my hairdresser just found head lice in my hair - mortified

[LeilaAndLeo]

my DD had lice which i treated over the weekend, i also checked my own hair with the nitty gritty but coud not find a thing, however my head has been itching over the last few days but i thought it was dry skin as i have got a dry scalp.

my hairdresser reckons lice prefer people with blonde straight hair over any other hair type/colour why i don't know but that is bad news for me and DD .

My dd gets nits every few weeks this is the first time i have caught them

dont feel bad, it happens to the best of us lol

Absolute cr*p about the hair preference. I have dark hair and they seem to love it. Occupational hazard of being a mum, I suspect... You have my sympathies as a fellow infested person!

this happened to me yesterday, took dd to hairdresser and she had loads (despite me de-lousing her at the beginning of the hols). She checked mine and said it was ok but Ive been itching since not sure if its psychological

Taking dd back for haircut tonight, hopefully she is nit-free now after mass de-lousing again last night

the problem is even after using the treatments i still think there are eggs in the hair which are hatching and the head lice cycle starts again. it's so frustrating.

that happened to me once - I was mortified - had NO idea I'd got them - and to this day still not sure - as DS1 (only had the one at the time) and DH were completely clean of them.

Don't use the treatments, they are ineffective and of questionable safety

the only way to be sure of getting rid of lice, is to wet comb, with conditioner and a good nit comb, every 3 days, for at least 2 weeks or until they are all gone

why is everyone getting lice these days? i only remember one boy in my class getting them once in seven years of primary education, but my pals with older kids seem to be de-lousing on a forthnightly basis. is there a new Mighty Louse, impervious to treatment?

Yes Aitch, the insecticides don't work and people just bung on chemicals and don't comb properly, so most lice are resistant

I laughed at your thread title - sorry.

Agree FZ - comb comb comb - best and only way. I do it with leave in conditioner in front of the telly.

i agree about the treatments.

i also agree about the wet combing but i lead such a busy life 2 days end up being 2 weeks . you know what it's like being a working mother. I know there are no excuses but it is so damn hard to keep on top of things.

oh god. [less excited about dd goiing to nursery]

Yup. They are now very often immune to the chemical treatments.

And some parents don't/ can't be bothered to wet comb and their kids keep re-infesting the rest.

It is a shame they got rid of the old nit nurses

i have sued the lotions int he past and it has treated them fine.

also people (gps included) still insist the treatments will work, so people aren't combing (at all / effectively), so their kids have low level infestation almost constantly

they are rife

oops sorry !! must read what i type before i press send lol

not having a go at you l & L!

sorry we cross posted. And agree it is hard to make the time, but it is, sadly the only way to shift them.

Leila I do understand, it can be a dreadful job, but you just have to put it in your diary and comb the bastards out

keeping their hair short can sometimes help, as does tying back long hair

if you just wet combed each child once a week, say on a Sunday night, that does go some way towards early detection / prevention IMO

other people have used tea tree spray / shampoo successfully as a deterrent

i dont understand that - how can kids have low infestation. the lay eggs every night so very quickly you would be infested. the lotions must have worked for me last year or i am sure i would know about it by know. same goes for ds who ive used it on as well.

yes mine was a cross post too

you know what we are saying though, Leila

I would second what FrannyandZooey just said. My dd was plagued with them from the age of 18 months until she was just over 3. I worked out it was rampant in the playgroup she went to. Everytime I suspected I had them I went to the hairdressers and got my colour done. The fierce bleaching chemicals probably killed them and the eggs. Probably a bit naughty really .

bring back the nit nurse please

Mysonsmummy talk to posters on here - many will be the first to tell you that they have found it impossible to get rid of them and that the best they can do is just to keep the infestation at bay

many parents use a combination of inadequate combing and chemical treatments, time after time

enough lice die to make it seem that the infestation has gone, but they are still there and within a couple of weeks are noticeably causing a problem again

the parent thinks the child has become reinfested at school, and blames the other parents for not treating their children properly

cycle continues

This is my biggest fear...
I need a really good haircut in the next two weeks. But we picked up some, ahem, 'extra' souvenirs while on holiday with friends It's one thing for my lovely usual hairdresser who is a mum herself to find them; But quite another in the midst of the swanky salon staffed by glamourous 18-yr-olds which serves wine and canapes which I am intendeding to visit. I'm convinced I am 'free' but what if...

never forget when i was a kid we used to call her ' nitty nora the flea explorer' . and when you were given the dreaded brown envelope you just KNEW!!! lol

I never had nits as a child