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Original poster

to be shocked my friend brought her kids round riddled with head lice again!

74 replies

mummytowillow · 15/03/2015 19:28

A few weeks ago I spent five hours in total helping my friend get rid of her kids head lice.

They were riddled and it took forever to comb them through. Hmm

She is a bit clueless and I advised her to comb every few days to ensure everything had gone.

I've got them for a sleepover tonight, she's just dropped them off and said 'oh they've got lice again and I've not treated them yet' WTF!

My DD hasn't had them yet but it's odds on she will now. She has very long hair and I know it will be a nightmare.

What I should have done is grown a pair and told her to take them home. But as she's going out I just bit my lip!

I'm such a mug am I not?

OP posts:
Cookiesallforme · 15/03/2015 21:47

I'd be fuming. What a liberty.

Cheeky cow. Tell her to get her arse back round to collect them and to de- lice them herself.

I certainly wouldn't have them sleeping in my beds.

Like pp have said, that's a really mean thing to do to you.

BigRedBall · 15/03/2015 21:50

Make them wear a hat or bandana in bed fgs. They'll crawl to any nearby head.

SoonToBeSix · 15/03/2015 21:50

If she isn't going to home tell her to soak dc hair in yellow listerine and cover heads in shower caps leave for two hours then rinse and wash. If she does this on days 1 , 7 and 14 she don't need to comb as it kills eggs. Still be good to comb dead eggs out though as they look unsightly but not essential.

Artus · 15/03/2015 21:51

Pharmacy First is only available in certain areas. Where it is available certain medicines are supplied free of charge for "minor ailments". You'd have to ask a local pharmacy if it is commissioned in your area.

Charlotte3333 · 15/03/2015 21:51

Nope I wouldn't have other people's children over if they had headlice. My DS' have only had them twice, both times this year. I use Vosene nit-repellent shampoo now, and the nitty gritty comb is beyond brilliant.

Head itching now. Must not scratch.

Haroldhadrada · 15/03/2015 21:51

I too want to know what Pharmacy First is, I've spent a fortune on Hedrin in the past. Hedrin Once doesn't work on my dc, only the one you leave on overnight and repeat after 7 days

SoonToBeSix · 15/03/2015 21:51

Comb not home!

butterfly2015 · 15/03/2015 21:58

I'd be fuming. My youngest is lice free for all school holidays but the minute she's back at school gets them again. She has very long hair which is always plaited and I've spent hours combing out her hair only to find she's infested again three days later with adults. It's such a problem at her school that recently the school (via the council) issued comb kits with instructions to every child to take home. We live in an area where the average house costs a small fortune and most mummies drive their kids in a 4x4 but they don't treat their kids hair?

I used to live in an area considered deprived and neither of my kids ever had lice in 13 years. In three years here we've had upwards of 50 cases ....If anyone deliberately brought their kids to my house knowing they had them I'd have sent them home.

Lucyccfc · 15/03/2015 22:05

I must admit, I would have told her that they were not staying.

I had to do this with my DSIS a few months ago. Was having my Nephew for the weekend while she worked and she phoned me up about an hour before he was due to arrive to let me know he had nits. She said that she hadn't had chance to treat him and would do it after the weekend. I love my DSIS, but she got told very firmly to p&ss off. I told her to take time off work, treat him and then bring him round.

glenthebattleostrich · 15/03/2015 22:58

Butterfly, try hedrin leave in conditioner / anti nit spray.

It really works and a bottle lasts ages

JustDerppingAround · 15/03/2015 23:03

I can't believe you let them stay. I wouldnt expose my DD to headpice. I know they are dangerous but it's very unpleasant to have them.

Yabu to let them stay.

madamginger · 15/03/2015 23:08

In my area it's called care at the chemist not pharmacy first and hedrin is free on it for under 16s

butterfly2015 · 16/03/2015 09:28

Thanks glen, will try that. Fingers crossed, since the combs were issued we've been free of the little buggers.

TheCowThatLaughs · 16/03/2015 09:38

What are people who are unnecessarily spraying their houses and cars, spraying them with, just out of interest?

DowntownFunk · 16/03/2015 09:57

Another mumsnetter kept the headlice she combed out of her kid's hair in a wee box and they lived for a day or so.

Last time my kids had live ones they lived for an hour or so in the empty ice cream tub I put them in.

We're about 5 weeks nit free in our house currently (they're rife at DDs' school). I check for them once a week, treat if I find any and spray their hair with pound shop nit spray or boots coconut leave in conditioner every morning, regardless of nit status at school.

Don't use the Vosene nit spray. It smells so bad it makes my kids cry and stinks up the whole house.

If my kids are invited on a sleepover and have been recently treated for nits I tell the other parent. Mine aren't ever infested now though because I check regularly, the most I will find is a couple per head, not like the first time I discovered them ... they had hundreds each Blush

csivillage · 16/03/2015 10:12

Reading this thread is making my head itch!

One question, there are a number of parents at my child's school that refuse to use chemicals on their children so will ONLY use a comb. However, their children are always ridden with lice.

The Chemist said that whilst a comb does work, you have to comb and comb and comb and comb. On a boy with short hair, using conditioner with a comb should take you no less than half an hour.

Lots of parents with girls with long hair think combing for 5 mins or so will be enough. It isn't! It can be hours.

The problem is that parents don't realise this/get bored after a max of 15 mins.

BLOODY USE CHEMICALS!!!

muminhants · 16/03/2015 10:13

I didn't think that lice could live away from the hair for long, but a friend who is a hairdresser said that when she worked in a salon (she works from home since she had kids) they caught one off someone's hair and kept it in a jar and it lasted for a few days!

Hedrin is good, but actually, conditioner and the Nitty Gritty comb works very well for less money. I hate headlice, have a real phobia of them!

Sethspeaks · 16/03/2015 11:42

I've never used chemicals on dd. Lashings of conditioner and the nitty gritty comb has worked. If they are riddled it's a case of thorough combing in all directions, then repeat every 2-3 days till they are gone. After that a once weekly comb in the bath would just monitor whether any newbies had landed. Constant weekly monitoring stopped it getting out of hand while dd was in primary. I/she still check now if she goes to her Dad as her dad's gf has a younger one or if she's been around younger children.

It's about breaking the life cycle.

Dsd used to be riddled and after she went back to mum, I'd check dd. There'd often be none on her and even if there were it'd be just a few that were easily combed out. For us its just been a routine practice to check during bathtime for many years.

With dsd I'd do what I could while she was with us as mum wasn't treating her. If was with us for the holidays then I could give it a real good seeing to and I would use chemicals. But it was pointless on a weekend, so it was just a case of doing what I could.

Just keep it in perspective, your little one may or may not have them now - but you can easily comb them out with conditioner. A nitty gritty comb is the best I have found, any others are pretty useless. I was gobsmacked at the difference when I first got one. I had thought I was getting everything out but I wasn't.

DinoSnores · 16/03/2015 13:49

"The Chemist said that whilst a comb does work, you have to comb and comb and comb and comb. On a boy with short hair, using conditioner with a comb should take you no less than half an hour."

This is a very odd statement. A boy with short hair really can be done in a matter of minutes, rather than an arbitrary 30 minutes.

You also really don't need to use chemicals.

You comb until you've gone round the whole head, making sure you've got to the roots, removing all the adults and as many eggs as you can. Then you repeat it 48 hours later, and then 48 hours later and then so on for a fortnight until you've managed to get all the young ones before they reach maturity and have laid more eggs.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Head-lice/Pages/Treatment.aspx

(I am a doctor, not a pharmacist, and the one time we've had lice, I went for wet combing. We've never had them again.)

LittleBairn · 16/03/2015 13:54

I would have sent the kids home with her its just not on.
I've known people like her they like to pretend to be clueless and helpless but they are in fact lazy people who know how to target 'friends' to do all the grunt work for them.
One particular friend I knew kids constantly had nits for years with her kids heads being constantly de-nitted by Friends and family. Funnily enough once people started to wise up and refuse to have her kids over she suddenly managed to keep their heads nit free.

Only1scoop · 16/03/2015 14:02

Agree LittleBairn

HighwayDragon · 16/03/2015 14:14

I can't treat dd, she has scalp psoriasis and can't use harsh chemicals on it, just had to condition and comb (carefully)

justforonceanonymous · 16/03/2015 15:56

Csi I cant treat my youngest with chemicals either not that it bloody works for us anyway. Plus its too bloody expensive when u have 4 dc

Last time I used chemicals they still bloody had them a week later and thats putting 2 lots on one week apart and combing like hell in between.

So nope I use loads of conditioner and nitty gritty for 2 to 3 weeks at a time if they get an infestation, and comb like hell for ages. Once clear I run the comb through twice a week and it's fine. Done properly you dont need to use chemicals

I get more annoyed with parents who dont use the chemical stuff properly, those who don't repeat the treatment or think they dont have to comb through as well. I think the chemical stuff lulls people into a false sense of security sometimes

ArcheryAnnie · 16/03/2015 17:44

When those of you say "chemicals", do you mean "insecticides"? Because Hedrin isn't an insecticide - it smothers them (both lice and eggs), if it is used properly. That also means the nits can't develop a resistance to it, either, they way they did to some of the insecticide treatments.

Viviennemary · 16/03/2015 17:47

You were too nice and she's taken advantage. Send them home till they are lice free. You're not the local nit nurse.

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