Well it finally happened – we got the nits innit? I’m surprised it’s taken so long but perhaps sending the boys to a prep school has its advantages after all?

Of course being naïve about nits poor old Oscar had an itchy head for weeks*. My first thought was head lice but every time I checked I couldn’t find anything. A sensible person would at this point have resorted to Google and found out that head lice are notoriously difficult to detect, until the later stages when they are a massive 2mm long and crawling all over your collar. I didn’t even think of going to a pharmacist to ask for help. In the end Pete suggested medicated shampoo – I have a vague recollection of Vosene from my

The Old Nit Kit

younger days but my dear Pa would wash my hair in Fairy liquid so I wasn’t really up on hair stuff. Timotei and Pantene were all that featured in my life for a very long time. In any case a lovely Pharmacist proffered T-Gel (by Neutrogena) and suggested we use it only once a week for 5 weeks and a very mild shampoo at other times. Amazingly this really did seem to work! For a week. Now I am wondering why she didn’t suggest head lice to me, although on second thoughts I was very insistent he didn’t have them. Oh innocent, naïve, stupid hopeful mother!

It was Alfie what dunnit. His were easy to see, though in fairness I only ever found 3 grown up lice on him. But the eggs! Man they are like limpets. Now Alfie has the most glorious hair. Thick, shiny and golden, it is like a halo of hair envy and he likes to wear it long. This is not good when you have to get a nit comb through it. This is not good when you have to get a nit comb through it SEVERAL TIMES.

So I cut his hair off. With his consent. It’s the first time I’ve ever cut anyone’s hair (kids are good like that) and it wasn’t awful. Thing is, I thought I’d got rid of the blighters but to my horror the hairdresser found more. Cue embarrassed mother shuffling out of the salon in shame. I daren’t go back in case there are still signs, hence the home-made haircut. I just couldn’t face another lifetime combing the bloody nits out.

Then I discovered the Gold Standard of headline eradication (Hedrin). Sure it’s expensive, but bloody hell, who has time to do that awful stuff the doctor gives you? Not me. You can have one of my kidneys if you promise we won’t ever get headlice again. All that bloody washing for a start! Opinion varies on

The Gold Standard Nit Kit

whether you have to boilwash ALL the bedding in the house but I wasn’t taking any chances. So that got done every time we did a treatment. Because you have to do a follow up treatment a week later too. So first treatment, second treatment, another treatment, the follow up treatment and oh FFS.

And have you ever tried nitcombing yourself? Now that my hair is bleached it’s akin to carding wool. I’m not wasting another iota of my life doing that again.

Just to be clear, we are all clear. We couldn’t be more clearer. We DO NOT have the nits no more. So if mine come home with nits again, I’m blaming your kids, OK?

Click here to find out how about Detection Combing

*Itching

Head lice often cause a person’s scalp to itch. Itching isn’t caused by lice biting the scalp, but by an allergy to the lice.

However, not everyone is allergic to head lice, so you or your child may not notice a head lice infestation.

Even if someone with head lice is allergic to them, itching can take up to three months to develop.

In some cases, a rash may appear on the back of the neck. This is caused by a reaction to lice droppings.