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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the NittyGritty comb isn't as good as everyone makes out?

40 replies

herethereandeverywhere · 31/03/2015 14:21

We are having our first family nit experience (hot on the heals of threadworms, kids are adorable little blighters aren't they?) Hmm

DD's were pointed out by the hairdresser (for maximum embarrassment!) I hadn't noticed them as they were so flippin miniscule - my reading prep. has said sesame seed sized - well yes if you slice it lengthways x10! I STILL can't tell you what an egg looks like though there were lots of tiny nymphs (babies) and just 2 lively adults (plus the one I picked from my own head - boak Envy)

Anyway, I followed the mumsnet nitty gritty mantra but some of the hatchlings were too small to be caught by the comb! DD has v. fine hair and I could see 3 tiny ones in a line on her hairline but the comb wasn't catching them. I picked them out by hand then worried they'd got lost in my fingernails. They really are so tiny (like less than half a hair's width) but about 2mm long. Heaven knows how many other small ones got missed. I know I need to keep combing every few days - but didn't realise that's because I needed to 'grow' them so the nitty gritty catches them Gah!

Also what DO the eggs look like? Aside from one big fat adult my head was producing nothing except the odd tiny white dot (round not long shaped like they are on internet pictures)...

And what are the chances of me being able to make a hairdressers appointment with a clean bill of health on Friday if I Hedrined and combed last night?

Scalp is actually sore and I can't tell if that's lice bites, chemicals or comb-gouging....Sad

OP posts:
KingJoffreyFanciesDarylDixon · 31/03/2015 14:26

It's all bollocks.

Use Easy Garlic mixed with olive oil. Rub well in, leave a couple of hours, wash out.

I was fecking about for over a year with DS's nits. Nothing worked. Did the Easy Garlic thing once and we've never had them again. Seriously.

Original poster
herethereandeverywhere · 31/03/2015 14:40

Wow! I expect you'd keep all life forms FAR away by applying that to your head (including friends and family).

How on earth do you get rid of the smell? Or is that part of the treatment?....

OP posts:
ghostyslovesheep · 31/03/2015 14:47

HEDRIN HEDRIN HEDRIN!

Hth!

LadyIsabellaWrotham · 31/03/2015 14:47

Yes, there is no way of extracting the babies manually. But the idea is that the Nitty Gritty will catch them as soon as they're full grown - ie old enough to breed, so if you do it regularly you'll break the life cycle - eventually.

Personally I swear by Hedrin which kills babies as well as adults - it leaves the eggs alive though which is why you need to do more than one application.

The eggs look like teeny weeny white teardrops. They are stuck to the hair shaft by superglue and cannot be removed by combing, only by draggjng your fingernails along the hair shaft.

ilovechristmas1 · 31/03/2015 14:49

ive got a good few eggs out with the comb

ilovechristmas1 · 31/03/2015 14:52

this happened to my son at the barbers,wasnt allowed to take him back for 2 weeks after spotted.And when we went back the barber took a good ten mins checking that they had all gone,so i think Friday's cut may be postphoned

MammaTJ · 31/03/2015 14:52

I get eggs out with the Nitty Gritty!

I think it is brilliant and will not put chemicals on my DCs heads for them to go to school the next day and bring home more of the little blighters!

redskybynight · 31/03/2015 14:53

The nitty gritty is held in high esteem because it gets out more than any other nit comb. Including the eggs which no other combs get out ime. You won't get out everything in one go though and I agree it depends on your DC's hair type how good it is.

Ughh · 31/03/2015 14:54

I get loads of eggs with a nitty gritty on fine hair. Use cheap white conditioner & wipe comb on kitchen towel after each comb through. You should be able to see them

SaucyJack · 31/03/2015 14:54

The nitty gritty is one of the few- if the only- combs that gets eggs out as well.

CuttedUpPear · 31/03/2015 14:57

My mate had a nit comb that she bought back in the eighties.
It was AMAZING I tell you.
Brought all the nits/eggs out with every pull through the hair.
I used to borrow it and could totally get our kids clear with no other treatment.
The nit combs available in the shops then, and now, have microscopically wider teeth so you always leave nits/eggs behind.
Leading to more sales of treatments.

It's a conspiracy I tells ya.

jeee · 31/03/2015 14:57

Hedrin (used in conjunction with N-G) was a waste of money.

Four children and several nit-outbreaks on, I have found the only effective treatment is lashings of value conditioner, and N-G twice a week for a fortnight, followed by weekly N-G treatments until hair has been a nit-free zone for at least a month.

As far as I can see Hedrin had no more impact than condition - it just cost a lot, and left hair so greasy that it took a bottle of shampoo to clean each child's hair.

I have wondered about commercial insecticides......

Charlotte3333 · 31/03/2015 15:02

It's not supposed to be good practise to use chemicals on children's hair so I put a few drops of tea tree oil into their shampoo and conditioner when they wash. They've only had nits once, but DS1 was riddled, to the point where I felt sick as he'd obviously had them a while and I'd not noticed. Minus ten parenting points.

Touching wood now but the tea tree oil seems to be working to repel them so far.

LittleFluffyMoo · 31/03/2015 15:02

You have to comb out the adults (with Hedrin/conditioner/other thick gloopy stuff) at least weekly so that they don't lay more eggs, which turn into adults etc. You'll never get all the eggs out with a comb.

The Hedrin based on insecticides (Malathion/pyrethroids) is virtually useless now, because so many strains of head lice are resistant to it. Only mechanical methods work for sure, but they have to be done regularly until all the lice have gone.

LittleFluffyMoo · 31/03/2015 15:05

FWIW I found some of the cheaper plastic nit combs worked much better than the more expensive metal combs.

My boys have now been nit free for years though because I chopped off their lovely long hair and they've had a regular short back and sides ever since. Apparently girls get head lice more often because of the longer hair and because they tend to get closer to their friends.

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 31/03/2015 15:10

I had great luck with the Nitty Gritty. Just keep combing until the eggs grow big enough to catch

crazykat · 31/03/2015 15:23

Hedrin mousse is brilliant stuff.

Dd had nits for ages due to one child in her class not being treated. I was combing every bloody day and never got them all. I used the hedrin mousse, left on overnight and washed out in the morning. This kills everything including eggs. You have to repeat a week later just incase which I did.

Just to be sure I used the hedrin gel a few days after the first lot of mousse which just suffocates any live nits.

I also put the mousse on myself, dh and the other dcs just to be sure. It was expensive to treat all of us twice as me and the dds have long hair plus dh and ds but it was worth it to get rid of the things.

I was getting that fed up of spending £££ we couldn't really afford, not to mention hours of combing and the associated whining from the dcs, that if dd had got them again I was going into school. A few other parents got there first though as it was obvious that one child's parents weren't treating them despite the child crawling with nits, the parents were called in and told to treat the child or they would be put in isolation until they were treated.

Squitten · 31/03/2015 15:29

I just had to treat my lot last night. We use Hedrin mousse overnight and the the next morning I wash it out and do a thorough condition and comb with the Nitty Gritty. You then repeat one week later. Works a treat!

DayLillie · 31/03/2015 15:30

I got on better with a flea comb from the pet shop - one with a decent handle on it makes the job much easier.

The glue sticking the eggs on starts to work loose after half an hour of elvive (and probably most others) conditioner soaking in. I used to get the F***s and a lot of the eggs in one go.

You need to make up lots of songs about hunting/counting/killing head lice to make it more fun Grin

Icimoi · 31/03/2015 15:34

My children only got nits a couple of times, and both times I treated them really effectively with one of those electronic nit combs. It worked on the basis that the noise cut out for a moment every time it zapped a nit, so it was really satisfying knowing exactly when they bit the dust.

wheresthelight · 31/03/2015 15:37

the headrin gel spray is fabulous and even got all the little buggers out of my 19 month old after dsc's kindly gave them to her.

regularly combing is the only guaranteed way unfortunately, every other day for at least a month and then twice a week til they have been clear for a fortnight.

we never get the dsc's free because their Dm refuses point blank to comb their hair and refuses to boil wash bedding etc

Sethspeaks · 31/03/2015 15:44

What Jeee said. Loads of experience here too. The NG is brilliant and Ng plus lashings of conditioner works. There are no shortcuts, it takes time as Jeee described.

howabout · 31/03/2015 15:47

I had a recurrent problem till I used Nitty Gritty twice a week for a month with loads of tea tree conditioner. Then changed to vosene shampoo on MN recommendation and not had any for years now. Do not like the idea of chemicals and they take acres of shampoo to wash out. Also one treatment is never enough and pointless if there is a reinfector at school.

LadyPenny · 31/03/2015 16:22

I have 6 dc and headlice used to be frequent guests in our house. Bought a NG about 3 years ago and haven't had a single louse since. I do a quick check once a fortnight using cheap conditioner.

MrsPeterQuill · 31/03/2015 16:55

NG comb was the only thing that got rid of ds's. Hedrin was totally useless.

You need loads and loads of conditioner and make sure you're combing behind the ears and at the neck where the hair meets it. Also the fringe, if they have one. (Ds has longish hair and that's where they were all living, especially the ears.)