Please tell me about nits

[littlebylittle]

We have had several letters home, the general kind that says they're around. Have checked dd's head. I see nothing. What should I expect to see? How should I treat? Is it possible to have them and see no itching or visible signs? The only thing I saw on her head were tiny tiny black specks, but this was after a day playing in the park. Looked like common or garden dirt. I am nervous that without me knowing, dd is "that child" !

You can't always see them because they are crafty fuckers.

Children do not always itch either.

Get a Nitty Gritty comb. (Got mine from ebay).

Smother dc's hair in conditioner and work through small sections of hair.

It will take hours.

Keep DC amused with grapes and popcorn and sit her in front of fav DVD.

Have a bowl of water to rinse comb out in and plenty of kitchen roll in case you find anything nasty in the comb.

If you find anything DO NOT GO "AAAAAAAAGH". It will only give DD a complex.

Oh yes -

When using the comb - always start right down at the roots of the hair.

Second the Nitty Gritty comb, tis marvelous.

I comb twice a week, for about ten minutes, wiping on kitchen paper to check for nasties.

If you find any, keep combing then comb each day for week, then every other day.

I often comb in the bath, saves rinsing the conditioner off, or use leave in conditioner.

the dark specks could be droppings.....keep looking,bet they are in there somewhere

We had a note home last summer from DS2's class. I checked his hair but couldn't see anything but when I combed it through with the nitcomb when wet, there were loads of the little beggars! . He wasn't itchy or anything and I wouldn't have checked properly if it wasn't for the note.

DS1 has really fine hair and again, when his hair was dry I couldn't see any but when I combed his hair wet they just kept on coming!!

they seem to have chameleon qualities!!

Oh no, this is worrying me, note home from DS1's class, have checked just with his hair dry and seen no sign so assumed we were okay.
And no scratching/itching either. Apart from me that is; once i think about nits i can't stop itching!!

Best get a comb then, any recommendations on what to buy?

You can't always see them if you look at dry hair. You will need a bog standard nit comb from the chemist and a conditioner to slather on the hair after you have washed it. It is easist to do it in the bath.
Cover hair with conditioner
Comb through hair in sections starting right at the roots
After each combing through wipe the comb on a face cloth and any little buggers well show up in the conditioner
It is possible to remove the lice and eggs this way without resorting to chemicals
You can buy preventative shampoos and conditioners but tea tree oil is very good at this too
You will need to repeat this every couple of days if there are any live lice and then at least every week
You should also check your own hair and everybody else in the house too as it is possible to have nits and to not have any itching at all

Itch itch! Bought swanky new comb, a big bottle of conditioner, Hedrin just in case and treats just in case. I do already have metal comb but was completely taken in! Am determined that we will not be responsible for a torrent of nit letters! We'll see!

I did have suspicions of nit poo!

I've found that the expensive treatments really aren't that effective. Just wash every day and comb really thoroughly to remove all lice and eggs.

The 'treatments' lull you into a false sense of security. They don't kill all the lice and the don't stop all the eggs hatching. That means that you need to comb and condition every two or three days for three weeks to be sure that any newly hatched lice don't get old enough to lay more eggs.

I'd only use a 'treatment' if my child had a very heavy infestation and I wanted to zap loads of the little buggers at once. Seeing as you need to do the combing and conditioning afterwards anyway it seems to be a waste of money if there are only a few of them.

The oil-based treatments (the one which say don't use conditioner when you wash it out) are an almighty PITA to get out of the hair afterwards. DD1 has very thick hair and her hair was still oily after six washes. We had to resort to putting half a bottle of shampoo on dry hair and then washing it out.

Hooray! No nits! Thanks for advice, combed properly with conditioner and no wildlife. And dd's hair has never felt so soft! But have stuff in the cupboard just in case.