...to think that my husband ought to be able to spot head lice as well?

[duchesse]

Cos at the moment, I'm the only one I trust to reliably spot the little buggers. This means that there is no-one to check ME, which means that when we have lice in the house (as we do at the moment) I could be walking around like a human fleabag shedding them onto everybody all the time. Since I already have a very sensitive scalp, that is itchy and sore most of the time, I can't rely on that to tell me.

I just want to know if I have nits! Isn't that a human right or something?

YA soooo NBU!

I have exactly the same problem - both the sensitive, itchy scalp and the 'ooh, I don't know what I'm looking for' DH.

The one occasion dd has had them in her short life, I treated myself as a matter of course, even though DH couldn't see any (after I forced him to stare at my scalp for about 5 seconds) because I felt all crawly at the thought of them - oh, it really annoys me!

It's not even like it's a 'learned helplessness' thing, like the ironing/putting clothes on dd issues, it's not like I ever knew what nits looked like before either! Grr....

Exactly- I just think he easily could if he wanted to enough. He just don't give a damn apparently.

But does he expect you to check his head too?

That's what I find really infuriating!

No YANBU but my dh is exactly the same, even when I tell him kids have got nits and he wet combs their hair he fails to see even one unless I point them out to him - useless twunt

My dh is exactly the same. It's too much effort and there's not enough brownie points attached. I mean it's not something he can brag about down the pub is it, being expert at spotting/removing nits ?

Lovecat- I don't think he expects me to, but I do anyway cos it's pointless one of us going around shedding bug-ger-s on the rest of us...

you can wet comb on yourself to detect them, no need to rely on dh

Same problem here.
It means I have ot do the girls hair each time as I don't trust him to a0 do it properly or b) spot anyhting.

youre not being unreasonable but my dh is exactly the same, whenever we have had nits I have to wet comb my hair to check cos when Ive asked him in the past he says he cant see anything and then Ive combed them out of my own hair. It drives you mad, how do men run the world when they cant even identify a bloody head louse!!

Yanbu, dh and I share the lovely job of checking for nits, he is as good as me for getting rid of them.

Yes, and I do, DarthVader. It's just not possible to get them all when you can't see them, or see any nit sites.

It didn't even occur to me to ask DH to check me when DD got some. I nit-combed my hair after washing with lots of conditioner on it, wiping the comb on a white cloth between strokes. That showed quite clearly I had the buggers too.

I have found nits in DDs hair by wet combing when I couldnt spot them in her hair, so I don't really think having someone else just look is too useful anyway.

DH wet combed his own hair too, its not that he's helpless just I think its better to DIY.
(of course, being short haired and male he didnt have any)

Let's face it, (some) men are crap at that sort of thing. My dh would never do this - and wouldn't know what to look for anyway.

The best thing to do is comb your hair through with a nit comb as a precaution anyway if you're itchy.

Bad luck.

In our household my partner is the nit-spotting king. My stepsons' mother is totally unaware her children have lice and doesn't think its her job to treat them if they do, so stepson no 2 is very infested right now .

So no, it's not a male/female thing at all.

Anna - does your infested stepson have long hair, as a matter of interest?

Caroline - yes, to my chagrin. But I have made an appointment with a compliant hairdresser for a new, short cut tomorrow afternoon . Stepson will protest as usual but actually he looks much better with very short hair (unlike his brother, who really needs long hair).

My xh hands the kids back to me at bed time on a Sunday night with " by the way ,they have nits" so we all have to get up early on a MOnday am to de-nit

Feel your pain- I spent an hour treating DD again last night. I found a louse just before handover to X on Saturday so told him to treat her. Just thought I'd have a peek last night and her head was still infested. He might as well have rubbed chocolate on her hair He doesn't give a shiny shite because he won't have to do the every-3-day shebang. Bastard!

Rant over

My DP doesn't deal with nits either! I do have a good friend who will check my hair for me though!

DH finds wet combing my hair quite relaxing
The last infestation I did the DC's (although DS did himself quite successfully due very short hair) and DH's hair then he did mine. My hair is half way down my back and he spent a happy hour and a half or so combing it. He's quite picky in general though and a bit of a perfectionist.

Hmm I dunno. I wouldn't know what to look for either. I have never had lice and nor have my kids so I have no idea what they look like. Tell him to look for a picture on the internet then he will know?

The only way I can find lice is by wet combing with the nitty gritty comb. Just looking for them, I can never find any.

DH is useless. I asked him to check mine and he said I was fine, when I combed there were loads of them

Yanbu. I have been battling with the little bastards for the past few weeks. Both dds have them, caught from pre school.

Dh has not been involved at all. He hasn't a fucking clue. I have a Nitty Gritty comb too, so I'm checking every few days, and their hair is plaited tight.

I find it exasperating, as it's a vicious circle. I'm not happy that dh does bog all when I'm sat nit picking.

I too have a sensitive scalp (psoriasis), so wouldn't know if I had them just by itching. I've had the comb through mine, and have nothing on my comb but flakes chunksof skin from the psoriasis.

So with you op.