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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Anybody else spent 5 hours today…

149 replies

violetcuriosity · 07/09/2025 21:06

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?

OP posts:
Inertia · 07/09/2025 22:25

Not sure what’s best for mixed texture hair. My kids had long curly hair, and had head lice a few times. We found Hedrin Once and a Nitty Gritty comb to be most effective, but always repeated sections.

My top tips would be to comb in small sections divided up with hair clips, sit the child with an iPad or game console, and wear a bright head torch so you can see all the lice and eggs. You do become attuned to the shadowy movements!

Cruisinforcroissant · 07/09/2025 22:27

Squirt tea tree and or hair spray each morning - it’s supposed to be a deterrent. I also used to say “no whispering” in the hope of keeping heads a bit further apart. vamouse mouse used to work the best but was expensive.

Helpwithdivorce · 07/09/2025 22:28

We’ve managed 7 years at school and not had them until this year. But my GOD now that we have we can’t get rid of them. Just when I think they’ve gone they are back again. We’ve done the combing. But as soon as I think we’re safe and stop. BOOM. They are back. I feel like I’m going to be not combing their hair forever 😩
The comb won’t go through my hair so I just have to use the shampoo every week

Helpwithdivorce · 07/09/2025 22:28

We’ve managed 7 years at school and not had them until this year. But my GOD now that we have we can’t get rid of them. Just when I think they’ve gone they are back again. We’ve done the combing. But as soon as I think we’re safe and stop. BOOM. They are back. I feel like I’m going to be not combing their hair forever 😩
The comb won’t go through my hair so I just have to use the shampoo every week

TheaBrandt1 · 07/09/2025 22:28

Feel your pain op. Those with short haired boys or girls with Caucasian hair won’t understand. Dd1 has essentially dense almost Afro hair. Nit combing took hours. Hours. Dd1 would take the length of a long Disney film to properly de nit. . Dd2 took about 10 minutes. If you know you know - solidarity

SmellyNelliey · 07/09/2025 22:33

Coconut oil and Coconut shampoo and condition for in the future.

Pinkypup · 07/09/2025 22:39

Manysocks · 07/09/2025 21:34

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).

I was going to say this. Forget the treatment stuff. It’s just not worth it.
cheap conditioner because you will use a crap ton!

AnnoyedAsAllHeck · 07/09/2025 22:41

Aren't there shampoos and things that deter them? I think I bought my DGD shampoo and conditioner with rosemary and tee tree oil in it, and she never got them (thank goodness), though others in her class did. The schools, though, did a good job of keeping coats and stuff from getting mixed and that helped too.

I feel for you all. They were a big problem when my DD was in school. They were passed around like a "hot potato". And I am bug-phobic to boot.

Turquoiseteapot · 07/09/2025 22:48

Hedrin Once works brilliantly for our family

incognitomummy · 07/09/2025 22:50

Get yourself armed with Cheap conditioner, water spray, kitchen roll and the plastic nit comb set.

this set is the bees knees….. much more easier to see the lice / nits on the plastic coloured combs than on the metal combs.

https://ebay.us/m/tG7WAr
Head Lice Bug Buster Kit – 5 combs.

Brush through when wet and then start with the big comb and then the little ones. Keep the hair wet.

good luck. It will happen again 😧

fashionqueen0123 · 07/09/2025 22:54

Helpwithdivorce · 07/09/2025 22:28

We’ve managed 7 years at school and not had them until this year. But my GOD now that we have we can’t get rid of them. Just when I think they’ve gone they are back again. We’ve done the combing. But as soon as I think we’re safe and stop. BOOM. They are back. I feel like I’m going to be not combing their hair forever 😩
The comb won’t go through my hair so I just have to use the shampoo every week

We’ve not had them either and I’m shocked tbh as I remember getting them as a kid and my nieces and nephews have had them.

In my experience the best way to get rid of them when they’re resistant to the creams etc is just cover the hair in vodka. Leave in for a few mins then rinse off. This worked for me and then I told my SIL about it and she finally got rid of her kids nits after weeks!

TheaBrandt1 · 07/09/2025 22:59

The op knows what to do I’m sure. The issue is mixed race hair. It’s so dense. There is so much of it pre inch. It takes literally hours to comb through. It’s not comparable to Caucasian hair.

Choclabratwatowner88 · 07/09/2025 22:59

I managed to avoid them until I was about 15, caught them off my cousins. Managed to get rid of them pretty sharpish. Dd had them when we went into lockdown. Which is remarkable because she was off school for chicken pox for a week. I’d checked at the beginning due to an email sent out and absolutely nothing. She goes back for 2 days, then the lockdown was announced. Managed to finally get rid of them after trying about 5 different shampoos.

Theboymolefoxandhorse · 07/09/2025 23:07

fashionqueen0123 · 07/09/2025 22:54

We’ve not had them either and I’m shocked tbh as I remember getting them as a kid and my nieces and nephews have had them.

In my experience the best way to get rid of them when they’re resistant to the creams etc is just cover the hair in vodka. Leave in for a few mins then rinse off. This worked for me and then I told my SIL about it and she finally got rid of her kids nits after weeks!

Show quote history

This had me crying 🤣🤣 wondering how you got to thinking - I’m just going to Chuck a bottle of Glenn’s in it !!

sending solidarity @violetcuriosity ive got type 4c Afro hair and I’m starting to have a newfound respect for my mum and how she treated me and my siblings. My daughter has mixed hair and reading through this thread I wonder if homeschooling is worth it to avoid the aggro 🤣

DramaLlamacchiato · 07/09/2025 23:10

Ugh, so grim

my youngest managed to get them during lockdown ffs

NoNoNadaNo · 07/09/2025 23:24

My uncle who's a vet with 7 kids advised my mum to use Front line on me as I got them all the time as a kid. She was shocked, but then found out that the local nurses did the same to their kids. So she tried it. Used front line designed for small cats and I never had nits again!

PigletSanders · 07/09/2025 23:25

Do not bother with Hedrin Shampoo. It doesn’t kill them. I comb every week and treat once a month at the moment. There’s a child whose parents won’t treat, and they keep reinfecting everyone. Nightmare. Still, it’s better than the best clarifying shampoo. 😬

Thehop · 07/09/2025 23:27

Get a nitty gritty comb and do it every wash. It's the only way. Horrible things.

Sickoffamilydrama · 07/09/2025 23:27

Luckily mine are older although this thread has reminded DD to pack some treatment for uni apparently they often have them go around in the first year.

Both my DD have dark curly hair and we had a nightmare until I got into a routine.

So first thing is a silicone based treatment or suffocates them so they can't become immune to it.

With their hair we never stood a chance of getting all the eggs so whilst I combed to get the dead lice I didn't do it to get all the eggs.

Them the important part of retreat their hair after 5-7 days to get any newly hatched lice.

Them treat again in another 5-7 days, usually the 2 treatments would work but I'd still go for a third just in case.

Then hair monitoring I used to visually check their hair ( which is what my parents did when I was little) but soon realised they'd become infested before you saw the fuckers so I switched to every Sunday coming through with a nit comb with conditioner too check for lice.

Some people I knew combed their kids hair everyday with a nit comb but as you can imagine with curly hair that would have been horrible for them.

Good luck OP I don't miss those days, oh and tea tree or other preventive spray don't work I'm sure the boys just laughed at them 😉

Sickoffamilydrama · 07/09/2025 23:31

Just looked out up lol for a treatment with dimethicone only issue with silicones and curly hair is it can dry it out and make it knotty but I used to shampoo their hair a few times and then really condition it.

Sodastreamin · 07/09/2025 23:34

NoNoNadaNo · 07/09/2025 23:24

My uncle who's a vet with 7 kids advised my mum to use Front line on me as I got them all the time as a kid. She was shocked, but then found out that the local nurses did the same to their kids. So she tried it. Used front line designed for small cats and I never had nits again!

Genius! So once a month squirt a little pipette in one or two places on your scalp?!

PaxAeterna · 07/09/2025 23:45

Oh I really feel for you dealing with mixed textured hair. I have 3 curly kids and found it challenging enough. I bought the cheapest bottles of conditioner. Repeating the combing is soooo important. Otherwise you will continually suffer outbreaks as eggs hatch. NHS advice is to comb on day 1,5,9,13 and 17

With my child who has the longest, thickest and curliest hair I had to comb 3 days in a row to get out the initial outbreak.

Wowweee1234 · 07/09/2025 23:57

Newchapter35 · 07/09/2025 22:10

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 !

No you have not!!!! Your probably the parent whose kids repeatedly reinfest everyone else. Time to go to specsavers.