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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that we wil soon be overrun with headlice as the treatment is prohibitively expensive.

125 replies

Ohnodisaster · 13/12/2014 00:34

Noticed that my dd had headlice for the first time earlier in the week so diligently informed the school and made a trip to the pharmacist to pick up some treatment.

Was informed that until last week certain treatments were free on prescription but now we have to pay-the treatments ranged from £14-18!

This seemed very expensive to me so set to work with the conditioner and a nit comb which managed to get the larger ones out but didn't catch the smaller ones. I spent about 45 minutes trying to get them out before admitting defeat and going out to buy the treatment.

How are people on low incomes or in difficult circumstances going to be able to afford either the cost of the treatment or the time to so a proper job with the conditioner?

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 13/12/2014 09:26

And my concern is more for other people-those with more than one child to check and delouse for example

I have 3 DC...there is currently an outbreak at their high school (ie: every single student seems to have nits!!! Grin) DS insists he has them, but he doesn't seem to...he's seems weirdly immune, and has only ever had them twice.

It just one of those parenting things, like homework and buying school shoes.

I'm off the sit them in the light and spend ages picking out every egg school of de-nitting.

eastmidswarwicknightnanny · 13/12/2014 09:30

Hedrin is only recommended treatment now and is safe for asthmatic n is expensive doctors health visitor n school nurse can prescribe at their discretion bit like doc can prescribe paracetamol and ibuprofen but equally can choose not to as can be brought over the counter.

bronya · 13/12/2014 09:35

When I taught, I nit combed every day after school. With my toddler, I do him (and me!) in the evening when we've been around other children (dry works fine to catch the big ones as we both have fine hair), then once a week with conditioner. One quick comb through daily takes about a minute.

fatlazymummy · 13/12/2014 09:44

rollon dettol is quite strong stuff. It kills them immediately. It's good for defleaing animals as well. It does burn a little bit though, so might not be best for very young children.

fatlazymummy · 13/12/2014 09:49

Also, as a precaution, tightly plait or put the hair in a bun, and spray with hair spray. I see a lot of little girls with their hair in a pony tail, or even just the top half in a ponytail, and it still moves around a lot.. My daughter's only had nits once and she always has it plaited or completely up.

ravenAK · 14/12/2014 04:46

Plaiting's good. Dd1 hates ponytails but will let me do a Katniss Everdeen single plait! This does seem to keep them at bay a bit.

But really, once you introduce long hair into a primary classroom the damn things are inevitable. Ds has gone all through primary with nary a nit (except that these days he seems to catch the odd one off his sisters) - the dds re-acquire them from classmates as fast as I can shift them - & I've no doubt the ones I'm not catching are being shared on.

I just try to start the week with everyone 'clear'...might give the Listerine a go before they go back in January.

alseb · 14/12/2014 08:33

DS had them this week. I went and bought the treatment, used it on all the family (at massive expense), washed bedding, bedtime toys and hats. Took hours. However, I am certain that the treatment works (used it a couple of years ago). I continue to be staggered by those who don't use treatments. How on earth can you guarantee that you have checked every single strand of hair? In my opinion this just continues this never ending cycle.

AgentAlice · 14/12/2014 09:00

And my concern is more for other people-those with more than one child to check and delouse for example The incentive to do it is greater the more DC's that you have imo!

I panicked the first time one of the DC's had nits and spent a fortune on stuff that didn't really work.

Now I stick to Listerine (under clingfilm rather than a shower cap) and regular nitty gritty combing.

Purplepoodle · 14/12/2014 09:31

Iv heard olive oil is amazing for killing them. Luckily I have ds's and shave their heads at first sign of nits. Plaiting must work to stop them as managed to avoid them all the way through school and always had my hair plaited or in a bun. Also used to only wash my hair once a week (used to be down to my knees) which I think helped

Purplepoodle · 14/12/2014 09:32

I miss the nit nurse

accessorizequeen · 14/12/2014 09:34

Erm, the treatment is free for children from pharmacies. You just have to fill out their form. Same for calpol etc.

piggychops · 14/12/2014 09:36

I've only ever used conditioner and a bit comb. Cheap as chips and the comb set was free from the pharmacy under the Minor Ailments Scheme (Scotland)

Mrsjayy · 14/12/2014 09:41

I know it is a pain but checking hair every week after the nits have gone doesn't really take that much time to do like others have said combing really is the most effective way to get rid of the bugers

PrimalLass · 14/12/2014 09:49

It's about a tenner, not £14-£18.

PrimalLass · 14/12/2014 09:52

My children both have ridiculously thick hair and there is no way I'd rely on conditioner and a comb. IME the parents that do are the ones whose kids keep spreading the lice. But that's based on a "one small class" sample.

Original poster
Ohnodisaster · 14/12/2014 09:52

Not any more apparently accessorize.
Had a realisation yesterday about the likely source-dd had her hair put into an amazing up do at the Christmas fair a week or so ago and I reckon they were transferred on the comb from the previous customer.
Will definitely be checking more often from now on.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohnodisaster · 14/12/2014 09:54

In the supermarket maybe primal but not in village pharmacy (where I'd gone because previously been told it was free)

OP posts:
pigwitch · 14/12/2014 09:56

There's one thing I dislike more than headlice and that's lazy parents who can't be bothered to treat their children with headlice. It's an endless battle at my dc's school. I'll comb through their hair everyday for a week and then the next day one will be infested with massive adult lice that they have caught from a child at school. Grr!

Petradreaming · 14/12/2014 09:56

Nitty gritty combs are fab and last forever. Tea tree oil once a week also murders the little b*stards....

GnomeDePlume · 14/12/2014 09:59

Trick I found for combing through with tea tree conditioner was to start with a broad tooth comb to get conditioner into the hair then use finer and finer combs (finally a use for one of those multipacks of combs!). Finish off with the nit comb.

DCs found this far less distressing than going straight to treatment mode. The combing was more like a head massage.

DCs also end up with beautifully conditioned hair!

MrsDeVere · 14/12/2014 10:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FannyFifer · 14/12/2014 10:00

The worst folk are the ones that use a treatment and don't bother combing at all, they think that's all they have to do.

DuploChaos · 14/12/2014 10:04

Pick up a little bottle of tea tree oil and put about 8 drops in every bottle of shampoo and conditioner you use. Keeps them away and even when nits are going round and school my DC never get them. Cheap too.

Goldmandra · 14/12/2014 10:06

I continue to be staggered by those who don't use treatments. How on earth can you guarantee that you have checked every single strand of hair? In my opinion this just continues this never ending cycle.

You have to make sure you check every strand of hair thoroughly whatever method you use. If you don't you run the risk of not killing them all.

People who treat with lotions then don't keep combing and conditioning to catch any they might have missed are the ones who perpetuate the cycle. They assume they have cleared them and then, when the couple they've missed grow and reproduce, they notice a few weeks later and assume it is a new infection from another child.

You don't need the lice to die in the hair; you need them to be removed and most people who use the treatments seem to find one or two rogue lice afterwards if they check carefully enough.

If you comb through thoroughly enough, often enough and for long enough with conditioner, you remove them from the hair before they have the chance to reproduce. I learned this the hard way when my DD shared a class with a child whose mother wouldn't treat them. After I became sick of spending so much money, I went to see the school nurse who told me that some of the reinfection was probably due to me overestimating the effectiveness of the lotion and she then explained how to remove them by combing and conditioning.

Combing and conditioning turned out to be far more effective and has saved me a lot of money and frustration.

cruikshank · 14/12/2014 10:14

Oh, I don't know about that, FannyFifer. I think the poster upthread who said that a minute's worth of combing was all it took is the one who is making me shudder.

Everyone does it differently. I prefer the chemicals and then combing once a week as maintenance. Mind, I am a single parent with very thick hair so if the dc get them I have to treat myself anyway, so I figure I might as well treat everyone and have done with it - no-one here to check my hair, and much as I do love my friends I wouldn't ask them to nit-comb me every three days for a fortnight. Nor, tbh, do I have the time/patience to do it for the kids either.

Btw you don't need to wash bedding/hats/toys etc - headlice don't live for very long once off the head.