One of our biggest bug bare's (pardon the pun!) in the salon is children and teenagers coming for a haircut and realising they have nits! This is embarrassing for the stylist, the parent and the child, especially when the child has been treated in preparation for their haircut so it is assumed that all the nits have been killed.
Here are a number of facts that you may not know about the terrors in your hair...
1) Nits prefer a clean head of hair, they run around the scalp and lay their eggs at the root of a hair so if the scalp is nice and clean it's gives a perfect ground for egg laying as well as feeding on the hosts blood.
2) Nits will only live on humans.
3) Washing doesn't get rid of nits because their air holes can be closed for up to 8hrs! This means that at the first sign of water they close over to prevent drowning. The eggs also cannot be washed away as they are stuck to the hair.
4) When you can see the eggs as a white shell on the hair then this is a empty, hatched egg. Sometimes these can become stuck and very hard to get off, the best thing we have found is a special comb that is available at most chemists.
5) Nits hate Tea tree, if you spray your child's hair with a mix of water with 10-15 drops of Tea tree in, then the nits will not want to live there as it not a normal human scent. If you are not keen on the smell of Tea tree then add some Lavender too. Shampoos that are fragranced with Tea tree do not have the same effect, essential oils are the only way to keep the parasites away.
6) If your child does get nits then you must get rid of them using chemicals such as Hedrin (which is free on Care of the Chemist) or use a nit comb, unfortunately if any eggs or nits have been left in pillows or soft toys then it takes 24-48hrs before they die off completely, therefore when you get back into bed or lie down on the sofa the next time they hop back on board for another feed and egg laying session! There is hope though! If you put the pillow, duvet or soft toys in a bin bag tied up tightly for a minimum of 3 days before washing them all, with nothing to feed on the nits can't survive.
7) The best prevention is to avoid getting nits in the first place, plaiting hair when around other children is the best way. If you can't plait hair ask your hairdresser if they can show you, there are also lots of tutorials on YouTube.
At OliviaC Hairdressing we offer a Parent Plait Class during the school holidays, you can look out for details of our next class on our Facebook page, or message me to be put on our contacts list to be the first to know when we arrange our next class.
As a mother of two young girls as well as an owner of a hair salon it is critical that we don't have any unwanted visitors in our house, we plait and spray, everyday and so far it seems to be working!
Olivia x