I think I’ve found nits (lice) in Riley’s hair.
I’ve just doused us all in the hair treatment and they’ve screamed like hell. I’m about to toss our linens and things in the wash on a hot cycle.
Oh, the pure humiliation of it all.
What else do I do?!
Quick – HELP!
Previous post: How to take creative rejection
Next post: WW – The war continues over the USA
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Ugghh. Hate, hate, hate nits.
I’ve read so much about nit eradication, I can’t remember what’s true and what’s a ploy to get you to buy certain expensive products. I do remember one time when I soaked the kids’ heads in nasty nit-killing shampoo, only to find three LIVE AND KICKING nits wandering happily about behind their ears as I dried them off. I’m not convinced those things work.
(my scalp has started itching just writing about this)
The way I used to treat it? I’d take each child and lay them down on the floor in front of the television with a lollypop and get a very bright light (we used one of those million-candle hallogen outdoor things) and shine it on their head, and spray the hair with a fine mist of water, and just go through it, bit by bit, removing eggs and chasing down those nits. It would take a whole Disney DVD but I’d be certain they’d all gone. Then, I would spray their heads liberally in a mixture of water and tea-tree oil, and tie their hair up in ponytails. Going to school the next day, I would spray on more of the tea-tree oil stuff and plaster the hair to their heads with handfuls of hair gel. I know, very yucky, but it was always some other kid who would come to school and infest everyone, and I wanted my kids’ hair to be the least attractive of all to the nits.
God, I can’t stop scratching.
Trish’s last blog post..The Korean Bath House Experience
The worst thing about nits (besides the commenter wanting to scratch her head) is the fact that you have to rely on EVERYONE being treated – and that includes classmates.
I was so paranoid about the little beggars I gave my daughter and I scalp irritations from combing so much.
Sunshine on sheets and towels (after a hot wash); vacuum everywhere; do all stuffed animals; comb, comb, comb; clipper or pigtail all hair; spray the anti-lice stuff every day before they leave you and PRAY to goodness that your children’s playmates families are doing the same thing.
Repeat weekly until you are no longer paranoid.
Oh – and remember, not your fault, not your child’s fault – there is no patient zero. Just the wonders of nature.
jeanie’s last blog post..A funny thing happened on the way to my whinge (now with added bling!)
The paranoia bug has definitely jumped over to my head!
The only thing I can add is when attempting a comb search, wet hair helps and so does olive oil.
Good luck!
A’s last blog post..The dress code
Oh sweetie, we have just had this happen here.
The nit poison you can buy? Only knocks the lice out for a while, then they start to wander around. I know, we did a test once with a saucer of poison and a saucer of tea tree oil. The poisoned louse? was just comatose. The tea tree louse? was very dead.
Get yourself some cheapo conditioner and rub it through his hair (in the bath works for us). Then get a fine tooth comb (a special nit one) from the supermarket and comb his hair out. After each stroke, wipe the comb on a tissue to check for lice. Then rinse and repeat.
Tea tree oil kills them dead and is a great preventitive. Add some to a spray bottle of water with a little bit of lavendar and orange (also helpful, but not necessary). Use it all the time.
Vinegar will help loosen any eggs they may have laid.
And your linens don’t need a hot wash, just a regular wash. Lice can’t last off a human host for much more than a day, so just hang all the blankets and stuff in the sunshine all day.
I vacuumed the couches and then sprayed them with a little of the tea tree/lavendar water. Smelt a bit strong for a day but then calmed down.
Email me if you want to know any more.
Veronica’s last blog post..No No NO!
Excellent suggestions ladies, thank you. You’ve all reiterated pretty much what my mother has said.
My scalp has been itching for days too – it still is now
even though I treated myself. I need adam to have a look. Ecchhhhh this is just all so….shuddering.
Right – I’m off to buy some spray bottles!
All nit combs are not equal. I could see the nits in my daughters’ hair and would try to comb them out with the comb (Nit Wits brand). The *only* one that did the trick was the LiceMeister. Honestly, I think I could have just used that without the chemical stuff. Conditioner and the comb and that’s it.
TJC_Kate’s last blog post..Not nearly as bad as expected.
One other piece of advice…………. my hair dresser always reminds me to keep treating their hair once a week for 4 weeks to break the breeding cycle. The eggs can be so hard to get out, you may not get them all.
Bettina’s last blog post..Smiley Saturday
Yep. Cheap conditioner. On dry hair. Suffocates them just as well as any of the nit products, if not better. I have wasted so much money on bloody nit products in the past, when I could have just made do with Coles conditioner. No substitute for combing through, and then redoing it within a week, and keep redoing to break the cycle.
Veronica’s advice pretty much backs up what I’ve heard from some professor bloke from Cooktown university – they don’t live for that long off the head. They did studies where they searched kids hats, and they found no nits on the hats, but the kids had lice in their hair, so there is no need to go ballistic around the house (like I have done in the past…)
Tracey’s last blog post..The right tools for the job
First of all – relax – just about everyone’s gone through this – I had really long hair when my kids first got nits and oh my God – it was a nit metropolis. It took my friend about 4 hours to go through my hair.
Personally I’ve found the cheap conditioner on the dry hair works If best.
Here’s my routine: I fill an ice cream container with hot water. I get a plastic poncho or art shirt and put it on the child. I have near me a towel, a comb with a long pointy handle and my Nads nit comb. I find it the easiest to use – our hair is quite thick hair.
I sit the child in front of a video if possible.
I smother the child’s hair in conditioner to stop the lice in their tracks. I then divide off the hair into four sections and tie up three of them. Then section by section I use my pointy comb to take thin sections and then comb through with the nit comb, rinsing it in the hot water after each comb through and clearing it. The lice sink to the bottom and the eggs do too although sometimes they get caught in the foam. After a while the water gets foamy and dirty and then I slowly tip out the water and then count the lice – see this becomes a maths lesson!
Then once a quarter is done I tie it up and move on. Then at the end take out the four sections and do a random comb with the nit comb to check I didn’t miss any live ones.
If it is a severe infection, I do this three days in a row.
Then I leave it for a week and do it again. If I find any eggs I will repeat in a week.
I don’t bother with washing everything – after the combing marathon and of course you usually discover nits at bedtime – I’m usually too exhausted.
CB
cellobella’s last blog post..Making friends
Cellobella and the other ladies have already given you a great response, but this Vic Govt website is pretty useful if you are after anything more.
PlanningQueen’s last blog post..10 things things we do to make meal time enjoyable.
How old is he? If you or he doesn’t mind it, try the barber and have him do a skinhead. Thats chemical free and takes care of the lice. Thats what I did with my eldest son when he got it.
ApplesH’s last blog post..The Last Promise by Richard Paul Evans
Having worked in Child Care both in Centres & as a Family Day Carer, I also use the Tea Tree & Lavendar treatement. Ensure you buy 100% Tea Tree oil & 100% Lavander Oil & mix equal parts of oil together. You can use it “neat” by rubbing through the hair which will kill any eggs on the hair which attach roughly 5cm from the scalp. However adding water allows you to spray it onto the scalp without risk of irritation.
Now most of us know that oil & water don’t mix… the solution is to add milk! Yup, just a small amount of milk with the oils mixed in will allow the water to mix.
I make myself Lavander baths by using (approx) 8 drops of Lavander to 1 Tablespoon of milk.
This solution can be used in your washing or sprayed onto furniture. It won’t “go off” as the milk is heavily diluted.
Good Luck
socko’s last blog post..Change is as good as a holiday????
{ 1 trackback }