Head lice

[Fish]

Go to www.nits.net/bugbusting for some vital tips on breaking the louse life cycle amongst the whole family. It's put out by a charity - Community Hygiene Concern - who do an excellent Bug-Busting comb kit for under a fiver with stickers for the kids and masses of advice for people with all kinds of different hair types - address CHC (BBG), 160 Inderwick Rd N8 9JT, tel 020 8341 7167.

next debug day is 31stJanuary

We are trying a new technique - olive oil! You rub it into the scalp and hair and leave it on 8 hours or overnight, then nit comb before you wash it out. You need to use 2 washes with shampoo for greasy hair, and a rinse with some cider vinegar in it - and you need to do the whole family at the same time.

I tried it as my own idea on my daughter's long, long hair before Christmas - and her hair looked great afterwards and we got rid of beasts in various stages of life.

Funnily enough, I then found a brand book in the library on using olive oil! Its called From Head Lice to Dead Lice, by Joan Sawyer and Roberta MacPhee. Apparently if you leave the oil on long enough they suffocate. If not, they are still easier to catch as long as you comb before washing. Anyway, you have to do it at roughly 5 day intervals for 3 weeks to catch all the newly hatched ones. So we have been doing this over the holdays - we've only done it twice so far, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, I have to say I have been really impressed by this olive oil business. For the first time in ages (too embarrassing to say how long) we seem to be nit-free - and are celebrating with a trip to a real barbers, insteading of wielding the clippers myself, very inexpertly. Everyone's hair looks good, it was a bit of a nuisance but not very much (better to put it on overnight - less embarrassing) and it worked!

Apparently the recommendation is to carry on doing a regular nit comb, and apply the oil again at the first sign of another infestation.

The olive oil cost much less than a bottle of nit lotion, and we still have half a bottle left.

I read something about nits on eyelashes and eyebrows last night, Batters - how's that for a coincidence, as I'd never heard of it before!

Apparently, you should take your child to the doctor, presumably because you can't use chemicals close to the eyes and combing would be very difficult. Hope you win the nit war soon!

Would antibiotics do anything??

You could have a search on the internet. Putting 'head lice' in brings up a zillion sites, lol!

Try Neem conditioner with a nit comb and shampoo as a homeopathic deterant - apparently, the eggs cannot stick to the conditioned hair. I've been using the conditioner on our children who have (touch wood)avoided getting nits, depite them being prevalent in their class.

The conditioner and comb every 3 days seems to be working for us. Really annoyed with school. Suggested they went for national bug busting day - 31 Jan. to be told it's not really a problem and there would be a note on the weekly bulletin about www.nits.net IF parents wanted to find out more!!!! Yeah, and the parents that don't bother will be the ones with nits (or headlights as my kids have started calling them).

Oops, sorry Batters, I misjudged your meaning! I was thinking about the eyelash scenario and wondering how the critters get from the eyes to the hair. But as I watched my DD's, their hair often swishes past their face, so that's obviously the mechanism. I have visions of the blighters jumping and shouting 'Geronimo!' as they manage to grab a passing hair!

My children have never had nits until last Nov (my oldest in is his 20's) so I am learning fast. My DD's senior school has a policy of not informing parents about any outbreaks. Hence she came home this week with lice the size of rottweilers in her hair. Seems unfair that the caring parents are the ones that have to spend hours combing hair or applying noxious chemicals, all for the sake of being politically correct.

Batters
has your daughter got a fringe? If so, how about hairbands, so the lice don't have an easy route up? I can't imagine there are huge numbers of eggs on her eyelashes/eyebrows, and if they don't have anywhere to go you ought to be able to pick them off before they are big enough to start mating and laying eggs - as long as you do a daily 'nit inspection'! You could always put olive oil on her eyebrows - if you did this at night it should stop them as apparently they suffocate after about 8 hours.

I have never found doctors of any use on nits, except to say that they cause no health problems, which was reassuring. I was very annoyed when one doctor told me that her children had never had nits 'but we sent them to private school of course'. It turned out her children were adults now, so it was before the days of the current supernits.

HelenMc - I love the idea of headlights!

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Ah, well, SueW, your school is, apparently, being 'discriminatory' in pulling out the ones with nits!!! Don't you think this just a bit too pc?? The LEA are also burying their heads in the sand as they say everyone should be checking for nits every week and therefore there are no nits. "Get a (non-nit) life, LEA", I say! Maybe they're in league with the nit shampoo producers........

a reveiw in the express feb 2000 suggested Follicel. orginally developed to treat fungal infections in fish, it is biodegradable and hypoallergenic - it's made from citrus pulp.
the company is marabou, tel 0845 6021242, email [email protected].

apparently a school in lancashire orered in bulk to make it available to parents!

hi i am a complete virgin when it comes to head lice i was told there was a outbreak in school so i went out and got the net comb and tought i would have a look i never tought i would find any and was horrived i found his head was covered it took a good twenty minutes to get them out and i went straight down to boots to get some moose thing you put in his hair and done me and i have some too not as much now as you have got it once how often do you have to cheak his hair? and this moose said it kills eggs too i want to know if you get it once are you more prone to getting them again ?

Also, to help your children getting it from other kids...if they have long hair make sure they go to school with their hair plaited/tied back etc. Remind them NEVER to try on their friend's hats/brushes etc. and not to lend their own out either. I think rosemary is supposed to be just as good as tea tree if you get sick of one smell. Don't forget to wash all sheets/towels/clothes/coats/hats that have been in contact with the hair in HOT water when you find nits. Good luck. They are everywhere. My friend's daughter goes to one of the most exclusive private schools in new york city and her daughter had them three times in a term. She got so fed up she went into the school and did a head check. They sent home 23 children (out of 60) and 3 teachers! (out of 5).

thanks all i am dreading telling the school will they send him home untill he is clear and if that happens how long will this be i work so i am dreading this i am very intrested in this electric comb how does it work ?thanks for your help . XX

When my daughter got them, she finished school at 3pm as normal and i was asked to keep her off til clear. This was on the Thursday, she was back at school on Monday. Basically once you've used a treatment, check hair the next day then its advised every 3-5 days (although I became obsessive and checked every morning and night for months on end). About ten days after I knew she was clear, i started checking every Sunday night like maryz and still do. My school excludes the kids who have them until clear and sends letters out, but we find the problem is the minority of mum's who don't check even as a precaution.

I have heard from a more than one mum, tried and tested, that tea tree oil has worked.