Nits! What works to get rid?

[LoveMyDaughterT]

I found a live one on my DD’s hair earlier, she’s 5.5 years old and about to go into year 1, this is her first time having nits so we’ve been pretty lucky so far... until now.

I spent 2 hours going through her hair whilst dry with a nit comb, and we found 3 more. I must have pulled out 50 eggs with my nails. I then changed her bed sheets, pillows etc, then put her to bed. I then went through my hair for a good half hour and found nothing. Oh I don’t have them that’s good... one last comb and I found a small one. So I combed and combed for another half hour and found 2 more.

Great.

I’m 99 percent sure I’ve got all the eggs out my daughter’s hair and I combed throughly after and found no more live ones.

I obviously can’t see whether I have any eggs or not.

What are your best ways you’ve got rid of nits and how did you deal with your own hair? I have really long hair down to my belly button and my daughter has shoulder length hair. We’re the only people living in our household.

Hi
My daughter is 9 with long thick hair and we went through this when she was in reception and Year 1 .
It’s a nightmare but you need to wash her hair as water kills them and shampoo as normal then put lots of conditioner on and then use a nit comb ( from boots ) then comb through and you will see them come out on the comb .
Do this everyday after school for 5 days and they will be gone .
I also bought Hedrin Once shampoo ( for head lice) from boots and used that once a week .
It’s expensive £20 but worth it.
Don’t worry it’s normal and they will go but don’t comb out on dry hair only wet hair.

Get some nit stuff. Apply then comb all the lice/eggs out.

Do it all again seven days later. This is where people go wrong, one treatment/combing session is not enough, you need to do at least two treatments seven days apart to cover the life cycle of the headlice.

If you are still finding live lice after the second treatment, then you'll need a third treatment after a further seven days.

Nitty-gritty combs are very good. A regular combing through of that on wet hair once a month will keep you on top of things afterwards,

I only buy the nit product once to kill the initial lice and eggs. Then I get a large bottle of cheap conditioner and soak the hair in that every second day for 20 mins to smother what is left and comb for eggs. Keep doing that until you don't find any eggs.

Wash hair, condition it, then use a nit comb to come through. Take your time and be thorough. It needs to be done at least every other day for a week to break the cycle of eggs being laid and hatching.

The lice are pretty indestructible -water doesn't kill them otherwise you'd only have to wash your hair and they'd all be dead. There's a reason lice have been around since the dawn of time! Even the nit treatments in shops don't always kill all of them.

Conditioner immobilises the adult louse so they can't grip the hair and the comb can slide them out. The eggs and lice can be so tiny that the comb misses them or the eggs so well-'glued' on that they don't come out (hence repeating treatment every other day).

Eggs are always laid next to the scalp - you can tell how long someone has had nits for by how far away from the scalp the eggs are.

I've had nits once (on my 1st ever teaching placement, when I was a 'nit novice!), all 3 of my DCs have had nits - conditioning & combing every other day for at least a week is the ONLY thing that has got rid of every episode. It's a pain, it takes forever, but it works.

conditioner (cheap one containing silicone) and combing every other day for 2 weeks.
tight plaits or ponytail during school day.

The Nitty-gritty comb was the only thing that worked on my dds hair...wish we'd found it sooner as she got nits a lot! Wash hair, slather on conditioner and thoroughly comb through every other day.

I agree - 'Nitty Gritty' comb really does the job!

Hedrin once is the only thing that worked for us. DD was constantly getting reinfected and Cos she's quite a cuddly girl she was passing them onto me and even her brother.

We also use the hedrin protect and go spray when she is at school and (fingers crossed) seem to be free of them for a few months now.

The pharmacist told me that bits are now getting immune to nit treatment. Like the others have said smother her hair in conditioner, comb through with a bit comb then use tea tree shampoo and conditioner. Apparently they don't like it!

Thank you everyone.

I went to Boots today and bought Hendrin treatment. I also bought Hendrin Protect & Go spray so I have my fingers crossed.