Nits! pls help!

[Anja]

hello all!

i worked as a nanny for quite some time and among the rest the kidsgave me their nits! and now i can't get rid of them... tried shampoos, powder. combing... and they keep coming back.. it all seems ok and then every once in a while i find another one.. and another one.. they are incredibly tiny, barely visible... please help! i hate the idea of cutting my hair!! could there be another way??

thanks a lot!

[4_eva_green]

Hi Anja

Tea tree oil kills nits. I can recommend a good tea tree oil shampoo which should do the trick. Please PM me if you want more info.

Lynne

[kpuk]

Hi Anja, there have been quite a few posts on this subject if you do a search, we all seem to have the eternal not problem with our kids, so far I have been lucky not to have caught them too (they don't seem to like my bleached hair!)

I have used the tea tree shampoo and conditioner, which does help, but doesnt kill the nits. The combing with conditioner every 2 days is the best way to keep them under control, as you need to break the cycle of lice/eggs - getting rid of the crawlers is only the first step!

Keeping your hair tied back and sprayed with hairspray deters the little blighters too. I try all ways to avoid the chemicals on my kids. There is a homeopathic remedy called Staphisagria (sp?) which you mix with warm water and use as a final rinse - you can get it from Helios (www.helios.co.uk) who will also give you advise.

So far this school term we are not free, but I check every other day just in case. We had a constant batttle last year!

Karen

[garthur]

I'll probably get slated for this but here goes anyway!! I am 51 and got head lice (nits are the eggs - biddies are the lice) for the first time. My hair is hip length and it was horrendous trying to get rid of them!! Took me 5 weeks of continual treatment and vigilance....
I now check our hair regularly - my youngest son seems to be the most susceptible - if I see him scratch I know he's got lodgers!
Best advice I can give is douse your hair with Derbac M - yes I know it's a chemical but, believe me, I've tried everything from this to tea tree to Full Marks (doesn't kill them - just knocks them out.....). Leave 12 hours or overnight, wash off and use a good conditioner and comb it through your hair (with your head upside down over the bath/shower/basin). Rinse. Treat again a week later. and after that comb the conditioner through with each shampoo. In addition to this - and here is where everyone goes "HORRORS!" - make sure you treat the whole family at the same time. One reason I never had them as a child is because my mum was so vigilant - if my sister picked any up, we were all done. IMHO it is in the interests of the big pharmaceuticals to say not to do this - therefore you may pass them onto your child, husband, whatever but just treat yourself. One pregnant female might have been passed on.....hey presto a week or so later the other person gets treated but you've got them back.....and a cycle is set up. The little blighters get passed round like fleas from a cat.....and guess who makes profits from all the different lotions you buy....
Good luck with the de-bugging!! I'm itching just thinking about it!
Love
Glenys
PS I'm not usually in favour of chemicals - I don't do all this anti-bacterial garbage etc., but in this case I find it expedient.

[calmintentions]

add tea tree oil (about 10 drops) to yr regular shampoo and conditioner. you need to smother hair with conditioner and comb it for at least 5 minutes. do this every day for at least a week. when my daughter was small there was a spray avaible, made from natural products, but i can't remember the name. something to do with repel i think. once the nits were gone you sprayed the hair every day before school and it kept them at bay. it was very effective.

[Anja]

thank you all for your posts! i found them very helpful!

[Hal]

Hi,

I have personally found vodka to be very helpful..the other stuff available in this country is not much use but alcohol does seem to kill them or cause them to fall off quite nicely and the eggs too.

[Trese]

Hi there

A well known make of shampoo with essential oils in it is a must for nits. They do not like the essential oils in the shampoo and it also keeps them away.

I had this problem on and off with my Daughter when she was at school.

Will pm you the make.

Take care

[coop]

Hi Guys

Try Nitty gritty combs and spray they are fab the comb gets rids of nits and eggs its ab fab - i am itchin too thinkin about it - omg - but it totally got rid of the cycle in my little girls hair - now I tea tree her everyday.
Love Coop

[garthur]

Tea tree and lavender spray are excellent at keeping the little beggars away - don't like it at all. Unfortunately, it doesn't kill them.
Like the idea of the Vodka, though - it would probably cause me to fall off quite nicely, too, Hal!!
(I'm itching now, just thinking about it!!)

[oggs26]

i love the smell of der back strange!!! love claire xxx

[crystal_rose]

i too have been having this problem with my youngest daughter see plays with a couple of kids who never seem to get treated but how do you tell the kids that they cannot play with these kids. anyway have told their parents still problem persists. seems like every two weeks i am treating her and myself tried t tree oil added to shampoos and continders but only by checking every so many days do i keep finding them i think we should all treat our kids on one day and then we could all get rid of them . this thing now where we do not have a nit nurse in school is stupid this is how these things get out of control human rights what about mine when i get nits

[Angel]

You know what Crystal_rose, this is a great idea, if we all could get to the headmaster in schools, nurserys etc, and for full month have a national head lice day where every parent checks their childrens hair all on the same night and then again one week later, we might actually eradicate head lice.

This might be something we all could do. The amount of headlice around now is just unbelievable and in this day and age it is just not amuzing.

Love Angel x

[Amber]

The problem is, that some parents can just not be bothered!!

It is sooooooo frustrating. If everybody would just take the same level of care, then head lice would not be as big a problem as it is now. [&:]

Amber

[calla lily]

i've been on nit patrol for the best part of a fortnight ever since my daughter bought home some "homework"!!

last year i was forever buying lotions, potions and one of them battery powered nit combs all to no avail as to quote two shop assistants words in separate shops " theres no point buying the stuff if other parents don't do the same" which is true.

now, i just use a mixture of tea tree shampoo and conditioner which cost me the grand sum of a pound for two big bottles, wash her hair as normal then go through her hair with a nit comb. it is a tedious way of doing it but i've given up wasting money on expensive lotions.

one good idea that one of my childrens schools had was to send out a letter with a "bug busting" day where parents checked their childs hair , and there was boxes to tick to say whether lice were found, and if so, have been treated. unfortuantely though, the only way i see of eradicating nits in schools is to do what they used to do when i was younger- send them home and not allow the child back until they had been treated coupled with the nit nurse!

[crystal_rose]

too right bring back the nit nurse

[Survivor]

Where is Nitty Natty Nora the head explorer!!!!!!

Will like Amber said the biggest problem is ownership and if EVERYONE did it they would go away.

Cider vinegar is another idea and it is great for the hair if nothing else.

Heaps of conditioner and a comb is the best though I am sure.

Love & Light
XX

[Angel]

Survivior, you triggered a child hood memory, whenever my mum saw me or my sister scratch out heads, she would wash out hair with vinigar, it must of worked cos I can never recall having nits as a child. Had them twice since having children of my own, it just ain't funny.[:@]

[Deb379]

Hi there
My daughter had this problem twice. First time after trying the useless shampoos and the useless nit comb I ended up snipping each hair that was contaminated.

2nd time round I used an electric nit comb which was good but her hair is so thick it wasn't effective enough. In the end I used my cat's flea comb (washed of course) the teeth are close together than the normal nit comb. You really need someone to help you, get them to check your hair daily. It's the horrible black ones you really need to get rid of as they are the egg layers.

I hasten to say I got rid of hers in the end.

deb379

[mollykins74]

I have the same constant battle with my 3 kids, and they even gave them to me last time

I never actually had them when I was little, but I know this is because we had the Nit Nurse.

Bring back the Nit Nurses is whats needed too.