Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think it is ridiculous that in todays Britain schools have head lice problem?

172 replies

judyta101 · 15/01/2017 15:20

The head teacher in my DS school regularly sends out letters: 'head lice alert!', 'check your child's hair today for unwanted visitors'. DS who is now 7 got head lice twice in the last six months - first time I had to google it as never seen it before. I was terrified and run fast to the nearest chemist. We moved to the North West over a year ago, but also had the letters in previous school in South Wales.
I have lived in the UK for long time now, but I was born and brought up in Eastern Europe, went to school in the eighties, heard someone had head lice once or twice, it had never spread, never been a problem. Never heard about it at the university or the school I was teaching at.
I asked my SIL (a retired teacher) about it - she laughed it off saying her granddaughters (teenagers now) get it now and again too.
Is it so common and normal that it's just a part of a school life? Am I unlucky to live where it is a problem? Are people not bothered by head lice?

OP posts:
ilovewelshrarebit123 · 15/01/2017 19:16

Part of the problem is people are to quick to put the treatments on and fail to comb.

Unless it's a bad case I don't treat, I just comb, comb and comb until I find nothing.

I have a friend whose kids are riddled, she puts treatment on. Sees the dead lice and thinks that's all she has to do. Then despairs a week later when they're back again!

Combing is the only answer, Nitty Gritty is by far the best comb I've used to.

ilovewelshrarebit123 · 15/01/2017 19:18

I think there's a programme on this week about them to and how they've built up a resistance to treatments Sad

Headofthehive55 · 15/01/2017 19:22

You can't just treat that night though and solve the problem. In reality it takes three weeks to ensure you are clear without meeting others in that time.
I think a lot of the problem is that parents "check" by looking at the hair rather than by combing, thus believing that they don't have them. If you only have one or two you are unlikely to spot them by doing that.
Parents also think they are OK as they have "treated" them, but fail to continue to comb.

Headofthehive55 · 15/01/2017 19:23

IT was rife in the 70s - mum worked in public health...

Acornantics · 15/01/2017 20:16

I combed out a live one this evening. Shock. Quite disgusting but fascinating all the same.

First timer here, what do I need to do after applying overnight Hedrin? Shortish hair, older DC.

ohdarling · 15/01/2017 20:18

There's a mum at dd's school who is always complaining that she treats her kids and then they get re-infected by children whose parents 'just don't care'. Thing is, I saw this mum at school last week - long hair, tied up on top of her head, and there were clearly lice eggs behind her ears.

It's her. She's re-infecting her own kids (who are infecting everyone else's kids in turn). No way of telling her though.

Headofthehive55 · 15/01/2017 21:04

Comb all the family every three days for three weeks acorn

Best to section the hair use lots of conditioner (leave it on) and do small sections, wipe special lice comb on kitchen roll each sweep. Lice live very close to scalp, so take care that you don't miss them.

SaorAlbaGuBrath · 15/01/2017 21:06

it's her. She's re-infecting her own kids (who are infecting everyone else's kids in turn). No way of telling her though
Next time she complains just tell her that she's got them, you can see them.

Acornantics · 15/01/2017 21:26

Thanks head, will give it a good go! Neither the lotion nor the pharmacist mentions combing.

Potentialpoochowner · 15/01/2017 21:44

Has anyone else noticed their head becoming suddenly itchy whilst reading this thread?

wtffgs · 15/01/2017 21:46

The DCs who cause mass outbreaks of head louse infestations are filthy.

That's arrant nonsense. Naice clean kids get nits too. Mine bathe or shower every night. They've still had nits repeatedly. Persistent failure to treat headlice is regarded as neglect but not enough alone to warrant outside agency involvement.

ROFL at the Eastern-European-kids-don't-get-nits argument from OP Hmm

ceeveebee · 15/01/2017 21:54

Well our school definitely does tell parents as we had one little girl in my DDs reception class sent home this week and a letter went out same day

thanksamillion · 15/01/2017 22:38

My DC went to school in E Europe and didn't get nits but all the boys had number 2 cuts (or shorter) and all the girls had their hair plaited every single day. Since we've been back in the UK the girls have had it once but as soon as the notice goes up at school they know they're back to plaits.

Original poster
judyta101 · 15/01/2017 22:44

wtffgs
I'm not saying Eastern European kids don't get head lice. I'm saying it wasn't an issue some 30 years ago in a country I grew up in. Perhaps things have changed there for worse now, I don't know.

OP posts:
Lapinlapin · 15/01/2017 22:58

pooch I'm really itchy after reading this thread!

Can I ask a question to those experienced nit combers?

Is it easy to spot nits? Some people have mentioned nits being visible in other people's hair. I thought they weren't that easy to spot?

I keep combing my ds's hair to check for nits and have never found any. However, I can help but think I don't really know what I'm looking for. I keep reading descriptions, but I still feel none the wiser. It doesn't help that he's got quite dry skin, so occasionally I think I've found something and it's just a bit of dandruff.

WorraLiberty · 15/01/2017 23:02

I'm not saying Eastern European kids don't get head lice. I'm saying it wasn't an issue some 30 years ago in a country I grew up in. Perhaps things have changed there for worse now, I don't know.

Which country did you grow up in?

TeethDrama · 15/01/2017 23:04

OP - how do you know if other children had nits or not though, they wouldn't have advertised which if any children had them to the rest of the class, surely?

Bluesrunthegame · 15/01/2017 23:15

I'm with the person who suggested hair type can influence who gets nits. DS1 and his dad have similar hair, coarse textured, quite thick hairs. They have never had nits. The rest of us have finer hair, thinner hairs and a smoother texture. We suffered! Lice liked our hair, they didn't like DS1 or his dad's.

My mother, with similar hair to DS1 and his dad, has also never had them despite working with small children in at least one job.

I treated with conditioner and tea tree oil and a nit comb, every night for a week after discovering an outbreak, then every other night for a week or so. Held them at bay, but could never assume they wouldn't come back. All ended when the DCs went to secondary.

Original poster
judyta101 · 15/01/2017 23:17

TeethDrama

Obviously ds got it from somewhere and the only place he could get it from is his school. Letters only say head lice reappeared again, no names.

OP posts:
Steamgirl · 15/01/2017 23:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 15/01/2017 23:36

Is it easy to spot nits? Some people have mentioned nits being visible in other people's hair. I thought they weren't that easy to spot?

Not unless you get lucky, or they are riddled no.

DD now gets nit combed once a week to check, that is the only way to check properly. I suspect that might be why some parents thing their kids don't have lice as a visual check is not enough. FWIW I have only ever found a couple of eggs in DDS hair, despite the wisdom being that you are more likely to spot eggs than lice.

Headofthehive55 · 16/01/2017 00:00

No they aren't easy to spot. They are often light brown - body about 3 MM. long. Unless you comb with conditioner in the hair they grip tightly to the hair when disturbed and you can't comb them out easily.
It's only when the child is heavily infested that you might spot white egg cases or a louse. Otherwise it's like a needle in a haystack.

Twinkladdictmum · 16/01/2017 00:00

Back in the day, i was a product manager for a range of headlice treatments. They contained permathrin and some other insecticide. They also worked on lice and scabies. Then we had to change the highly effective active ingredients as there was a study that if rats were force fed it, they developed cancer.

Twinkladdictmum · 16/01/2017 00:02

Theres also something in the kind of hair nits like too. Thick wiry hair seems to be more affected than soft thin whispy hair.

Bluesrunthegame · 16/01/2017 00:11

Twinkladdict - bang goes my theory, it was the people with the coarser hair who didn't get the lice in my family, us with the finer hair were regular louse hosts. Now I'm wondering about things like blood group, although I realise this is totally off the wall.

I discussed this with a black American friend when we were in the middle of an utter head louse storm and he said he didn't think black people got headlice, he'd never had them and neither had anyone in his family, according to his mum.