Hello nits. I bet just reading that word has made your head itch. I know. Me too. Nits don’t scare me anymore. They don’t even horrify me. I had nits a lot as a kid. So many times that I remember my mother threatening more than once to cut off all my hair. It was long, you see, right down my back and lice treatments back then were highly toxic and revolting.
And eventually she was just over it. Fair enough too.
The first time my own child had nits I wasn’t particularly thrown. He was in primary school and I made the pilgrimage to the chemist to stock up on whatever I could find. “Don’t worry!” soothed the pharmacist (I hadn’t been). “It’s not your fault” (that hadn’t occurred to me). “Nits like clean hair more than dirty hair!”
Oh. Right. OK. Whatever.
My son got nits a lot. I tried everything. Nothing worked. I started off with ‘natural’ products. Moved to toxic ones. Tried conditioner. The nits laughed at me and continued to have bloody nit babies.
For quite a few years we had a respite. Until this week when my youngest started scratching his head and upon closer inspection, I discovered what you could describe as…..an infestation.
Watch the Mamamia team reveal the moment they felt like bad mothers.
Top Comments
I'm dreading the day my daughter comes home with nits. She is 3. Her hair is just like Shirley Temple's. Really tight curls. (Wet hair, it reaches her lower back, dry - it sits just above her shoulders - yes that springy!) It is a nightmare to comb on a normal day :(
I have extremely thick hair so getting nits is hell for me. I have made up a leave on conditioner with lavender, tee tree, eucalyptist, and neem oil which I put on both myself and my son. He's been in daycare for over 3 years and has never had them yet.
My daughter has waist long thick hair. Did the conditioner trick which helped loosen the eggs, then rinse off, let dry & then nuke the buggers with a hair straightener. Worked perfectly. I then plaited her hair so it wasn't so fly around & susceptible to the little buggers hopping on again.