Nits in long thick hair

[GarthNader]

Hi,
I have 3 children (DD 3 and 7, DS 5). At the end of the last term they picked up nits and we just can't get rid of them.
We tried using conditioner and the gritty nitty comb but DD7 is a major problem because she has very long, thick and often matted hair. She's a tomboy and has never liked having her hair brushed and it seems to cause her physical pain to brush, worse if we find a knot (which is often because she won't brush daily, or even weekly). Nit combing her hair takes hours of her just crying. Even brushing it before putting in conditioner doesn't work because it manages to knot itself up and then the knots cause her lots of pain when trying to brush and comb through later. I did manage to get her into a bit of daddy/daughter grooming time where I'd sit her down and brush through her hair and she did start to enjoy this so I might try that to get her more used to having her hair done, but dry smooth hair is far easier to brush than using a tiny comb on conditioned hair.
I bought some Full Marks 5 minute solution while my wife and children went away for a week and that worked great for me so I did the whole house when they came back and dozens of them dropped out of my DD7's hair without doing anything but unfortunately they are back again and we've now found out that they don't kill the eggs.
I really don't like to torment her with painful combing every few nights but want to get this sorted. Has anyone got any ideas.
My current thoughts on an approach is to use the Full Marks to kill the ones that are alive now and then see if we can get a combing regime in place but I just don't know how to tackle my eldest.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think that's likely. We've not had any problems until now. Maybe we've been lucky.

I know you said she doesn't want a hair cut, but if she refuses to come her hair to the point that it gets matted, you need to cut it so that combing is manageable, nits or no nits.

Comb not come. DYAC.

If only it were DYAC. I'm on a keyboard. My fingers must have been at the

I think, as PPs have pointed out, you have to explain to your DD that either she can have long hair and look after it, or it needs to be cut.

Get a tangle teezer - they really are amazing - and brush the hair whilst wet with that to take out the knots before you start the combing.

And hair should always, always be up for school to avoid reinfestation.

If her hair is past her shoulders then a trim would help. She still needs to be able to tie it back to prevent becoming reinfected.

Have you tried using a tangle teaser? To be able to nit comb effectively you need to have the hair detangled first and then build up to using a nit comb.

You may need to cut out the damaged hair if the same bits keep getting matted - sometimes it gets all rough from the damage and it is just more susceptible to tangles.

I worked with kids that often had issues with lice and of course most of them had long hair. What I found helped a lot was oiling their hair and braiding it back after each combing session. It made recombing it easier it hadn't tangled in the meantime with the added bonus of deterring lice as they don't like greasy scalps.

Good luck!

We have a couple of tangle teezers and use those plus a normal round brush. I think some clips may help so I can manage where I'm brushing easier.
She does tie her hair up for school but only a normal pony tail so I might try plait and hope it's better at keeping her hair away from things.

Mine rarely get nits but when they do we use the Hedrin gel, combed through the hair with a wide tooth comb and then with the Nitty Gritty comb. Then hair is plaited and left overnight before washing out. Repeat after five days. Seems to work. Prevention-wise, we use tea tree shampoo and conditioner and put hair up in a high ponytail and then plaited for school.

hedrin once. it's expensive, but it kills the eggs too so no need to repeat the application a week later.

A nitty gritty will pull the hair out if you use it on the full thickness of the hair. You need to section it off and do small thin sections one at a time. My daughter sounds very similar to yours and nits seem to love her, we have become experts and truly the time consuming, boring combing with conditioner over a long period of time is the only way to get rid of them

Thanks to all the responses. I'll try out your advice when I get home this evening.

Hedrin is your friend here, works really well and is supposed to kill the eggs.

It does seem to depend a lot on the texture of the hair. Mine is long, thick and wavy and the Nitty Gritty just glides through it, I can go from the crown to the ends full thickness in one stroke. Whereas DD's straight hair does need to be done in thin sections.

A bit of success last night. I managed to comb her hair with the tangle teezer and nitty gritty with a bit more ease. I also put it into a plait starting near her crown. It was quite difficult to gather her hair high up when it has a habit of settling and being tied near her neck but I did it and she quite liked it. Whether she'll do it for school I don't know and I leave before she gets up so I won't be able to do it for her, but to see her happy about her hair is a real step up. She even brushed her own hair at one point.
I think someone mentioned sleeping in the plait to stop her hair getting knotted during the night but both she and DW (is that right?) were convinced that sleeping in hairbands gives you a headache or something so wouldn't do it.
As for the nit attack, we had an unfortunate setback. My DS was attacked by an older boy quite badly yesterday and has a head wound. The doctor has told us to not get his head wet or aggravate it for a few days so I can start the combing routine on others but it won't have much effect until I can do him too.
Thanks again.

Up until 11, I never had my hair cut, so used to sleep in a plait. It was a Great Aunt's idea - what the Victorian ladies used to do (not GA - bobs were all the rage in the 1920s, so they all had their hair cut). I could do it myself quite easily and it saved a lot of tears.

Not helpful on the nit front but both myself and DSD have long thick hair that is awful to brush and a brush called The Wet Brush has literally changed our lives. About £10 each online but soooo worth it- they last! DSD has even taken one to her DM as it stops tears. Get the original wet brush not the shine brush for easy brushing.

I used to have a Mason Pearson hairbrush - cushioned with a mixture of long hard bristles surrounded by a bunch of natural bristles. That was brilliant. masonpearson.co.uk/why-us I think they are rather expensive these days - my grandma bought it second hand .

Agree that getting the right brush is important. A normal fixed one that you would use for blow drying hurts and breaks light fluffy hair.

We had a similar problem for years with my daughter's beautiful thick hair because we never seemed to really eradicate the eggs, despite hours and hours of combing. I got nits too.
Then at age 11 she started to use hair straighteners on a more or less daily basis and within a couple of weeks, she was lice free. The heat kills the insects and their eggs. It might not be appropriate for your kids, but I would have done it from primary school if I'd known it would work, it would have saved us many many hours of pointless combing and tears.

i have very long thick latin american hair when my daughter got them i got them too absolute nightmare.

nitty gritty does not work on very long thick hair

brush with a tangle teezer before treating this cuts through knots

separate the hair into sections holding back with hair grips

do one section at a time

use a metal tooth nit comb not the nitty gritty with lots of conditioner

when i eventually got rid of them i used Vosene defence spray on my daughters hair after washing whilst still damp but not soaking.sprayed all over and plaited my daughters hair.On a day when not washing i would wet her hair just to wet plait and spray.The plaits make it harder for lice to latch onto and the spray has a very strong smell that deters lice.So far many months later no nits

good luck

I have very thick long hair with a curl, what I found worked was the biggest bottle of tea tree conditioner I could find and comb it through every night for a week or so (paranoid!). Also straighteners kill eggs.

My old HV told me to put girls hair into plaits and comb it on the doorstep before they come in from school - I have DSs, they wouldn't want plaits

I battled nits for years with my eldest daughter, no one else in the family affected. We were in despair and all that pesticide can't be good for anyone. Very fine long hair, always tied up. Finally, finally, aged 20 she started to blow dry her hair every time she washed it and the little varmints moved on elsewhere out of our home. So I would recommend blow drying everyone's hair each time it's washed on top of the lice/nit treatments. The nitty gritty comb was the best one of all the ones I tried. But tiny section by tiny section after it's been combed through and all tangles removed. It's actually quicker in the long run (and great fun squashing the lice on a piece of kitchen paper, they give a very satisfying pop....)