Help - NITS - eugghh!

[WidgetWB]

So - DS1 came home from school with letter saying some kids had nits so we all had to get 'done'.

I bought the stuff, and put it on all tonight. Did as it says, put on, left 15 mins, washed out with shampoo and combed through before drying.

Now - I had checked them before and found nothing! However, DS1 and 2 both had sort of cream coloured little things that came to the top of their hairs when I combed through. So many infact I thought they were dandruff. Now I am wondering if perhaps they were eggs because DS3 didn't have these things and neither did I. They were different sizes, and nothing black at all. All these things came to the top when I combed them!

What do we think? Have my boys actually got the nits that I thought they didn't have or is it just that the nit shampoo dried their scalp out and it was skin coming off in dandruff style?

HELP please?!?

If the cream coloured things were loose in their hair rather than actually attached to the hair they are unlikely to be nits.

Nits (which are actually the eggs rather than the fully formed lice) tend to be firmly attached to the hair within about 1.5 cm of the scalp. They can be anything from almost clear to cream to dark brown.

The lice themselves are anything from light brown to black, but the nymphs or young lice are tiny and almost transparent so very difficult to see.

If you google, 'nits' and select images for your results you can find literally hundreds of pictures of what to look for.

Now you have treated them, the best way to make sure your dss are clear is to apply a good amount of conditioner to their heads and then go through their hair thoroughly with a decent nit comb (nitty gritty is a really good one as it removes the nits/eggs and even the spent casings as well as the lice). When our boys caught them, we treated them, then did this every night for a fortnight with another treatment 7 days after the first. (We nit comb their hair while they are occupied with playing in the bath, then shower them off as they are covered in conditioner by the time we've finished.) We now nit comb them twice a week regardless as a preventative measure, because I can't face the thought of dealing with the horrible little critters again.

Incidentally, I read a study online that said coconut oil is lethal to nits so we started using Inecto Shampoo and Conditioner on the boys (it has high levels of coconut oil it it) and when there are nit warnings at the school we use the Inecto leave in conditioner as well.

They've only ever picked them up once since then (at a Wacky Warehouse birthday party ) and that was when we had run out of their shampoo and conditioner. It was unbelievable actually, bathed and combed them both through before the party - all clear. Came home with two hot sweaty kids after they'd been charging around the WW for a couple of hours, stuck them in the bath and discovered they both had absolutely huge live adults in their hair, but no eggs. Treated them there and then, combed daily again and then treated again in 7 days and they've never had them since. (Mind you Wacky Warehouses are now strictly off limits!)

That stuff did terrible things to my dd's hair. It literally dried it out like straw, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was skin. You want to get yourself a nitty grittycomb and get into the habit of using it a few times a week. We've been doing this since the second nit incident we had after she started school and haven't had any nits since

We used Lyclear to treat them both times and it didn't dry their hair out at all as its based on essential oils.

Nitty Gritty comb and a decent conditioner, I do a quick comb through once a week and twice a week if a nit warning has come home.

Doing it regularly means the nits never have time to hatch or mature and start laying because their life cycle is around 3 weeks. Even if they do get a live one from someone else, if you're combing frequently then it's not going to get a chance to settle in!

Thank you everyone - most helpful! They were very free and easy to remove so think I am right about the skin thing! I shall condition tonight with coconut conditioner and from now on too! Thanks so much.