can someone talk to me about nits please?

[whichwitchisthis]

Well this morning I was combing dd's (age 4) hair and noticed some black dots on her scalp, looked more closely and am pretty sure she has nits

we've been quite lucky cos this is the first she has had it, but she also has chickenpox and so a lot of spots on her head

I have bought some lyclear sprayaway to come with my shopping tomorrow and am going to treat all of the family for them, and change all the bedding and put it on a 60 degree wash

Is there anything else I should do? I have a nit comb already as I normally have a quick check while she is in the bath for them, but haven;t bothered this past week due to the spots on her scalp so I wonder if this has given them an opportunity to take hold

any tips or ideas, should i use the Lyclear when she has chickenpox?

Not sure about the effect of chicken pox with nit treatments, but I would always recommend Hedrin for treating headlice and nits, it makes the whole thing easy. Smother everyone's heads with it in the evening, wash it off in the morning. Do the same a week later.

I have found that none of the other things work.

With Hedrin, you don't even have to comb, but you can anyway!

You don't have to bother washing bedding, lice done live after 24 hours unless they're in hair.

Would second hedrin and also make sure the combe is a nitty gritty - it makes a huge difference.

Oh and do the whole family including yourself.

I tried the over-the-counter stuff from chemist when DD had nits (and gave them to me). It didn't work at all - I think North London lice are resistant!

What worked for us was a mixture of leave in, anti nit conditioner made by Nelsons called Nice n clear- it had neem oil in it and no chemicals, and using the nit comb every other day. I got it from Boots.

I also washed all the bedding and threw out the pillows (but they were ancient and needed replacing anyhow) - not sure if that helped, but made me feel better!

thanks everyone

I've got a nitty gritty comb after seeing them recommended on here before

I can only seem to order lyclear online and can;t go out anywhere as dd is contagious! I'll have to see if my dsis can grab me some later on! Hedrin you say.....

Even if you use the Hendrin I would recommend combing every other day as well. I'm currently getting the buggers out of DDs incredibly thick hair. [sigh]

Hiya,

Once you have cleared them up I would recommend the children's tea tree shampoo and conditioner. I have been using them regularly for about 6 months and also use the nitty gritty comb. We haven't had any little visitors since! (she says, while crossing fingers and hoping she hasn't just set herself up for a visit!!)

nits arent normally black,they a normally pale brown opaquey coloured. Get a piece of sellotape and stick it on and have a good look. It might be the scabs from chckenpox.

Before jumping to conclusions it would be wise to have a look at pictures of lice/eggs on the net, if you are actually unsure what you are looking for, because treating her with the chemicals without a confirmed case is merely an expensive waste of time and can cause resistant lice.

thanks, I've just combed through all her hair now and I'm not actually sure that she does have them

the black dots I think may just be dirt (filthy child ) and glitter

but the ones I pulled out of her this morning (two) seem to be how alypaly described

Also I have a friend that works in a daycare nursery and she says that if they are nits/eggs they will make a snap sound if you crush them between your finger nails and the ones that I found did do that

I can;t tell if she has any eggs in her hair cos I can't tell what is scab or egg or dandruff etc etc

I'm going to do all of the above then and hopefully I just caught the two she had before they could start laying eggs...i hope...but I'm still treating everyone in the house for them!

It's been quite hard combing her hair too bless her cos I keep catching the spots

thanks bool I've just had a look at some pics I think that the two I pulled out of the hair this morning were nits and that the black dots aren't, I can't get them out with the comb though either

If you're not sure of the difference between the eggs, which are the nits, and dandruff then you should have a look at the many websites which will explain all the ins and outs. It's almost impossible to see nits that haven't hatched, they are tiny and dark and attached to the hair a few mm along from the root. Old nits however are white and a little further down. They are very well glued to the hair so you won't find them just lying on the scalp. The business of testing by snaping isn't really effective. if you look at pictures you will be in no doubt, they actually look like very tiny beige beetles a bit smaller than a sesame seed, but the babies are miniscule.

knol.google.com/k/-/-/27ifsyywko3wx/dt1y0d/headlice.jpg

Picture of lice here:

knol.google.com/k/-/-/27ifsyywko3wx/dt1y0d/headlice.jpg

thanks again bool yeah the two I pulled out were glued to the hair just down from the root and were kind of tear shaped with a transparanty brown colour and a dark brown bit inside...but even after combing they're the only two I found

God I wish they'd bring back the not nurse, sod the embarassment factor at least she'd be able to have a look and at leaast tell if I'm right or not

The tear shaped brown things you describe do sound like unhatched nits. Wether you deal with this using the chemicals or via wet combing with a head lice comb you will need to wet comb every 4th day with the comb to get rid of any new hatchlings. Do this every 4th day until you see no lice. The first time you have to deal with nits is the worst, you'll be a dab hand in no time. It's also best to let the school know and the parents of dd's best friends. I'm on my 4th child now and have no qualms about it and it's quite amusing to see the surprise on some parent's face that I have actually owned up to finding some.

As for the nit-nurse, a study showed how ineffective a dry check by even a trained professional is. The lice can move too fast. This is the reason they don't have them, they're not cost effective.

use a fine tooth comb and see if they come away on it , if they dont , its def lice it it does you can have a goodl ook prob dandruff or something .
nits do not come out with comb and have to be remover with finger nails normally , well thats what iv had to do .

i use Hedrin and found it to be great .

Yeah, they're very well glued on! I think they Nitty Gritty comb, which costs about £10, can remove the eggs too, but the normal head lice combs won't remove them. Even with using the special Gritty comb or manually removing them with your fingers you need to go through with the comb every 4th day to remove any baby lice that have hatched from nits you have missed.