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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to scream from the hills Nitty Gritty combs and conditioner do NOT eradicate nits!!!!!!!!

88 replies

MilaMae · 21/10/2009 19:55

I have yet to meet anybody who thinks otherwise and I'm sick of letters/GPs fobbing me off with the supposed miracle cure of "teatree conditioner and a Nitty Gritty comb".

I have combed and conditioned every which way every person in the house, it does NOT work. You miss one the side of a pinhead it lays masses of eggs and voila!!!! The only thing I've found to work is Hedrin on everybody in the house then repeating a week later. At £10 a bottle X 5 it's £££££££ but at least it works.

Was wondering if anybody has tried vinegar,was thinking the acid must be able to kill nits instantly. DP thinks I'm bats but I'll try anything if it means I don't have to go through the nightly screamfest of combing dd's waist length wavy hair with a Nitty Gritty comb-when it doesn't work anyway.

OP posts:
chickydee · 21/10/2009 21:23

abra1d....I too am a frontline user. ussed it years ago on my dd, who has long thick hair, and she hasn't had them since!!!
My son had them once, he's 7, but again, not had them for years, i find it gets rid AND they stay away too.

Very unorthadox,but i know of a few mums who've used it in desperation, and their kids are all still nit free.

Cutting hair, however short, doesn't work,cut my son's hair to a number 1 and he looked like a thug and still had nits.

jybay · 21/10/2009 21:27

I'm sure Frontline works. The problem is that it is dangerous.

Frrrightattendant · 21/10/2009 21:29

Frontline doesn't work on the blardy cat!!! It's rubbish these days.

I would never put it on my kids though.

nymphadora · 21/10/2009 21:30

Dd1 has dark v curly thick hair and dd2 has curly but thinner and blonde. Combing works on dd2 and I can see crawlers but no chance on dd1. She also itches and reacts to teatree so it's v difficult to clear her added to the certain children who never seem to be treated has meant we seem to have been trying for the past 5 years!

Now they have changed schools and added to the ' a child in class X has nits' letter they have monthly 'hair check days and I have only found lice once this half term

Meglet · 21/10/2009 21:31

uuurgghhh, I hate the nitty gritty routine and the dc's haven't even caught nits yet (someone had it at nursery so I'm starting combing now). Trying to comb 2 pre-schoolers hair turns into a screaming match . And when I tried it on my long hair it pulled out so much it clogged the plug hole.

ilovepiccolina · 21/10/2009 21:36

Sorry, but YABU. The nitty gritty comb was the only thing that worked for us. And it DID work - took about 10 days.

You have to use it carefully though - not just wash with water after each 'swipe' through the hair, but wipe with tissue each time.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 21/10/2009 21:37

Oil thing.
Put oil - olive, almond, baby, cooking, doesn't matter what - on dry hair in manner of conditioner. Comb through thoroughly using your favoured nit comb. Leave overnight - towel on pillow! - and comb again in morning. Wash off (put shampoo on before you wet hair). Nits will be gone. Hair will be in superb condition. It really, really works and costs pennies.

psychomum5 · 21/10/2009 21:42

my nitty gritty comb doesn't work so well for us anymore, I think thru over use

the one treament I found truely fabulous was chinese head lice stuff, with swim caps on their heads over night, and everything came out. was pretty ok smelly too, and was 'natural' (well, better than most at least.

I am going to buy a new comb, as when mine was brand new, it was the best thing ever!!!

nooka · 21/10/2009 22:14

I found the NittyGritty comb to be terrible. It just pulled out poor ds's hair! I'm not sure what the spirals were for, but they just caught his hair and then I couldn't get it loose again. I did not enjoy his screaming! Our bugbuster kit (think that's what it was called) worked fine though. Luckily we've only had the one episode of nits, and now the children are 9 and 10 I think they are past the worst of it.

Do be careful about using neat oils, just because things are natural doesn't mean they are safe, and most essential oils are supposed to be used in very dilute solutions.

Northernlurker · 21/10/2009 22:23

Nitty Gritty worked very well for us - but you do have to be very committed. I believe studies have actually shown that to be the most effective method if done properly. The problem with the other treatments is that people just put it on and expect it to work - eradicating lice is hard effort - you have to put the hours in.

notnowbernard · 21/10/2009 22:25

We frequently get letters in the book bag re headlice outbreaks in the classroom (Y1)

I have a NG and do it once a week with lots of conditioner

I honestly don't think I've found anything, ever... but am now paranoid I have missed something

How big ARE they?!? What exactly should I be looking for? Would dd be scratching if infested?

ReneRusso · 21/10/2009 22:34

I prefer a white comb because you can clearly see what's coming out. Hedrin helps, but regular combing is needed as well. Took us several weeks to defeat nits. How about a haircut over half term?

Ivykaty44 · 21/10/2009 23:21

Olive oil suffucates/sends them to sleep the nits so unlike conditioner method where with thick hair the nits can be on the scalp and escape the nit comb (unless you scrape the comb over the scalp - which hurts like hell)

pour the oil all over the hair and make sure it is well covered by combing the oil through (put newspaer down on floor) then place plastic shower cap over head and leave on hair for several hours - go to bed and sleep

The conmb the the hair with a nit comb and ater each comb through swil comb under running tap to get rid of any nits caught in comb.

When all of the hair has been covered with the comb - shampoo the hair.

Blow dry the hair on the hottest setting the dc can stand comfortably.

Now if possible (the hair is long enough) use straighteners and straighten the hair - the heat kills any eggs.

Now repeat this once a week.

If your child has long hair and you are worried about reinfection from other dc - pull hair into ponytail and smear a little olive oil on hair and the tail - if any lice crawl onto the hair they will go to sleep in the oil and the other dc will not be able to succsesfully reinfect your child

Stayingscarygirl · 21/10/2009 23:33

I do sympathise with you about having three dcs needing nitcombing, MilaMae - I have three boys, and have spent many a happy hour nit combing them all - strangely this is one parenting task that dh has never felt the urge to share. Having three boys does help - I haven't had to contend with really long hair or long curly hair (as I gather you do).

For what it's worth, I always used teatree conditioner and an ordinary nit comb, and wiped it on kitchen roll between strokes so I could see what was coming out, and only stopped combing when the comb was coming out clear all the time. Then rinse and repeat two days later, and again in another two days (if I had the stamina).

There was an awful fascination about seeing just how many of the little blighters were romping around the dses' heads (I never noticed until they were well established - [bad, bad mummy emoticon]). Sometimes we lost count of the beasties.

Thankfully (touch wood) this problem seems to have died out now they are all at senior school, and we haven't had to comb for a while now. But I did have the ultimate embarrassment of having the hairdresser take me on one side to tell me that two of them were infested.

Danthe4th · 21/10/2009 23:46

Wet combing and tweezers has never failed do it every night for a week and then alternate nights for another week.
Its very satisfying popping the little buggers!!!!

serinBrightside · 22/10/2009 00:26

The Nitty Gritty should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course it works, free in Cheshire too

nappyaddict · 22/10/2009 02:28

Try tea tree oil rather than conditioner.

TanteRose · 22/10/2009 02:39

we've got the Robocomb and it ROCKS!
Although, my DCs are now 12 and 10 and we haven't had an infestation for a while now...
Lice are annoying but not unhygienic or dangerous.

Eve4Walle · 22/10/2009 07:05

YABU.

The Nitty Gritty comb (I got it on prescription) and conditioner was the only option we had when DD first got headlice, as I was pregnant at the time. It worked a treat, within a week they'd gone. Was very time consuming though.

She's had them once since and I wouldn't use anything else, the comb works just fine. Who knows whats in Hedrin etc? Yuk.

Sharpyharpy · 22/10/2009 07:40

''Who knows whats in Hedrin etc? Yuk.'' erh lots of Scientists - laboratories - industrial chemists ...etc Love the swath of opinion from this to people using Frontline.

clop · 22/10/2009 07:57

I think the premise of how Hedrin works is safer, it suffocates, it doesn't poison. You can't suffocate somebody by pouring oil on their scalp. But poison on the scalp is still poison.

I only use an ordinary comb (plastic or metal); NOT even the nitty gritty, and I can get rid of all the blighters by combing with conditioner alone.

Helps if I search for eggs using a bright light and picking them out with my fingernails. But it definitely does work, no expensive products involved. So YABU -- at least, for some.

foxinsocks · 22/10/2009 08:10

YANBU

doesn't work on dd's hair either (and she has v similar hair to your dd though not as long!)

dd's hair is so thick and curly that the nitty gritty just misses loads of it or pulls it out rather than combing iyswim (like chegirl pointed out), even if I separate it properly. It also doesn't always pull the lice off or the eggs from her hair. Sometimes I have to pull them off with my fingers. Have no idea why.

Only way we managed to stop it last time was by chemicals sadly but by then, it had gone on for such a long time, I needed to do something!

Original poster
MilaMae · 22/10/2009 11:58

Thanks Ivy!!! Will definitely give that all a go. I blow dry my hair and have never caught them from the dc so will give that a go too.

I wonder what is in Hedrin to make it so pricey if oil does the same job. Will be over the moon if this works as it will save me a fortune in time,sanity and money

Staying scary it is doing it X3 that I find impossible,one night they didn't all get into bed until 9 o'clock, just can't do it night after night. Mums of more than 1 girl have my total respect-denitting and doing plaits in the mornings for more than one girl would I think just about send me over the edge.

OP posts:
slushy06 · 22/10/2009 12:08

Sorry but YABU I am white but I have tight curly hair nearly as curly as a Afro nearly down to my waist and always have had we always use a bottle of conditioner and a little white plastic comb even when I was younger. It hurt like hell but that is the price you pay for long hair it does take a few nights of combing though and I would leave the conditioner on while combing which sadly means you have to check more thoroughly.

OrmIrian · 22/10/2009 12:13

Totally agree.

Hedrin is the only thing that is guaranteed to kill all the lice but it has to be done again and again.

BTW I tried the oil thing - it might kill the lice but you still have to comb and comb to get the eggs out so all the disadvantages of combing (and the unreliablity) plus loads and loads of shampooing to get the bloody oil out! I did mine that way last week because I didn't have enough Hedrin for us all and I didn't get my hair properly clean until I'd washed it 10 times. Not good for the condition. Won't be trying it again.