Help - nits in afro hair!

[hester]

I need some help from the experts. dd1 (who is white) has developed her first case of nits, and I have treated me and her in the usual way. dd2 is dual heritage with afro hair. It is very obvious to me that we will not get a nit comb through her hair, and I'm a bit worried that putting chemicals on it will dry it out and weaken it.

How does everyone else deal with this? She doesn't have braids, by the way, and I would prefer not to braid her hair (though would be prepared to do so if it's the only way to get through the next 10 years without infestation).

I take it dd2 does not have nits yet, but you are worried dd1 will infect her?

Tea tree shampoo rather than standard shampoo. Check out the nitty gritty website. They sell a very good head lice repellent spray.

My friend's daughter has afro hair and I remember telling me she COVERED it in conditioner and then sat her DD in front of a dvd with an ice lolly and combed through it. It was a long process! She used Tea Tree Shampoo to keep the lice at bay afterwards.

HTH

Thank you both. I'm off to chemist now for tea tree shampoo and conditioner. Am dreading tonight...

Hedrin. The original NOT the 1 hour stuff as that ruins hair.
You will be combing for hours if you use a traditional formula/ method & the poor kid will be well fed up too HTH.

Is that the overnight version, Thornykate?

I did try with the nit comb, and got absolutely nowhere.

Sorry Hester I haven't been online; yes its the overnight version. Good luck!

we used nitty gritty comb and a SHEDLOAD of conditioner when DD got nits - any conditioner will work but we found the john frieda straight style one was a good combination of not-too-dear and easier to comb through. you need to smother hair in conditioner, divide into sections, comb through with a normal comb and then the nitty gritty comb.

We went in and combed, pinning poor dd down and ignoring her shrieks. Ghastly.

She's still scratching.

SIL reckons you need to put in olive oil overnight, then shampoo out. She says olive oil suffocates and kills them, as well as making combing easier. Anyone know if this is true?