To Be Sick To Death Of Bloody Headlice!

[MissLofPubia]

My daughter is halfway through year one. She has had headlice an obscene amount of times. The longest she's gone without catching them again is 8 weeks. The school (so they say) aren't allowed to talk about it. Human rights and all that bollocks. It isn't just in her year, because every parent is complaining about it. I moaned at them yesterday and they said I was the second to complain just that day, but there is nothing they can do. They may see if they can send a letter out, maybe before the end of term. Maybe. But they can't victimise anyone. Can I? Can I randomly start grabbing kids hair, then screaming at parents? (Okay I know I can't, but I really want too!). Can I make signs and display them around the school? Can I shout at the top of my lungs 'WHICH LAZY FUCKING PARENT IS IT????!!!!' And what the frig happened to the nit nurse? My daughter is having so much time off school so I can treat her. AAAAGGGGGH! Rant over! Thank you :-) xxx

To the misguided people who think nit nurses are the answer....

Nit nurses used to inspect hair, not treat it. With the best will in the world, if a parent will not treat their child, it is not for a nurse to do it. Logistically a school nurse cannot treat all children in the schools they cover, average number 3000 for nits! The school nurse can provide information to schools and parents about nits, but it is the parent's responsibility to actually look after their own children's hair, not the NHS!

If every parent wet combed their children's hair two or three times weekly there would not be a nit problem.

Why the nit nurse doesn't work

You won't be anywhere near combing properly or thoroughly if it's only taking you 15 mins, it should be more like triple that! It sounds like you aren't ever clearing dd properly so the problem continues.

This is why I'm glad I have a DS (who's hair is kept very short)!
I have very thick hair and remember the hours my mother spent treating/combing all us girls throughout primary school!
I now dread having a DD! If I do, her hair shall never grow past a bob!

The worst infestation I have ever dealt with was ds whose hair was less than an inch long all over - short doesn't mean easy if you get them, just less likely to get them in the first place.

nah it fucks me off

its ridiculous that the school aren't allowed to say anything directly to the parents. why aren't they?? i just don't get it! as they have to tell the parents if the child is ill / had an accident / or if there is any issue, so why not nits?

ds has had them a few times now and i check my dc religiously so i do think its a case of some parents just not bothering to check or treat their dc

I was so lucky (or filthy!) to never get them much as a kid! xx

There are other essential oils that work well to deter them.
A few drops of each of Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Lavender, Erigeron, Catnip and Teatree mixed into a bottle of leave in conditioner and the detangle spray on stuff. You don't have to use all those oils, but maybe four of them. A bit expensive to start with, but should last for ages.

Oh valium!

I'm ready for the bastards!

Am dying to nit comb and treat a certain child in dc2's class. She's crawling with them. Do you think I can invite her back to tea?

Stop please! I'm now itching like crazy!

Had to clear DD1 who's 6 and DD2 who's 5 and both have long, thick hair last week. Conditioner and Nitty Gritty and it took 40 minutes each - my back was in agony by the time I had finished, hunched over their hair, muttering to myself. They were crying and I was having a nervous breakdown. Wet comb several times a week.... are you kidding Rhinosaurus?!?

I haven't had a chance to check my hair yet - also long and thick and now you're making me itch.

The thing I'm most cross about is I found another couple of eggs in DD1 last night and I know I cleared her hair before. Arghhh! If she gets them again I will be complaining to the school.

i am OBSESSED with the little bastards.
DS has long hair - and what seems to be a force-field around him. I haven't seen anything on him for weeks, despite his close relationship with his sister......
Who is a louse factory - I have never seen anything like it. I just can't get rid of the fuckers. Neem oil seems to be a bit of a slate-wiper, so I'm using that once a week (I leave it in for at least 24 hours) and I'm combing out dead or torpid lice the next day and she seems clear.
But just a few days of nursery later and she's crawling with them. The demographic is out of whack somewhat, though - lots of adults - so I suspect they're imported rather than homegrown a lot of the time.
Ivermectin, you say.............
Steeples fingers.....dreams of chemical death to all lice.....

I will say, though - Nitty Gritty comb and a zero tolerance for all eggs.

I check DS most days for eggs rather than lice (he's blond). Look behind the ears, on the temples, forehead and nape of neck for reddish brown specks attached no more than a centimetre or so from the scalp. If you see an egg, scrape it off the hair or Nitty Gritty the bugger out. Like I said, though, I haven't seen anything on him for ages and ages.

I think because his hair is tied back most of the time he's escaping. Plus, he's older (5) than DD and is less tactile than her.

GOD I hate these things.
WANKERS.
Well, actually, they're not their stupid little legs can't reach their genitals. Ha ha ha ha........

Unhinged emoticon......

How strange that I stumbled on this post?! My DD (7) had her first ever bout of head lice yesterday and I am still shuddering!

When I let the mums of her closest friends know so that they could check their children, TWO mums came back saying "oh yeah, mine's had them for weeks" GRRRRRRRR

I just spent a bloody fortune on various potions and am now leaping on my children every time they even look like they might itch their heads. Plus I'm a childminder so had the pleasure of having to inform all the parents of the kids I look after that I may have unwittingly infested their children!

However, having now read through all the above, I have some good ideas on keeping the little buggers at bay (the lice, not the children obviously)

Don't buy any more lotions and potions. wash hair like normal and the HAIRDRYER IS YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE. Really. It kills the eggs. Wish I had discovered this after many months of suffering and spending a fortune.

Happy nit killing.

Minou, have you tried using the nuvo regime with cetaphil? We did it to the letter and my kids who were heaving with them were completely clear.

BTW, AIBU to expect families who know they have nits NOT invite kids over to play??

Thanks, Hop and a skip. I'll look into it. It's the eggs with DD, though. She's a lot darker than DS, and wrigglier, so I never get 100% of them.

Re play invites - I warn people and then let them make their own minds up. DD has her hair in bunches and sports her fave headband these days. Also, one of DS' chums was over last week...his mum was a bit nervous, but was reassured when she saw DD plastered in neem, with her locks safely secured.
if you put your life on hold every time you or your friends have lice you'd never get out or function. Keep the crawlers under a chemical and physical lock-down.

Goddddd......I hate therm. Looked in DD's hair yesterday, though, and couldn't see anything.....normally it's like looking down on the Serengeti.....

the point of the nuvo is to break the breeding cycle, it doesn't kill the eggs but you time it just right so the fuckers aren't old enough to breed again before you get them.

This family didn't tell anyone and invited both my kids over. Both my kids caught them.

Heat doesn't kill them

get Hedrin or a similar none pesticide based product, us it - repeat it - no nits

comb and spray as a precaution

you can't avoid them but if parents used effective treatments they wouldn;t be so prevelant

I feel your DD school is being unreasonable.

At my DSs primary we often got letters home saying that there were confirmed cases of headlice and would parents please check their children and treat accordingly. The school would also post signs on entrances and exits at the school as well.

They do the same for cases of infectious diseases - chicken pox, shingles, impetigo etc.

No child was ever singled out!

gordyslovesheep

I used Full Marks on the whole family last night - never have we had such shiny, lustrous hair LOL! Now they seem clear, we will be checking ALOT.

It's annoying - I bust a gut to eliminate the bastards. Every week it's the same....huge reduction in numbers then DD recruits loads more from someone at nursery. I sent her in with neem on one day, but it really does ming so felt bad at inflicting it on others.

You're right gordy, if everyone did the right thing they would find it harder to infest entire communities.

Apparently nits are much more common now than when we were small as they are immune to pesticides. I'm in France and use a product called pouxit which wraps them in silicon and suffocates the little blighters. Very efficient. Then I combed the eggs out. They need to be combed every 4 days for a month this disrupts their breeding cycle. I will add - I never had nits as a child and I'm one of 4 children. All my three children have had it and I've caught them from all of them. Consider myself something of an expert

Hatty that is what Hedrin does - it's brilliant stuff!

Cetaphil has it in too, that's how it works. The Doc who invented the method used it. You blow dry it on (so it doesn't get all over everything) and leave it overnight and wash out the next morning. The cetaphil method was once every 7 days, three treatments (I think, it has been a while, google 'nuvo')

Is cetaphil cheaper than the other stuff there? I bought ours from costco.

yeah, here you go 8 quid

www.boots.com/en/Cetaphil-Gentle-Skin-Cleanser-236ml_1238606/