Anybody else spent 5 hours today…

[violetcuriosity]

Treating and combing out nits from their children’s hair? I don’t know how but this is our first rodeo. I remember it from when we were growing up but fuck me that was hard work and absolutely vile. All girls with beautiful mixed texture, long hair which was ideal for mass de-licing on my own 😂. The youngest is two, she was basically imprisoned in her high chair for an hour and a half while I did her. I don’t understand the infestation life cycle as I do their hair every morning and hadn’t noticed anything amiss and suddenly today there was a fucking farm in the baby’s hair 🫠. I got nothing else done that I needed to and now it’s back to work tomorrow. Not really an AIBU but how do I make sure they’re gone for good? Comb every few days?

Yep, and for the third bastard time this summer. Sunday funday 🤣 I don't reckon all the eggs were properly killed by the nit shampoo- my advice is wet comb every night or so for eggs and make sure you check back in a week and a fortnight in case any have escaped the comb!

If your kids are mixed, use a ton of leave in hair cream with a bit of tea tree in, it works a treat! Also, avoid braiding, mine ended up with them going up through the braids once, traumatic for everybody.
You can only check the hair when it's wet with conditioner on it, if you check dry you won't see the lice.

Look up NHS bug busting. Tresemme conditioner works great on mixed hair. Comb through every three days for two weeks, all kids the same day, and you'll fix it.

Thank you for the advice. I think they’re at an advantage over me, I’ve just done mine and pretty sure I’ve ripped out 50% of my fine, Caucasian hair with it 🤣 didn’t find any lice but I’m itching now. I’ll do them again on Tuesday.

I can’t speak for mixed texture hair, but cheap conditioner and a Nitty Gritty comb (gets the eggs out too) works brilliantly for us (long, fine caucasian hair).

Nitty Gritty comb is the only thing that's worked for us. Nit shampoo never does anything, just conditioner and combing every other day.
My daughter was infested with them, it's a nightmare trying to get rid and so time consuming.

We also found the lotion does nothing - masses of conditioner and combing every 3 days worked EVENTUALLY. I only had to do mine and DS about 3 times each but I'm pretty sure DD was 10 times.
If you put enough conditioner on your Euro hair it shouldn't pull out though.

Now I'm itching.

I used vinegar and olive oil when my DDs were younger. DD2 was sensitive to all commercial treatments and a friend suggested the alternative.

The vinegar dislodges the eggs, and the oil kills the adults. Only olive oil or coconut oil, cheapest options.

To avoid the vinegar running into eyes I mixed the two. Saturate the hair and wrap in a towel for 30 minutes. Then comb through and wash their hair. Repeat after 7 days, any eggs missed should have hatched by then.

Nitty gritty will tear afro hair to shreds, just the plastic chemist combs will do

The only lotion that worked here was the nasty super drug acid one and a nitty gritty comb. Problem is once the class have them, there will always be one parent who neglects to do the treatment or thinks it's fine or is a bit shit.

I’m sure my kids abiding memory from childhood will be sitting every Sunday night watching a movie while I nit combed their hair. They’re past that age now, thank God but the only time they had a reprieve was during lockdown. They’re past were back at school 1 week (with all the lockdown measures in place) when it started all over again. I swear nits would survive a nuclear winter.

My understanding is that most nit shampoos will kill the live ones but won't necessarily kill the eggs. So the eggs will continue to hatch and the nits will breed within a week or so and another week later there are more eggs.

Not sure if the exact timings.

So you need to shampoo to get rid of the live ones, then shampoo again - maybe 5 days later to get rid of the first lot hatchlings before they breed, then again in another 5 days to get rid of the rest of them before they breed, then again 5 days later to be on the safe side. But I might be wrong on the timings.

I don't think there is anything that successfully gets rid of live ones and eggs at the same time.

It was a faff.

Wash and condition hair every day, and wash very well while wet. For school, try coconut oil with a few drops of tea tree as deterrent.

God I feel itchy now!
We have still escaped somehow (3 and 6) but it's up there with most horrible childhood ailments

Shave everyone. Embrace the bald look. It's the only way to stay clear of the creepy little buggers.

I jest (sort of).

You have my utmost sympathy OP. Nits are really horrible and they're an absolute bastard to deal with. Loads of good advice on this thread so I won't repeat it again, but just solidarity.

This has always been my worse nightmare but somehow we have avoided it for all 11 years of having children 🤣 I wonder why ??
DD is 11 and has long curly hair and never seen any. I know it’s luck and you have all my sympathy OP !

Yes I have! Spent four hours on Tuesday - just what I wanted to do on the last day of the school holidays. DD picked them up during the holidays and passed them on. I will
probably get rid of them just in time for another infestation in a few weeks from school!
I was itching today so spent an hour doing mine - didn’t find although so much hair came out it should be easier next time!

No but I did spend over 2 hours picking caterpillars out of the box hedges which is very similar. Especially the way it’s a never ending cycle with having to deal with the eggs 🤢. So gross.

DDs last weeks at school and she came home with them. Had them 3 times in all her years at school and then the final few weeks ever and HELLO
what is the point of headlice

Theee children . I hit a low point when a louse crawled across the baby’s forehead at 8 months old .
the only thing that worked was conditioner every other day with a nit comb. I always did mine too .
I would do it while they sat playing in the bath or in front of a movie .
Do rhat for a few weeks and then once a week .
They went to high school and we never had them again.

My kids are 8 and 10, they have never had it nor have I or my mum. Is there a reason why some people don’t get it?

Coconut oil saved my sanity the eggs just slid off the hair

My DD-now a newly qualified teacher so good luck to her- had very long hair and she constantly had what we referred to as psychological nits.
Any time anyone had them or scratched she immediately thought she had them.
We had every product there was and I spent hours of my life combing her hair for the non-existent nits.
She never had them.
Although I am itchy just posting this

After an infestation when my daughter started nursery, when by the time I realised they were in her hair, they were also in my hair (my husband assured me they weren't, but they most definitely were) and her baby brothers, the sheer mention of the word nits makes my scalp itchy! Subsequently I obsessively plaited my daughter's hair the entire way through primary school and we only got it once more in all the primary years. As others have said conditioner and a comb is the only thing that worked here, and doing it daily/every other day until you've combed several times and found nothing. A massively time consuming job.