Nit-tastic: Top Five Tips to keep nits away

Nobody tells you before you have kids that things will live in and on them…

It is horrible when you meet your first worm, or spy your first nit crawling through your kids hair.

Its that sinking feeling that something icky has found its way onto your kid; coupled with the inevitable guilt that you did something wrong and that’s why your child has nits.

WRONG….but that won’t stop you of course ;-)

Nits are just one of those things that happen to kids – some more than others, and for the lucky few…some not at all.

Once you have got the little sods *harsh but fair* there are a few things that you need to do to well and truly get rid of them. Nits are little bu**ers for coming back. Here are my chemical free tips to get rid of them, and hopefully keep them gone

Get a Nitty Gritty comb

If you are studious about checking for nits, there is no need to put chemicals in your child’s hair. The chemicals look horrible, and take an age to wash out. They are designed to dehydrate the lice, which kills them…I don’t like to imagine what its doing to your child’s head. Unless you can afford the more expensive treatments available for denitting without using chemicals, then the Nitty Gritty comb is your friend. Not only does it get the lice, but the comb is designed to get the live eggs too. Works wonders on everyone’s hair.

Get the Nitty Gritty, then divide the hair and conquer that’s the motto in our house!

Use tea tree oil shampoo

We have Vosene shampoo and conditioner with Tea Tree oil in it – though not scientifically proven, tea tree oil is said to “repel the nits”. Whether its the smell, or the oil makes it hard for them to climb it is unclear. However, we find it helpful to treat cases, as well as keeping the nits at bay.

Long hair goes UP

Don’t let your daughter or son’s long hair look like they are auditioning for a Timotei ad – flowing in the breeze beautifully in the playgound. Tie it back – if the lice can’t find it, they won’t take a holiday in it :-)

Check your kids hair regularly

Don’t rely on your eyesight – lice are small, nits are minute. It isn’t going to be something you can spot until you have a few of the blighters causing havoc in your child’s hair. We check once every two to three weeks after conditioning the hair with a Nitty Gritty comb. Presence of mind, and if you find anything, it’ll be earlier rather than later. A massive bonus if your daughter’s hair is as long as mine.

Encourage your kids not to share hair paraphernalia and hats

Nits can crawl – they can’t swim, but they can crawl…that’s how they move from head to head…or in these cases, hair clip or hat to head. Therefore make sure that your children are aware of this and don’t share hair stuff. However, they don’t survive too long away from the hair, usually about 24 hours, so don’t go mad and wash bedding; save that for when your child gets worms! ;-)

There is information from the NHS on preventing lice here too.

Sadly, nits seem to be one of those things that we are all going to encounter, and its hard to really prevent it from happening to you at some point, typically when your kids are 4-11.

If you take these precautions, and find them; go in all guns blazing. You will hopefully keep the trouble you get with nits to a minimum then.

After all, there are plenty of other things to worry about as a parent, aren’t there?!!?

Photo Credit: Gilles San Martin via Compfight cc

These our our nit-tastic rules to keep the lice at bay – what are yours, do share below.

Note: I was not paid to write this, I just love the products mentioned in it, and they work wonders for us.

Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!

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