To be pulling my hair out at head lice

[Flatasawitchestit]

Excuse the pun

My daughter is 7. Sunday night is usually nit night and I run the nitty gritty through her hair (and bribe her to do mine as I love the feeling ) within a week of being back after summer break she was crawling with the nits.

I informed the school and went back to nightly nit watch. Did the usual running the bedding on a hot wash, she always keeps her hair in a plait as otherwise she looks like one of the twits with her curly unruly mop I tend to pop a few drops of tea tree oil through it too.

We got rid, they returned. We got rid they returned. You get me? We ended up using a treatment although I hate this as I read that chemicals are becoming ineffective and its the combing that does the trick. She had a weekend free of them, and recent half term we were de-nitted. Back go school last week and guess what?

I've sat for an hour again tonight and found them. This was after a free few days.

What am I doing wrong? I'm tempted to ask her to change seats at school in case its one of the girls sat next to her. AIBU? I'm getting mightily pissed off now. The head has sent 4 letters out after I emailed each time saying she was infested.

AIBU to assume some parents are just dousing their kids in shitty chemicals and not taking the time to comb through and take time?

Are you all scratching your heads now?

I use an electronic nit comb. Comb through every few days. Someone in dd class doesn't get rid of them!

Hi there, very old infant teacher here. Ive managed to escape getting nits myself for 33 teaching years despite seeing them marching around every day. For me the trick is to give my hair a light coating of hairspray every morning .
Combing every last one out is the only way im afraid. Sadly not everyone is as conscientious as you ladies

Dd oft nits once. I found 1 live one pissed it out and squashed it. I dis condition and use thé comb but thé mode effective thing was to pick the eggs out one by one with my finger nails.

The sort of comb you use makes a difference too. I couldn't understand how dd1 and dd2 kept getting nits after 4 lyclear treatments and regular combing. I was using a metal-toothed comb that came with the lyclear shampoo. Tonight I used a white comb and it got loads of eggs out that the other comb had obviously missed. Unfortunately the comb is so good that I have to pick out each egg from the comb with a safety pin as they don't wash off. It's so time consuming. I feel so sorry for those kids whose parents don't bother. It must be so uncomfortable for them.

Goofy: use an old soft toothbrush to wash/brush out the eggs.

Wow 5 pages of this!

Thanks for the tips.

I'm thinking the vinegar on dry hair? That'll be an evening job.

Tomorrow I will add some tea tree drops to some olive oil and comb that through her hair before school, then french plait it. I've been out tonight so asked OH if he'd de nitted her at bath time and he forgot

I saw the head today, she is really polite and so have her letters home been so far. I told her she needs to get tough as people aren't taking notice. Next step move her to sit somewhere else.

DD has sandy old curls that fall down her back. She's had 3 hair trims in 7 years there's no way we could cut it short! We both love it. Without the nits.

Yes, vinegar on dry hair and really soak it. It isn't pleasant, but it breaks the breeding cycle very well.

knickernicker:- "I found 1 live one pissed it out and squashed it."

Wow! That is so impressive. You must have incredible aim and a very forceful stream! Not a lot of people could do that.

Gruntfuttock

I am not sure urine is acidic enough to have the same effect as vinegar though.

I've just come back to say thank you for the vinegar tip. Worked a treat and all 3 DDs are now egg free. They smell a bit like chips but that's a small price to pay :-D

for everyone.

all 3 DDs are now egg free.

Keep combing just in case

I do a preventative (and early detection) "nit brush" in the bath every Sunday night, using loads of conditioner
that contains dimethicone. This is silicon based and suffocates the live ones, and it also makes the comb go through the hair easier. I use a nitty gritty comb - the best £10 I've ever spent. If there are live ones, I dry the hair (with hairdryer), use Hedrin before bed, leave on overnight, wash off in morning before school.
Nits are right shits. And bastards.

Has anyone heard about neem oil? Apparently it is a traditional oil used in India (?) but I'm not sure if it's just a preventative (as a repellent.) It's sold by Neal's Yard. Might try some.

Should have written "traditional oil for the hair"...

You can see the eggs clinging on the hair and then the little beasts too.

My DD2 has spent many a happy hour studying the little horrors through her Zoomscope. They make me shudder unmagnified. I don't want to see them enlarged!

Ok can someone clarify.

Vinegar, normal table vinegar? I've got that and white vinegar.

Douse the hair in it? Leave for how long?

I got some daily hedrin spray last week to use in addition to what I've been doing. She went to school Friday covered in olive oil and tea tree and hated it as her hair looked greasy. Combed through every night and I'm still finding them. It's definitely the eggs and nothing I'm doing so far is killing them.

Whatever vinegar you have, it makes no difference, leave for about 30 mins. Douse hair as much as possible but be sure it doesn't run down the forehead and Get into the eyes.

I find it best To use cotón wool and work through the hair in small seccionas, starting at the scalp and work along the hair, much like you would for combing the lice out. Have a towel over the shoulders To catch any vinegar that runs don the neck.

I only have to read the word 'nit' and I start scratching everywhere from my head to my feet...

Sorry if it's already been mentioned but if you can get your kids to be really careful to not touch the other kids hair then they won't get nits. I know its obvious but some kids are so touchy feely. It may be worth a reminder.

Don't try to find ways of killing them. Just comb them out before they get the chance to reproduce. That is the most effective method.

Whatever you use on your child's head, the only really important thing is to comb well enough and often enough.

Hedrin is the best in my opinion - it just smothers the little buggers rather than poison them,so they don't become resistant.

That and regular combing. My DD forever had them when she was at primary. Then we used Hedrin when she was in year 6,(I think it was new out then) and never had a problem again. She's 16 now.

I hate it when you can see lice in children's hair...its an occupational hazard of working in a primary school! Haven't had any for ages,but my class teacher managed to get them recently! Eugh!

DD1 had lice and nits. DW bought some nitn'lice-shampoo from the chemist which nuked the little buggers in one wash. As we bought it in South Africa, it was probably poisonous to all life-forms including children.

I don't know if someone has mentioned this but once you are nit-free (this vinegar thing sounds brilliant) a daily spritz with the repellent spray from the Nitty Gritty people has kept us nit-free for terms now. I think it is a mix of all the things nits hate - tea tree, lavender, rosemary etc.

Goldmandra - I am combing every night. I also have another dose of Hedrin to do tomorrow. I've bought repellent shampoo and spray.

I used a magnifying glass as well as the nits were so close to the scalp I thought they might be glitter and my nails weren't shifting them. The vinegar shifted them right off.