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Join us to beat the nits by sharing tips and testing products

This back to school season, join MFM’s head lice defence league!
 
Head lice - we hate the nasty little critters and every year back to school season signals a return to head scratching, combing, smelly treatments, phantom itching and the dreaded letter home!
 
But no more! Here at MFM we’re determined to keep MFM children’s heads nit-free! And we need some volunteers. We’d like you to join our head lice challenge and help out each other with your top tips, home remedies and yeah, we do want all those grizzly stories and embarrassing moments at the hairdressers!
 
We’ve also been speaking to the makers of some of the top head lice products so you and your children can test them out and let us know how it goes! If you’re interested, pop your name down on this thread and look out for more info coming soon!

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  • I would be interested, although as yet my children have never been affected by head lice.  I heard last week that head lice are now in their school, so I hope they don't catch them. but if they do, I'd be interested in testing products.
  • i would be interested as the nits have just started in, and i do not want my poor lo to get affected, so please help me out.
    i'd be interested in testing head lice products
  • my 33months son is starting pre-school this wed. r we ok to test?
  • Hi

        I have 2 children,  my eldest daughter  is aged 12 and youngest son is aged 5, my daughter has only had head lice once and she caught them when she was in year 3 at primary school. My son only started reception last year in September and he caught them in the November. I was devistated at the   time more so than the children, you have to tereat the whole family, only twice, if you are lucky enough to get them all out, if not you have to repeat the treatments. Odviouseley they caught them in school.

    It really annoys me because the parents of the children who have head lice don't seem to mind or mention to other parents, when my two children caught head lice i told as many parents as i could in the class that i had found lice in my childs hair, we have a rule in our circle of parents that if you find lice you tell everyone just to pre warn them, and it seems to help.

     I use Vosene head lice repelant shampoo its a green bottle and any Tee Tree conditioner on the children, i think this may have helped so far, but i think to be brutally honest if your child does not get lice you are really really lucky and if your child does catch lice its nothing to be embarresed about because they have caught them from someone else and you have to go through the courses of treatment that is quite annoying.

    I would like to help by testing out products.     

  • hi there
    my daughter starts school on monday & am happy to join the fight!
    i have 3 small children & had a nit problem last year - cant believe how hard it was to get rid of them.
    what really annoyed me most was that i called the nursery straight away & kept my daughter home until she was clear but the nursery said that they are unable to check children in their care or tell a parent if they think a child may have them!
    anyway i have bought some tea tree shampoo in a hope to deter rather than treat but happy to be a part of any testing.
    (itching now just thinking about it!)
    i think if you have had them in the house once you don't ever want them again!
  • I would be interested in joining this, my sons are 4 and 8 and they have only been back at school a few days and my eldest has them again! I bought one of the nit free combs as I was bothered about keeping using chemicals to get rid of them. It seems much better than the plastic combs as the teeth are tight together and hopefully we'll soon be rid of them.
  • Would like to try them as lo goes to nursery and caught them twice last year!  Tea tree shampoo and conditioner help and a really good metal comb.
  • We've had nits quite a lot, they're rife at our primary school - I tried conventional treatments at first but now just use conditioner and a nitty gritty comb every night when they first appear, then alternate nights for a couple of weeks. When i can't find any more I check the nit "hot spots" every day when I brush their hair in the morning, and use the comb as soon as i find anything.
    It's only not worked when I've missed checking for a while, seems to get rid of them much better than any chemicals I've tried.
    Also liked a herbal shampoo called Riddance i got from the health food shop - seems to knock the lice unconscious so they're easier to remove!
    A friend told me about the Vosene no nits too so we're trying the shampoo and spray in the mornings after brushing.
    Death to all nits - resistance is useless!
  • Hi - I would be very interested in joining in ! Happy to test anything !!! Have 2 little girls , eldest  just started in year 1 and youngest starting nursery next week -

     My eldest ahd headlice for first time last year in reception - I  had always thought I was fairly "on the ball" checking her hair ( am a teacher so have seen plenty of the "visitors" to know what I'm looking for )

    Checked her hair every time letter came out , then to my horror checked her one day when she was scratching and she had  LOADS !!!!!!  Felt terrible !!!!Managed to clear with a shampoo , and bought nitty gritty comb ( they very good ) and doused her hair every morning with the Nitty Gritty deterrent spray .

     Wasn't convinced it worked or not , so didn't replace - she got them again !!!!!!!!!!!

    I am now paranoid - every time she even looks like she may scratch I'm checking her hair - she even now says to me " I'm not scratching - I don't have bugs ......."

     I know that logically they aren't dirty or dangerous and very "normal" but I really don't like them ! Am always paranoid going to the hairdressers!!!

  • We just got rid of the little beasties.We used a Nitty Gritty comb this time,and it's really good.Catches the lice,and the eggs,which are always difficult to get out with the cheaper plastic or metal combs.In the past I've spent a fortune on lotions and potions,only to find they catch them again and we have to do it all over again.They always come home in my eldest daughter's hair,so probably someone in her class is the source.Lots of girls don't have their hair tied up,they all sit close together,ideal for the lice to move to a new head.

    We have an electronic comb that zaps the lice,and attracts the bodies,but it's not any good on the eggs.

    Ithink the best way we found to treat it was after washing as normam put loads of conditioner on the hair,any conditioner will do,then comb with a normal comb to get knots out,and then comb with the Nitty Gritty comb.If you do that twice a week,even if you don't see anything,you'll keep them away.

    The Vosene tea tree shampoos and the spray on conditioner are good too,my 7 year old hasn't had them since we used that. You just spray it on and comb through after washing their hair.

    Oh boys are not immune,our last lot arrived in the holidays,when the only other child my kids had any contact with was Arthur's friend,who has very short hair,but was doing a lot of headscratching that day.

    I think whaty would really get rid of the problem would be if the nurseries and schools had a monthly/termly  delousing session.But that would be far too sensible.

  • So far we have been lucky and eldest daughter has escaped them but she is now in Year 1 and I'm sure we can't escape forever especially as youngest is about to start nursery so would love to test anything that would get rid of them - yeugh!
  • can i put my hand up for testing ..i actually caught one from my nice other week after trying to clear her..i seem clear but my niece could test.
  • I would be very interested in this, My daughters have them every other week and is getting annoying and all the things i have tried never seem to work.

    Hope to hear from you.

    Joanne

  • Count me in!  Luckily so far none of the kids have had these little beasties, but i had an 'interesting' conversation with Connor about them yesterday!
  • I'm deffo up for testing!

    Both of my sons, my daughter (and now me!image) are currently battling head lice!

    I'm sure we have tried everything going, but they keep re-occuring everytime I think we are clear...  I'm desperate!

     V

  • would be interested to join too as my 2 girls used to get them quiet regular just when i had cleared them grrrrrr. Makes me think back to the days were you were not allowed back to school till you had a doctors note saying you were clear of them!
  • We seem to be fighting a loosing battle image
    Last term I used 3 different applications of lyclear, with conditioner combing at every hairwash - still I noticed her itch and yes there were more. The eggs(nits) are stuck fast to the hair even after the treatment - what combs will get them off? Because I cant get them all out!!!

    I would be extremely grateful of any help!!
  • The only comb I found got them all off was the Nitty Gritty one.It's fairly expensive so I was reluctant to pay out,think it might have been around £9.99,but it did work,so I've given up the lotions and just keep combing every few days,every day till they're gone if I find anything.It works well cos it gets the eggs as well as the nits.The teeth of the comb have a groove all the way up,a spiral,so you catch more.Of course you only pay out once for the comb,rather than buy a whole lot of lotion every time the beasties reappear.Cost me £25 to do my lot last time I bought lotion,and that was some sort of offer.

    We had some live ones in Erin's hair,I combed through with Nitty Gritty that night,got  loads out,Thursday evening one live one and a few eggs,Friday nothing at all.She informed me after that she'd been using my shampoo because it made her hair feel soft,so she'd not been using the Vosene one that's lice repellent,so maybe that's why she caught them,because she'd not had them for a while,so we're going back tothe Vosene,that does seem to help keep them away.

  • hmmm I am not lucky with this.  My lil man 6 gets them from sch regularly and then passes them to his sister!  He hates having the treatment it is a nightmare.  What surprises me is that as a boy he is getting it so reg.  Please help me to help him!
  • Hi mums!

    All sorts of combs and sprays and lotions are arriving in the office and I'm sorting them out today so make sure your name is down down on this thread as and let us know when you're affected. Plus, keep an eye on your inbox as I'll be emailing our testers for their postal addresses very soon.

    So far we've got some great stuff from Boots - including some nifty electric nit combs! The famous Nitty Gritty combs have come in plus products from Lyclear and Vosene with more to come!

    How have you all found the first week back at school -  any nasty little critters found yet? I've been having dreams about giant headlice but fortunately no real ones yet! Feel free to share your stories over on this thread. And don't forget to share your tips and old wives tales for getting shot of the little blighters!

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