Getting rid of nits
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
August 12, 2012 10:58pm CST
I really hate to admit this, but my daughter caught lice from a friend in the neighborhood some months ago. We were able to get rid of the nasty parasites and I thought that I had gotten all of the nits out as well. That is, until her hair started to grow out and you were able to see them.
I saw them and was afraid that she was infected again, I did a treatment on her hair and then combed out her hair for about and hour. I pulled plenty of nits (the egg shells) out of her hair, but I didn't see a live bug one, thank goodness.
This got me to wondering, does anyone have any suggestions that will get all of the nits out of her hair? I can sit there and comb and comb and comb and that doesn't seem to be doing it and I know that I don't need to put any more insecticide in her hair since she doesn't have a live infection.
5 people like this
15 responses
@caopaopao (12395)
• China
13 Aug 12
I remembered when I was a child, children caught lice easily. I think if your daughter is young, you can cut off all her hair, and remember to burn the hair in case the nits in the hair reproduce . Wash her head often ,and you can daub some sulphur ointment on her head. Or you can put four bottles of Essential Balm into the hot water and then use it to wash her head. well, you can have a try, I hope it works.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
There is no way that she is going to be willing to let me shave her head. She is a nine-year-old little girl and she is starting to get really concerned about her looks.
As far as using a sulphur on her hair, her daddy suffers from dandruff so we've been using a lot of sulphur based shampoo in our home. Plus, it is not a matter of her having a live infection because she doesn't but the nits are really getting the best of me.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
15 Aug 12
She is finally cooperating with me combing on her hair every single day. I am really hoping that this is not something that will take us a long time to get completely rid of.
@caopaopao (12395)
• China
14 Aug 12
Oh,a nine-year-old girl will of course refuse being cut off all the hair, hehe, but you can make her hair short. And maybe a toothcomb will be helpful, just comb her hair often, the toothcomb will bring some down. When I got lice, I didn't shave my hair, too. Because I was in primary school at that time. I remembered every day I combed my hair with toothcomb, and my mum looked for the nits in my hair and took them down and broke them, they just disappeard one day.
Just now I checked some websites, someone said putting small amount of washing powder into the shampoo to wash her hair was an efficient way, maybe you can have her try. Whish you solve the promblem sooner. :-D
@shylade (3132)
• Philippines
13 Aug 12
Oh that's hard to treat. But if your daughter's hair is always clean and she avoid going under sunlight that makes her scalp sweat then those parasites will go away. We have here a very fine comb we called "suyod". We just comb our hair using that, then we will have this white paper to which we can see the lice falling.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
With it being summer time, it is difficult to keep her out of the sun. But, we've been working on getting rid of all of those eggs. I just have to admit that I was so very happy to see that she is still without a live infestation.
@lynboobsy11 (11343)
• Philippines
13 Aug 12
My daughter also have it when she was in her elementary years, I used some kind of lice shampoo and get rid of the eggs everyday. You did not see the live parents of this eggs because it is not yet already hatch. Just try to take it away everyday and crush it between your thumbnails is the best way to kill them
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
It has actually been a while since we dealt with the live infection. These nits have probably been in her hair for a while but I am just not able to see them because they have grown along with her hair. I think that I'm going to continue having her comb with every shower and I will use the non-pesticide lice and nit killer once a week until all of the eggs are gone.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
13 Aug 12
i have no idea about the nits. id never noticed this before and myself as a child caught them twice and my daughters have both had them, my youngest 3 or 4 times. mom used to say there is no shame in catching them, just in keeping them. 
hopefully she will stay away from the kids that are keeping them or at least not get to close any more nor stay at their house since pillow cases and every where hair comes in contact have to be treated. 
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
21 Aug 12
I can't say that I've ever seen the "Nitcomb." We do, however, have a RID metal comb that my daughter has been using in the shower every time that she washes her hair. In addition to that, I've also told her that it isn't necessary to wash her hair every day because of the fact that they don't like hair that isn't always kept clean. I don't let her look dirty, but I don't strictly enforce washing the hair each and every day.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
22 Aug 12
I do think that it is important for the hair to not be tangled. However, after hearing about the comb that you are talking about, it sounds to me like it would be a great thing to be able to have access to both combs.
@enjoythejourney (524)
• United States
14 Aug 12
I know our school sends home a paper advising to buy a certain shampoo and a really fine comb. Also washing all bedding, clothing and furniture. It is a real pain but those things are a nuisance until you get rid of all the traces.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
We've been through all of that and it did get rid of the live infestation. What I am seeing now is actually the nits that I wasn't able to get out in the first place because they are several inches down the shaft of her hair. So, we are going to go with combing through the hair each and every single day.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
15 Aug 12
Little girls are very precious and they do grow up way too quick. She is almost ten years old now and I really can see her life changing rapidly.
@enjoythejourney (524)
• United States
14 Aug 12
That has got to be a real pain for both you and her. However, putting a positive spin on it- you are spending quality time with your daughter, combing her hair and hopefully sharing her take on her day. I do not have a daughter- wish I did as they are so precios and grow up so fast.
Looking back it may be a memory you will always share and laugh about... "Remember all those days you had to sit there while I combed and combed and combed your hair"
@ladygator (3465)
• United States
20 Aug 12
Oh man isnt that one of the worst things! My daughter had them and she has very very curly thick hair. We bought the treatment and they were still in her hair, so I did the mayo wrap for over 8 hours and still there, I washed her hair with denorex and rinced with coconut. Still they were there. I then did another treatment combed and picked all around the top of her hair and realized there was still many more in her longer hair. So I cut her hair into bob, and have not found anymore since. But we use denorex a few times a month and use either tea tree conditioner or coconut.
Best luck with this, I know how frusterating it can be.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
20 Aug 12
When we did first notice them in Kathryn's hair, we did cut it as short as she would let us go and that has been something that has made combing a lot easier. The thing is, it just seems impossible to get each and every one of those little eggs out of the hair.
@Katlady2 (9904)
• United States
16 Aug 12
My son would come to my house for our weekend visits and almost every time he would have lice because one of the family friends had kids that weren't treated for them. So I would use either Nix or Rid on his hair...doing the treatment twice in a week. I discovered that using conditioner after the shampoo helped to remove the nits and the live bugs a lot easier. I even would put some conditioner and water in a spray bottle and spray it on as I was combing, and that made it even easier.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
17 Aug 12
That must have been terrible for him. My son has not had any problem at all with it. I have been using a lot more conditioner to comb through Kathryn's hair as that does lubricate the hair and does make it a lot easier to get them out, but I just can't seem to get them all at one time.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
Well, I just did a treatment last night because of the fact that I want to be rid of the nits before school starts back. So, I'm not able to do another treatment for another week, I have, however, told her to comb out her hair with the bug comb every time that she takes a shower. When she puts conditioner in, it makes the hair slick enough that you are able to get the comb through the hair.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
I do tend to believe that the only thing that you can do after you've gotten rid of the live infestation is to just comb and comb and comb the hair. She doesn't have any live infestation, so we are going to go with something to comb through her hair to make it slick (mayonaisse or conditioner) and then comb through it with every shower.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
There is no way that Kathryn is going to allow me to cut all of her hair off. We've already taken it from a long length to a shorter length of above the shoulders. I'll be honest and say that at least cutting her hair has made it a lot easier to comb through.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
13 Aug 12
They stick to the hair, so unfortunately other than combing and cutting it, there's not much you can do...
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
When the problem first came up, she went from having hair that was almost half way down her back to hair that was shorter than shoulder length. There is no way that she would consider letting me shave her bald, so we are just going to have to continue combing it every day.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
15 Aug 12
So far she seems to be okay with the daily combing. However, she is really getting tired of combining that with the chiropractor and massage therapy appointments that we have three times a week with her daily combing.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
13 Aug 12
Vinegar will kill the nits to ensure they don't hatch and become another live infestation. My sister had this same problem when she was about 5. She'd never had a hair cut in her life so her hair was down to her butt and it was very thick and a bit wavy. My mother combed her hair daily to try to get the nits out but it wasn't working. We heard about the vinegar and it obviously killed the nits as they all turned brown, but my sister still wasn't allowed back in school until they were gone. Unfortunately in the end my sister needed her hair completely chopped off. Thankfully, hair grows back so not a big deal.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
That is one thing that I do consider to be lucky about school here. They will allow the children to come to school when there are nits in the head as long as they know that a treatment has been done. These nits are brown and pretty far down the hair shaft, so I know that they are not a live infestation. In addition to that, I did a treatment last night and didn't find a single bug in her hair.
@daisy777 (214)
• South Africa
31 Aug 12
Lice is nothing to be embarassed about. My kids and I got it from a neighbour as well. I'm surprised that the insecticide you used didn't get rid of the eggs as well. I would suggest that you chat to your pharmacist. Maybe he can suggest something to get rid of the eggs as well. Good luck :-)
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
1 Sep 12
Combing, combing, and combing some more has been what has been able to do the trick for us. Kathryn's hair is finally clear with the exception of one or two stray ones that I see here and there.
@shaggin (72131)
• United States
13 Aug 12
Aww gee that is pretty gross but they arent live and thats the most important thing. You need to just sit and pick them all out thats the only way to get the nits out they stick to the hair. I've never had head lice nor have my kids thankfully but I have heard my friends talk about it.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Aug 12
My siblings and myself never had to deal with them when we were children either. However, in this past year, both my daughter and my nieces have had to deal with them as well.
