff in the school office will check their hair thoroughly before they are allowed back to school. The one outbreak since school started was squashed within the week. I found it an over the top policy at first, but now I am in total agreement!

tanmu82 · 02/12/2011 19:01

Grin @ boffinmum!

bossboggle · 02/12/2011 20:01

Anyone else scratching yet???? Hee Hee!!

SolidGoldVampireBat · 02/12/2011 20:29

Oh FFS, kids get nits, it's maddening but no one dies of it. Keeping them quarantined is a ludicrous overreaction. ANd yes I do know all about it, as DS gets them regularly despite having short hair and frequent combings... And whenever he gets them I get them and I am going to shave my own head soon.

BoffinMum · 02/12/2011 21:01

They don't die of it, but some kids get very tired with all the scratching at night in particular, lose sleep. and get run down. And if you get one family with three kids aged 4, 7 and 10 in a school who refuse to do anything about it, for years and years and years and years, reinfecting the children around them over and over and over again, making everyone practically live in the chemist and spend what seems like their entire salaries on blardy Hedrin in an attempt to defeat the beasties, when they could be spending it on lipsticks and chocolate and comics and fun nights out, then if I am truly honest ...

I THINK THEY SHOULD BE HANDED OVER TO JEREMY CLARKSON

For I can think of no worse treatment. And they would deserve it. Ha.

(You can tell I have had this experience, can't you?)

SolidGoldVampireBat · 02/12/2011 23:39

Anyone recommend any deterrent sprays, by the way? .

ErnesttheBavarian · 03/12/2011 07:43

but the 2 posters who have same policy (with the exception of the doctors checking vs. school checking) both say that their school are mostly lice/nit free.

No, the kids might not die (!) but the amount of discomfort, time, money etc spent on it shows that having a strict policy in place works. So why not have the policy?

scaevola · 03/12/2011 08:26

I think those with doctors checking must be non-UK posters; it simply doesn't happen here in the NHS.

It's interesting; the military some time ago ended the practice of isolation, head shaving and any other conspicuous treatment for nits; as it didn't make much difference to outcome and was considered unfairly stigmatising.

So it seems some people want a stricter and harsher practice for small children than is considered fair for soldiers.

SoupDragon · 03/12/2011 08:35

DS2 caught them when his hair was cropped with clippers. Pray tell, how do I to tie that back? :o

daenerysstormborn · 03/12/2011 08:37

i watched the film 'i don't know how she does it' recently, and they visited a lice salon! can't remember what it was called but there were rows of kids (an adults) being de-loused. heaven Grin

they are rife at my dc's school. i would gladly volunteer as a nit nurse if only to find out who in dd's class keeps providing the huge adult lice dd brings home.

ErnesttheBavarian · 03/12/2011 08:39

Are you comparing and confusing a soldier having his head shaved and being forced into isolation with a kid being told to stay at home, watching tele, playing computers games, and generally having a nice day off? Hardling put into solitary.

MN is hilarious, endless complaints about nits and lice but pouring scorn on places which have successful measures to deal with the problem, and as a result, v. little problem.

No wonder there's the reputation for being whingers!

scaevola · 03/12/2011 08:43

No, I'm saying that they DON'T do that in the British military.

No isolation.

No being sent home (or into isolation) until treated or certified clear.

No stigmatising behaviour (no one demonised as the source).

MN is a hilarious place - posts are misread, and behaviour considered excessive for soldiers is championed.

Swipe left for the next trending thread