The funny thing about nits …

Warning, this post may make you itch!

Not a subject that we often talk openly about but in truth it is one of those things that is a rite of passage as a parent. I have always been very proud of the fact that in nearly 43 years I have never had nits and neither had my children.  

I would laugh in the face of those blanket head lice letters thinking that this was something that would never happen.   Of course I checked them from time to time, but it was a half-hearted rummage, rather than a stringent search.

Then it happened.

It was only by chance that I found them.  I had been scratching my head but hadn’t really given it much thought.  I came home from work and was rushing around like a lunatic when I found some thing in my hair.  I pulled it out and it was alive. Horrified does not cover it, I can tell you.

My initial reaction was one of horror.  The shame.  Nits at my age.  What would people say?  Then panic followed.  I had to go out to a school open evening,what if people knew? What if someone who was sat behind me could see them?  And believe me, as ridiculous as that might sound, I have sadly seen a few well established head lice in children’s hair over my years of teaching. My husband assured me however that I was being ridiculous and we went to the open evening but I am sure that I was conspicuous by my constant head scratching.  

The following day, my first port of call was the chemist to buy whatever chemical laden weapons of nit destruction I could find.  Satisfied with my tools, I returned home to delouse and to check everyone else’s hair.  R and I were the ones affected mainly and we both have similar hair.  We treated, combed and combed a bit more in an effort to rid ourselves of this problem and I was happy.

Except of course, it’s not that simple is it?  It really isn’t.  If like me, you naively think that a dose of head lice shampoo will do the trick, you are wrong.  These nasty little blighters are rather trickier to get rid of than that.

A few days later and poor R was still riddled with them and I was itching my head so much, I’m surprised there was any hair left for them to attach to.  You are only recommended to use treatments once every seven days and I was starting to feel a bit desperate.  So I sought the advice of a few fellow bloggers and I am so glad that I did.

Firstly it made me feel more like a normal human being again as most of them had had the same problem at some point and secondly the advice they gave me was invaluable.  It would seem that head lice are actually quite difficult to get rid of and it really does take two to three weeks of daily action to get rid of them completely.  I was given all sorts of advice, from vodka (on the hair not drinking it) to mayonnaise but I chose the option of buying a Nitty Gritty comb and using Vosene shampoo and leave in conditioner with tea tree oil. What a difference they made?  The Nitty Gritty comb is amazing and the children quite like the Vosene shampoo so I think I will carry on using it as it contains ‘natural head lice repellents’.

I am happy to report that we are now nit free, but it has taken a lot of effort on my part to spend time every day to thoroughly go through their hair with the comb and the spray in conditioner and making sure that there are no foreign bodies.  This has taught me a few lessons along the way too.  Firstly, talking about these things is a good thing; the thing with parenting is that we all go through these things and there will always be someone on hand to offer advice and make you feel better.  Secondly, I am now an expert on dealing with head lice (well definitely more than I was anyway) and finally, I have realised that whenever the customary ‘nit letter’ arrives home, I certainly will not be ignoring it again. Quite the opposite in fact.