Anyone who has successfully got rid of nits - how dd you do it?

[MrsPotato]

I am desperate for any advice and tips. Dd is in Y1 and has had nits since September. She has severe asthma so products aren't an option. I use conditioner and the Nitty Gritty comb.

I'm obviously not doing it right because they keep coming back! I comb for about 45 mins and then again when her hair is still wet and she is out of the bath. I also do dd2 at the same time (not at school or nursery) and myself. I do this at least twice a week and always find loads on dd1's hair, a few in dd2's and none in mine.

I was so looking forward to the Xmas holidays as a chance to get rid of them as I thought I was clearing them and then she was getting them from school again. But I found another one today!

What am I doing wrong?

I comb every day until I find none then comb every few days and check very regularly. Usually by day 3 of coming with the Nitty Gritty they are completely clear.

I took the GHD's to my DS's hair - it was rather satisfying hearing them sizzle...

Thank you. rikalaily is that combing with conditioner every day or 3 days?

mytholmroyd did that get them all in one go?

alongside nitty gritty try suffocating them - baby oil all over the hair then a swimming cap/shower cap or simiilar over the top. leave on all night.

Make sure when you comb you section it in tiny sections, rinsing and wiping the comb after each stroke

You are doing it right, clearly someone in your dd's class is not quite as good as you about dealing with the problem and the need for continuous combing!!

second the sectioning

comb every day until you find no live ones then every other day for 2 weeks

then comb once a week everyweek to pick up any new infestations quickly

We did dd1's every day, and the rest of us every 2-3 days. Use lots of conditioner, but after 10 days we gave up and got Hedrin. It says it is safe for asthmatics, took about 1.5 large bottles for 3 with long hair and 2 short hair. Haven't seen any since. It suffocates them rather than using pesticides. I think it also helped that we had been combing through (first with detector comb then with Nitty Gritty). It hadn't cleared all the eggs, but had cleared all the adult ones, I think probably at the time that we used it there weren't any mature adults so no eggs which I am sure helped, although it does say it kills eggs too. We left it on for an hour, the minimum was 15 mins. Talk to your pharmacist. Good luck.

Hedrin is the only stuff that worked for us. We had them for months and I used hedrin once a week for three weeks, not had any for over a year now.

Thank you this is so helpful. When I finally crack it I will print this thread out and distribute copies at the school gates!

I used tea tree oil. Washed the hair as normal, 10 drops of tee tree oil in a big blob of conditioner, smoothed it through all the hair, making sure it was all well covered then left it on for about an hour before thoroughly combing it through to get any adults. The tea tree oil melts the nits. One treatment was enough to get rid of them on my boys.

Hedrin seems to clear the out, then tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner every wash keeps them away.

I've not had a serious lengthy infestations Mrs Potato like you describe with any of my four DC and I've never found any on two of the DC nor myself for some reason - just assumed they were not "attractive" heads for lice! I also resorted to patiently scraping the eggs off their hair - they all have quite fine blonde hair so it wasnt too difficult. But I have taken to (carefully!) using the straighteners now the DC are all old enough to understand they have to stand still.

Good luck getting rid - as cathpip says, you might just be unlucky that your DC are being reinfested by their class mates.

Sounds like you;re doing it right and someone else is reinfesting her at school.

I would just add teatree oil as well. I condition and comb DS's hair every week, if I find enything than I comb daily until there is nothing left. I also use tea tree oil with the conditioner like another poster said, but I also put a few dorps of tea tree oil behind his ears every day, the smell of it repels the lice aparantly.

It's only when I get lazy and stop putting the tea tree oil in his hair, and stop combing for a while, that they come back. It's a constant battle.

I think some parents just don't realise their ikds are infected, therefore leaving the whole class open to reinfestation.

I've only had two infestations to deal with so I'm no expert.

But I found the electronic louse comb really good. You do have to repeat after the eggs hatch out because it only kills lice, not eggs.

At the time my dd was a wriggly toddler and I liked the fact I didn't have to get her hair wet and make a big production out of it because she wouldn't have sat still for that. I just did her for a few minutes at a time, many times a day. I figured eventually over the course of a few days I'd get them all.

Another good thing is that I didn't have to be able to identify lice for it to work. It zaps them just the same, whether or not you know what you're doing.

MrsPotato I dry comb every day while I'm finding nits and wet comb with conditioner when they are in the bath anyway. I find I get more out when I do thier hair dry, probably because they have very long thick hair and I can see exactly what I'm doing and what I'm getting out. I also go through by hand like a mummy chimp to check for any eggs I might have missed. I spend about 20-30 mins on each head daily to clear them.

Because I check weekly during term time most of the time I can clear them in one sitting as they will just have the one louse and a couple of eggs. Some of the kids at the school at literally crawling with them so need to do it religiously.

Hedrin Once.

But I used it once a week for three weeks, on all of us, and then checked.

Hedrin shouldn't affect asthmatics, should it? Its not a poison as such, so not highly toxic - it simply suffocates the nits. The 'Once' variety also has something in it that dissolves egg cases, though, so maybe check what that ingredient is.

I would think olive oil, in sufficient quantities, would do the same thing...have read it on MN, but not tried myself!

I can only add:
Tie their hair back and /or consider keeping it very short.
The little blighters crawl from head to head, so shorter hair cuts the risk that somebody else's parasite will hook a thread of your DD's hair to crawl onto.

My record for clearing an infestation was 45 minutes with DS2: upon discovery, we gave him a Number 2 buzz, next I combed 4 big obvious bastards off him, then I spent 25 minutes finding & removing all eggs. Very satisfying.

With DD it was daily hour of combing for first 4 days (I didn't even bother to wash first, just conditioner or detangle spray or even just water) and then every other day for at least a week. Plus finding the eggs, removing eggs helps hugely if you can see them.

You are doing well if you don't have them yourself.

I combed the whole head with conditioner every day (sometimes twice a day) until I found no more, then I carried on combing every day for at least four/five days after that, then I reduced it to every other day, then every three days. I only stopped when I hadn't seen any for at least three weeks. If I found even one of the little gits we were back to combing every day.

I was completely obsessed with the things but we did get rid of them. We have had them twice in six years. One thing I have learnt (in RL and on MN) is that it actually helps to be obsessive about then if you want to get rid of them, if you are in any way complacent you just won't get rid of them.

Combing twice a week seems far to little to me (but then I am obsessed )

Combing twice a week with an active infestation won't touch it, it has to be daily. They lay eggs every day so if you miss one egg thats another one that will be laying within the week too so they end up heaving with nits again in no time as the life cycle isn't being broken.

Even a quick go over with a nitty gritty in the morning before school before a proper comb through before bed will help because the comb shreds eggs and the legs of the live ones so even if you don't get any out they die pretty soon after.

We've had two lots so far (DD started school in Sept).

She has shoulder-length hair and the comb didn't get all the eggs out. I put on a head torch and carefully cut as many hair strands with eggs on as I could find, using nail scissors.

Then Hedrin overnight. Washed out in the morning, more Hedrin applied and left in for the day.

Then a thorough comb-inspect-remove-Hedrin for another few days. Then daily inspections for as long as I can be bothered after that. Plus tea tree shampoo and conditioner, combed through. And hair spray/gel spray and a ponytail/bunches at school during the day.

Need to buy some neat tea tree oil.

I literally didn't check on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and there were about 40 bastard eggs in her hair by Boxing Day.

Delacet. Sorry can't do a link but just google it. Absolutely marvellous stuff, had to deal with nits numerous times (long haired DDs) and this is the only thing that works and seems to repel them for months after.

Works without stripping colour from hair, as I've found to my cost with other products. No need to nitcomb after (although I do), kills them all and even dissolves the eggs off of the hair.

Bloody marvellous stuff.

Full marks solution, lots of combing, reapply after a week per instructions deloused my DD who has long, thick hair.

I wouldn't have thought Full marks would be a problem for an asthmatic any more than conditioner.

You decide that no obvious nits is good enough.
Someone in DD2s class didn't check and she had only so much patience with having her hair combed.

www.thehairforce.co.uk/about-us/

My sister used them and says the nits have not returned.