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AIBU?

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Original poster

Really frustrated by parents inability to sort this out

86 replies

GigiB · 21/12/2015 22:20

I've just found about 20 nits/louse in my sons hair (again). The summer holidays we get clear, then each time he goes back to school from holiday after about two weeks he has loads of them. We got clear in October half term and then a week after i went through with the nit comb and found a massive one... I tell the school, then school puts it on boards, in news letters etc, but some people just can't be treating and don't seem to care that their kids have nits..!!

I have questions;
Do some people just accept that primary aged children have nits?
What else can you do other than email class parents and tell school?
Do i just keep treating my kids with chemical products when i know full well that they will get them back again..?

I use tea tree and all usual deterrents but i think its a real problem with some children at the school

The other thing that really really annoys me is that when i treat myself my hair dye fades - so its bloody expensive as well buy all product for the children i'm wasting money at the hairdressers!

Bring back the nit nurse

OP posts:
Theworldmakesnosense · 22/12/2015 00:51

My DD has changed primary schools
Twice due to moving around. First primary school the problem was constant, second less so and the school she is at now has sent home one letter since June. And she hasn't had a single nit in her hair. Parents are most definitely the biggest issue - be it laziness or lack of knowledge

Mmmmcake123 · 22/12/2015 01:00

A teacher I know told me that in one of the schools she worked they had to wait until one child was of the age where they could treat themselves as telling mum had been fruitless. The poor bairn had skin infections on her scalp but social services were already involved and nits weren't a priority in such a big family with other issues.

MammaTJ · 22/12/2015 03:59

Sorry but if you found 20, you are part of the problem. You are not checking frequently enough.

knobblyknee · 22/12/2015 04:32

Ordinary shampoo will kill them - you have to leave it on for 5 minutes and time it. They cant hold their breath for that long and they drown.

I worked that out after the same experience you are having!

hufflebottom · 22/12/2015 05:18

We've had 6 nit letters in class in 12 weeks.

I check dd every other day. Headrin was pointless. Treated her hair one morning before school (spotted them that morning) for her to come home with live ones in her hair with the treatment in that evening.

SweepTheHalls · 22/12/2015 05:22

I also use the nitty gritty preventer spray every time my kids leave the house and since doing that we haven't has a problem anymore. (touches wood).

lborgia · 22/12/2015 05:44

Just seen pp mentioned Hedrin. Glad you have it in UK, no smell, they can even sleep in it and neither sensitive precious child has reacted to it. Nits, on the other hand, die and the eggs seem to shrivel up.. Even DS1 who has the thickest hair the hairdresser has seen, finally got sorted with that.

We have 4 cousins who don't get treated (hair too long/too curly/ can't be arsed ) and I had two years of constant tears with my two trying to keep on top of it.

I saw one mum who is probably the most glamorous in the year, sitting at lunch once, with beautifully coiffed hair and make-up, and the BIGGEST nit I've ever seen casually crawling along her fringe. Normally I would tell someone if they have anything that they would want to know/be aware of (you know, laddered tights etc) but to my eternal shame I couldn't bring myself to mention it. Not relevant but you reminded me and I'm hot and cold thinking about it.

ivykaty44 · 22/12/2015 07:49

Olive oil unlike conditioner actually blocks the gills of the lice, so they are stundcinto sleep - but not dead. You need to smoothervtge hairvlibrally with olive oil and leave with a shower cap on over night or all day.

Then comb through stood on lino on newspaper with a bit comv Don't wash the hair until you have combed through. Stand near a sink so you can wash the comb after each comv through.

Then wash hair.
Repeat every three day for three weeks, as the new eggs hatch you will get more out of the hair.

You can put olive oil in the hair because this way as the lice transphervfrom another head in your child's hair they will go to sleep.

I used to use olive oil like a gel and put hair into high pony tail then plait.

I also used to straighten hairvto kill eggs on dry hair with the irons as they can't withstand the heat.

But to be honest once I stopped using the conditioning method, hedrin and used olive oil I only had to do the treatment once

I think most cases are reforestation of themselves due to eggs being missed. It's the three week rule that's important

Hedrin doesn't kill eggs only lice and then the eggs hatch and bingo dc has nits again and people blame others, when actually it's just the missed eggs hatching that where there for three weeks

Chopz · 22/12/2015 07:53

Nitty gritty at every hair wash. No need for treatments at all. I gong the bought treatments ineffective as a few always live.

TartanBirdFeeder · 22/12/2015 08:23

If he's got 20 or so then he's had them for ages, you aren't checking his hair enough. I've only ever found 1 or 2 in my DC's hair.

zzzzz · 22/12/2015 08:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NoSquirrels · 22/12/2015 08:37

I'm afraid I have to agree with others, OP - if you found that many and you haven't checked for over 2 sees, and lots were smaller, then I think you probably missed some eggs.

Sympathies, it is a bugger, but you really need to comb everyone every 3 days minimum after the first lot of treatment. Then when you think you are clear, do it at least weekly.

I have DC with very thick hair, as is mine, and it is a really awful time-suck. But you can't complain that other people aren't treating if you also might not be getting rid of every single egg. It's so easy for them to reinfest, you only need to miss one or two eggs for the cycle to start all over again.

YY to short hair cut and defence spray before school.

BalloonSlayer · 22/12/2015 08:39

I have learned through bitter experience that when one clears one's child's hair of nits, then a week later they have them again, and one is moved to rave: "SOMEONE at school isn't doing their child's hair properly!" then that someone is, unfortunately, oneself.

juneau · 22/12/2015 08:44

The head louse has (I believe) a 2-week life cycle. So on day one a louse walks on to your DC's head from the head of the DC next to him while they play on the iPad. That adult louse quickly lays eggs (nits) and a week later you can find juveniles in the hair. A week after that you will find adults and those adults can then lay more eggs and/or wander off to infect someone else's head.

IME the nits (i.e. the eggs) are very hard to spot due to their colour (pale brown), which blends in with most hair colours. And you only need to miss one of the little bastards for the whole cycle to begin again. And it only takes one nit on one head in a class of 30 DC. Its a wonder really that we aren't all permanently infested.

wallywobbles · 22/12/2015 08:48

With time all your kids can do themselves. We had friends over last week 2 boys and a girl ages 8 to 11. When I went to look at what they were up to they were all nit combing their hair while watching tv. Apparently the social stigma is a thing of the past.
My hair is the worst but one of my DDs decided to cut her hair to shoulder length to make it less awful to do.
We have just accepted this is the way it is.

wallywobbles · 22/12/2015 08:54

And we use Diatomaceous Earth using the t-shirt method. It makes them much easier to spot too. No chemicals, cheap and it seems to work.

HSMMaCM · 22/12/2015 08:55

I combed DD's thick curly hair with conditioner twice a week for the whole of primary school. I convinced the school nurse to give the year 5 and 6 children a talk on how to comb their own hair. Loads of them said their parents had never done it.

We've had a couple of letters home from secondary school, but DD smothers her hair in conditioners and oil herself now and has no problems.

Marmitelover55 · 22/12/2015 08:59

My DDs had a really awful infestation last year which repeated combing with the nitty gritty comb was not solving (they both have long very thick hair). Eventually I decided to try Hedrin Once and it really was a miracle. I put that on and left it for the required 20 minutes and then combed with the nitty gritty. I repeated this the following week and thankfully they were both finally nit free and have been ever since.

DancingDuck · 22/12/2015 09:01

OP, a chemist told me buy cheap tea tree conditioner and absolutely lather it on. About 1/3 bottle for each DC (who have short hair) Leave on for ten mins. Then nit comb out. After this always use tea tree conditioner on their hair at every wash, and wash hair every day or other day. Nits hate tea tree oil. DC never had nits again after than advice.

LumpySpaceCow · 22/12/2015 09:01

My DD seemed to have them constantly in nursery and reception. I would send her to school with nit free hair and she would come home with a big, fat louse!
I stopped using the chemicals and just used a nitty gritty comb and loads of cheap conditioner!

When I first find them I do her hair every day for a week until clear, then every other day and the 1-2 times a week. It's a pain but you really have to keep on top of it. I also do my own hair in the shower....only ever found one (shudder!)
She actually hasn't had any now for over a year 😀

WaitingForSnow · 22/12/2015 09:20

My Dd has bum length hair and we nitty gritty twice a week religiously. Seems to do the trick. Takes a while but that is part I'd having long hair and Dd is very good about it and actually enjoys it as she gets to stay in the bath longer :)

RubbleBubble00 · 22/12/2015 09:41

I get all my boys heads shaved at barbers. Not skin head but short. Seems to solve problem

VintageDresses · 22/12/2015 10:09

I thought that would protect us when mine were little Rubble. No3 crops all round. It didn't, but it did make the combing much easier

EddieStobbart · 22/12/2015 10:24

I think the small ones are really easy to miss. I've combed through the DDs hair and spotted a few large ones but when I wipe the comb on a cloth there can be loads of little ones which I would never have seen had I not wiped the cloth. In the summer DMIL was regaling me with DH nit stories and saying the DCs definitely didn't have any, she'd been brushing their hair every morning and no sign. Then I got out the nit comb and found lots of little nitty toddlers on the cloth.

DD1 has a plait every day for school now.

ludog · 22/12/2015 10:29

Dd3 who is 14 has had two infestations this year. Apparently selfies are to blame for a huge increase in headlice in teens. She was absolutely crawling the first time and I only saw them by chance as I was stood on a chair! She has really thick hair and it gets sweaty and itchy so she hadn't noticed it. The second time I was just checking her and found a few and treated again. It took a few weeks both times to be totally clear.