Thursday, December 06, 2007

Nits

One doesn't usually own up to this sort of things but I discovered on Wednesday just before dd's Christmas concert that she had nits. I quietly told the schoo.l nurse and we went forth into the evening concert with her hair tied back. It was late night so I couldn't treat before she went to bed. I let the little lie in and then began. Now having three kids I have been through nits before and let me say as she had been scratch I had been checking quickly most mornings. The girl was infested.

Two hours later she was debugged so I thought I had just better check myself. I have made it through 44 years of life and three kids with nits never having had them before........but I had nits. Another hour before I was debugged and my hair looked like something from hell. Highlighted hair does not go well with weird chemicals! i just don't advise it. i was supposed to be a fab Christmas party last night but no - my dead nits, fried hair and I stayed home.

Of course all of this debugging wasn't in the schedule for big party - numbers now up to 40! Not to panic I'm off to the desert this afternoon and evening for company do.......so who is having 40 people here tomorrow? Me? No, you must be joking!!!!

11 comments:

leatherdykeuk said...

Eww¬ I hate those things. We get them from time to time with the youngest still at infants.

Phillipa said...

Yuk. I haven't had them but my dd got them twice at seconday school. We took a 'shock and awe' approach. Lashings of chemicals and then acres of conditioner laced with drops of tea tree oil. And the comb. It really is horrible but two doses of chemicals and daily combing should zap the little b*****s. Good luck!

CC Devine said...

Oh no! Hope the highlights aren't too affected. Such a nightmare especially when you'd managed to avoid them for so long. Enjoy the party!

KeVin K. said...

Thanks for sharing. My scalp is going to be itching all day. Yetch.

Nell Dixon said...

Those critters are vile. I went through a year where I was constantly having to treat the girls. I could shoot those parents who just don't bother to treat their kids heads and blithely keep reinfesting everyone else.

Chris Stovell said...

Don't worry we've all been there!

Liz, so sorry to hear the news about the agent. We've all been there too. Let's raise an early glass to better luck next year.

Caroline said...

ewwww. You've got me scratching!
I have still to experience the joy, but you know it'll happen in the next couple of days now!
x

B.E. Sanderson said...

Been there, done that. You have my deepest sympathy, Liz. One thing to avoid the nasty chemicals, though. Olive oil will kill head lice. Something about the single chain fatty acid and the fact that lice breath through their shells. I don't remember the details exactly (since we went homeschool it's been years since I had to worry about it), so Google it for instructions, etc. Anyway, you'll smell like a salad and still have to comb their little corpses off you, but it's better than having all those chemicals on your head.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Eugh, poor you. I haven't had them but when dd did in primary school I coated my hair with the same stuff to kill them. Sorry to hear about the rejection. Forget about everything for now and have a lovely party.

Leigh Forbes said...

Oh, Liz. What bad timing! I do sympathise. Small boy had several doses last year.

I am dreading small girl getting them. She has long hair, which is usually entangled with Weetabix, yoghurt and, this week, copydex. I can just see me pulling a nit comb through that that twice a day for a fortnight.

Jan Jones said...

Been there, done that.

As a precaution:

The eggs take 7-10 days to hatch, so up until daughter (who has LONG hair) was 16 or so, we ladled conditioner-of-choice on her scalp and nit-combed it through once a week. The lice's little hooky legs can't cope with the slipperyness and eggs slide off too.

And it doesn't hurt the hair either!