Getting Rid of Nits, Help!

Updated on October 21, 2013
M.B. asks from Milwaukee, WI
7 answers

Hi helpful mamas :) I am hoping for advice, after scouring the internet for two days and seeing so many different "solutions" to the problem, I am feeling overwhelmed. My daughter was sent home with lice Thursday, so I had to take off work as well. I found I had them too so I used Nix on both her and myself. I took apart our beds and washed everything in the house and bagged up all of her soft toys. I was up past midnight doing this, then Friday I took her to my daycare where I work to get her inspected before school. My director found nits on her but not on me. I just wanted to cry. How can I get rid of something that I can hardly see? I had to keep my daughter out of school and take an unpaid day to keep her home. I washed everything in the house again and spent hours combing through her hair. I was so exhausted and stressed thet Saturday I got a particularly violent migraine and was useless all day, so I didn't do any combing. Now today I combed through her hair and couldn't find anything, but I didn't see anything Friday either, so I am afraid that my eyes aren't so good and I'm missing something. My co-worker says to put mayonnaise in her hair for four hours then to wash it out. But will that get rid of the nits? I wanted to find a person to help me find and remove them but nobody can help me, not even the Health Dept. I can't afford to take any more time off work. Do you have any advice for me, for a fool-proof way to eliminate all the nits that I can't even see? Thanks so much... *peace*

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So What Happened?

Many thanks everyone especially Rosecity. I had no idea that anyone would help me. After all the cleaning and combing and losing 24 hours to a stress-induced migraine I was grateful to have someone to call. I found LiceDoctors.com and they sent someone to my home. She used a Terminator comb and olive oil and worked on my daughter then myself. It was pricey but well worth it. We now have to follow a comb-and-oil routine nightly for the next couple of weeks. I wish I had known about LiceDoctors before I lost a day from work and before I lost a day to migraine. I feel confident that my daughter and I can go to school and work tomorrow. Many thanks for all your helpful answers (gotta try the tea tree oil!) *Peace*!

More Answers

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

You're going about this all wrong mamakitty. It's not this hard. There was no reason to do all the work you did twice. Sorry.

I suggest you do this. It works.

I check the kids every week so I have it down to a science.

I wash the kiddo's hair normally. I comb it out with a regular comb or brush with conditioner in the shower. I rinse it well. It should have very few tangles and be drippy wet.

Have her lay across a table, your lap, etc...on a towel. Take a rat tail comb, a fork tine, a pair of tweezers, etc...to part off the hair in small parts. Take a section that is about 1/4 inch deep and about 3/4 of an inch wide. Examine this section carefully. Look at the roots, the middle section, and the ends. If you see any live bugs pull them out with tweezers or your nails. Then drop them into a cup or bowl of water. They drown. The water makes them sluggish and as long as the hair is wet they will be extremely slow. Keep the hair wet. If you see a white nit that means it's empty. There is nothing in it anymore and it's basically dead. If it has a dark center it has a baby in it, these must be pulled out or that individual hair has to be clipped off. If there are many nits in the hair then don't clip it, pull the nit out with your nails.

Do this every day for a week or until you don't see anything in their hair at all. Then do this every week, I do it on Saturday morning after the kiddo gets out of the shower. I do sometimes not do it every week but only if it's been an extremely long time since a break out at school.

Please don't use any more chemicals on your skin. It's a pesticide, poison, not healthy. IF you do decide to wash with a chemical then use Lice MD. It's not a pesticide.

Nits are the left over egg, it's empty. It signify's there are live bugs, if you've gone through and removed all of the bugs and tried to get all the nits out then she should be allowed back in.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

Put some rubbing alcohol in a trigger spray bottle of water and spray her hair a small section at a time. The alcohol helps take the sticky stuff off the nits amd they come out more easily.
My daughter got these several yrs ago and it took hours to get them out of her hair. She has very heavy thick hair and we spent 6 hours going through her hair but we got them.

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C.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

You need good direct light, otherwise, you will never see them. Once you have light on them, you will find that you can run your thumb and forefinger on the hair and you will feel the nit stuck to the hair. You can scrape it to the end of the hair and drop it in a paper cup. You can also scrape it to almost the end of the hair and then clip that piece of hair into the paper cup.

The nits stick to the hair and don't slide around, so if you are able to brush your fingers on the lent/nit and it moves, it is not a nit.

Get a magnifying glass if the light doesn't help.

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J.M.

answers from Tampa on

I'm so sorry! My girls had them for 2 years on and off. Finally after trying over the counter, medicine from the dr. lice shampoo, tea tree oil...the only thing that worked for us is hair detangler. They use it daily and sometimes multiple times a day. They hated the products on their hair and me pulling it with the come to get them out.

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A.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

Getting the right comb is absolutely essential and will save you SO much time. You need to get the comb that is called "The Terminator" comb. Some salons around you may carry it so start calling around. Otherwise you can order online. Also, there is a non-toxic spray that you can get at Walmart called Lice Free. You can use it constantly since it is non-toxic and it dries out the nits so that they are not viable. You still must comb just in case. Comb in all directions (up, down, side and side) with one-inch sections and you can be done with this in a day.

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

My boys had lice a couple of years ago. We used the shampoo the first day. That day I changed the bedding, bagged up the stuffed animals and vacuumed. I went through their hair with a nit comb once a day for a week. I bought a better nit comb than the one that came with the shampoo, with metal teeth. I made sure to comb them either outside in the sunshine, or right in front of a window in direct daylight. On the seventh day I used the shampoo again, and changed the bedding. That was it. They never had lice again.

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B.P.

answers from Cleveland on

Oil her head let it sit for a while and then sit in the room that is lit up the best section her hair start at the back of her head and comb through with a super fine tooth comb. It will take a good 2 hrs combing through to make sure everything is gone then retreat in a week

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