to think if your children have nits then you should sort your own hair out as well

[workshy]

nits are going round school yet again check my girlies every week and we are clear but friend has discovered one of her kids has got them so she has used hedrin on her DS & DD but not on herself

I told her she needs to do herself too but she says she has been really careful since she realised he had them

she has apparently pulled out 50 odd eggs so he has obviously had them a few days so surely she should treat herself before they start passing back and forward???

and she is moaning that other people don't sort their kids nits out

arrrggghhhhhhhh

I never Hedrin myself either.

I always did my own when my kids have ever had them. In fact, I once gave them headlice (I was working in a deprived area with a particularly nitty class). I also wash bedlinen and towels. The same with threadworms - treat the whole family and wash all bedlinen & towels.

you arent supposed to treat unless you find a live louse. Has her hair been checked with conditioner and a comb? I have never used a treatment on myself either as a check with conditioner and comb has never revealed any unwanted visitors. DS has never been done either as we havent found live lice on him before either. DD is the only one that has had live lice and she was treated and we got rid of them

Well official advice is to check other family members hair and only treat if a live louse is found and/eggs. Otherwise you are treating yourself with chemicals unnecessarily. That's what all the instructions say anyway.

Yes chemist told me you don't treat to prevent only if there are live lice.

not even combed her hair out, also says no live lice on DS but loads of eggs so I'm dubious that she has checked properly -told her it takes me 2hours plus to comb out DDs hair, apparently took her 2 minutes to do his?????

My DD has tight spiral curls and those little buggers were really hard to get out. Hours of combing!! Lots of conditioner. I only ever use a fine metal toothed comb, never a plastic one (the teeth seem to spread and let them through). The school nurse also told me that headlice can live on clothing for 48 hours. Yuck! For the record, the nits are the egg casings. Treatment is most effective if you retreat, I think it is 10 days later.

YANBU, no point unless every family member is checked and treated!

I always do mine as well if one of the DC have nits. I do the every night combing thing on them and avoid chemical treatments, but I have waist length dreadlocks so combing isn't an option.

On my hair, I use neat isopropyl alcohol from a spray bottle - spray through hair, tie hair in a plastic bag for 30 mins (avoid naked flames during this time ), remove bag, wash hair. Works really really well, there is some evidence for it damaging the egg casings too so they cannot hatch. I repeat it after 7 days just in case.

I am determined not to let people think just because we have dreads that we dont take care of the DD's hair and so theirs is always brushed, nit checked, and plaited before school every day.

I once read that listerine works like that too HeyHo, coat your hair, comb through, cover with a shower cap, and wash out once dry.

Smells better than Hedrin!

DSS1 and 2 went through the whole head lice thing for what felt like years - the only thing that finally worked was to comb through everyone's hair with conditioner every three days for ever a while because they kept passing them from school to each other.

Me and DP did ours too and the boys mum did hers as we couldn't be sure, even with checking, that we didn't have them and we are all very tactile with the kids

all the products Ive ever used tell you to treat the whole family, and to do so 7 days later. Your friend is in denial but she probably means no harm. I'm just about to try hedrin treat and go next time we have an attack of livestock! I don't know if its any good but perhaps if othe netters think so. It could be something to recommend? Usually I use full marks but I'm fed up with having to use washing up liquid to gat rid of it!

maybe you are thinking of worm treatments as you have to treat everyone in the family regardless of whether they have found worms. You should only treat hair if live lice have been found as overuse of chemicals is leading to them becoming immune to them.

From nhs website: Treatment should only be carried out after live head lice have been found. Do not treat hair ?just in case?.

head lice

Ds1 has had headlice, still found a couple tonight despite treaing him New Years day. I only treated his hair as ds2 doesn't have them (conditioned and combed every other day) and my hair was clear too, which I have to say is unusual. I know it is now recommended to only treat those effected, where as we were all treated for thread worm last week as ds1 had them (yes, both ends in the same weekend, lucky us hey!)

you are supposed to re-treat after 7 days to catch any babies that hatch from the eggs (most treatments dont kill the eggs too)

It's the medicated one's you should only use if you've found a live louse.

The smothering ones (I think that means Hedrin and Full Marks) aren't covered by that embargo.

I'd certainly comb everyone if I had an infested family member. (As you can tell by my user name, we've had a really back autumn for reinfestations!). And I use conditioner and/or Full Marks (oil based) when I'm doing it as the eggs slip off much better.

to be fair I don't use chemical treatments at all, I attack them with conditioner, but I couldn't believe that she hadn't even checked!

I have twin girls who regularly share a bed despite having their own rooms.! One of them is regularly riddled with nits, the other never had them.