I’ve got nits by Mike Brownlow is a great book to read to your children when they have nits!
I found it a fun read but it also put my daughter at ease – which was what I really wanted. She was quite worried that she had ‘bugs’ in her hair but after reading this book she could see how easy they are to catch and also with patience they are easy to get rid of.
I have included this book on my blog as I really wanted to take a natural approach to getting rid of nits as there are so many products out there. All of the products claim that they will get rid of nits straight away – which is not true (after some research) and many of them contain harsh chemicals which are likely to irritate the scalp and therefore cause other issues!
I was trapped into buying a product – it was totally natural but expensive. I thought that if I used a store bought product I would get rid of the nits. BUT I found that as my daughter’s hair is so thick we nearly went through the whole $13.95 bottle in one treatment – which didn’t work!
I have since read that nits need several treatments over 2-3 weeks and this book really hit home in telling me all you need is conditioner and a fine toothed comb!
So when I discovered the nits had come back we used conditioner (left in for twenty mixtures with a shower cap on), then i combed her hair – for about 20 minutes – with tea tree oil and a bowl of vinegar to fry the darling nits.
We did this every 2-3 days for 2 weeks and it worked! Hooray!
There is a lot to say about the simplicity of essential oils. I have heard a lot about essential oils in the world lately and have looked into joining some of the programs but for now they are out of my reach as they are quite expensive. Luckily Tea Tree oil is easy to come by and we are only using it for cleaning and nit attacking so I don’t think I need to worry about spending big yet.
Tea Tree oil is one to have in your cabinet as it is antibacterial, anti fungal and a pest deterrent.
I’ve since heard that Neem oil is also a great deterrent for Nits. I might need to get some for our next battle!
And remember – you don’t need to wash the sheets as nits do not survive for long without a scalp to feed off.
Good luck in battling the nits! I managed to escape infestation this time…
Nit Tips
- Cover hair in conditioner – thickly. Leave on for at least 10 minutes – I did 20. Cover with a shower cap so it stays wet.
- Finely comb through hair with a fine tooth comb layer by layer. Use tea tree oil as your comb through.
- Dip comb in vinegar to kill off any eggs and seller bugs. Wipe comb after each use so you are not spreading one nit from one strand to another.
- Wash hair afterwards.
- Repeat every 2-3 days for at least 2 weeks. This is of course your time dependant and also how well your child copes sitting still.
