Nit problem

Hi All I was wondering if your communal wisdom could help me,

I had my niece staying with me, said neice leaves and I am left with an ichy skelp and NITS found out yesterday, getting treatment.

So now my dad is giving me alot of grief because I am a 'murder' I told him that his body count was bigger then mine because if he is calling the killing of nits 'murder' then isnt his habit of well eating other animals 'murder' as well? (I dont know where he is getting this murder thing from ether I have never said that killing or consuming animals is murder, maybe he is feeling guiliy)

Argh! and I know that I will be getting alot of grief over this and but really if my pets had fleas I would put front line on them, isnt this the same thing!

So what would you do? I know its not very vegan to kill any living creature but this is where I draw the line, spiders can live with me, slugs and snails in allotment I have no problem, they need to eat too.......but when they are on my scalp sucking my blood.......

Any advice on how to deal with my familiy? Sorry to sound really complainy I was just wondering how other vegans would deal with this situation.

Thanks for listioning :o

Just kill the bloodsucking little buggers. If it were me, I would.

lol dont worry I am!

hopefully they are all dead now, its so gross!

Whenever I see the word "nit", I start to itch... *shudder* - remember having them as a kid, catching them from someone in school, really not nice.

I don't equate this with drinking a glass of milk or eating a steak at all - parasites as you say "sucking on your blood" is not on... You don't sound "complainy" at all. As you say, if your dog had fleas you'd sort that out, this is no different to me. Just get your niece's parents to get rid of nits before she comes and stays with you next time! :p

Poor you. I agree with the others. Killing the nits is something you have to do to protect yourself so it's not at all comparable with unnecessary use of animals for food etc. Is your dad a bit of a winder-upper do you think?

Poor you! We've had nits THREE TIMES this year from other peoples sprogs.
We tried conbing them all out which was hilarious as we both have waist length hair and after several fruitless attempts at doing this an ever increasing bites on the head we nuked the lot of them :)

thanks Charley I think I must have got them as a child but I really dont remember...... well I e-mailed my sister about it so hopefully she will sort it out, I dont think she realised when she sent her down, I didnt and I was having fun doing my neices hair "shrug" I guess its not easy to tell, or I need new glasses lol

Yes Harpy he is a bit of a wind up, but I think that being told I was a murder for killing nits when my dad is a meat eater just really irritated me, I shouldnt take it to heart. My nephew told me that I killed more creatures by me eating vegan food (all the insects killed apparently) then he did eating meat so i am a little worried about the intellegance of my familiy (he was serious, honestly!! he was really ernest!!) oh dear.....

poor you Hemlock I really feel for you do you work in a nursery or are you a teacher or something? but then little kids love to be hugged and you cant refuse them :D bless 'um I am gonna used nuking as a last resort lol I can just see you desperately combing! that will be me tomorrow to check that they are all dead!

Thanks everyone for being so kind!

Comb them out with conditioner and leave them to fend for themselves. They are highly unlikely to be able so to do but that's not your concern, they're parasites and you have rights too.

thanks paul lol have done already with my mothers help (felt like a wittle girlie again) but will do again tomorrow to be sure that they've all gone "shudder" this makes me not want to have kids!!!

Yeah I haven't had them since I was a kid, and I don't have children yet - but it has always been something I've sort of half-worried about for the future. What to do if the kido's get em :S I still value their lives, and can't seem to think in the same way of "just kill the buggers!" even though obviously I wouldn't just pet them and happily let them munch on my children! On another thread someone gave a link to a badge children can wear which acts like a bit of a flea collar for kids, to repell the nits before they're even there. But yeah it's a different story if you are infested with them, I don't know if it'd still be effective. I'd probably go with the conditioner/combing out idea to start with, and then try finding something to put in the cream that will knock them out so they can be combed out, but not kill them completely maybe? =/

lol hi veganbride the condistioner thingy was what my mum did a few days ago which I will repeat some (nhs says four times in 2 weeks or something) but I love the idea of a flea collar!! something 'stylish' for me hehe purple and fake fur! but no I have never hear of this badge thing sounds like a good idea, I heard a whisper that some parents are frontlining their children to stop infections though I dont know if this is true.......

I guess parents must get used to it though, like sick and other icky things, and not to make the ethics worse they cant survive without a host, only 34 hours, I have been researching, so yes I have been killing them. I draw the line at parasites! Even if its not very 'vegan' or me.....sigh...... but then if I am vegan to reduce suffering, shouldnt that include my own?

Today I had a converstion that made me laugh my sister was asking what would I do if a dog attacked me, and I said defend myself, so she said, 'first the nits, now dogs, I am demoting you to a vegetarian, you cant be a vegan any more' lol

Put them in a wig :D
Sorry poor you that's a horrid situation to be in..
On a slightly similar note-I have a yeast infection on my head :(
I didn't know that was even possible-but I have a birth mark on my head,luckily hidden by my hair-I have never seen it as it's on the back.
But, it flakes and is a patch of bald, really dry skin.
Lately the flakiness spread to other parts of my head and flared up nastily, dandruff like-I went to my gp and he diagnosed it though said he didn't know what had caused it but suspected it was soemthing to do with my birthmark.
He prescriped Nizoral whcih I know is tested on animals.
I tried this stuff which apparently isn't, can't remember what it was called. It kind of worked but not really.
Any advice?

Do a google image search on psoriasis to rule that out, very common ailment and does spread.

'bout nits: daughter NEVER had them when all around her itched. Our secret? Don't wash hair: the buggers like clean scalps.

Hi festered I dont know alot about yeast infections sorry only know that you shouldnt massage someone with it (vague memerys) but good luck with treating it :-) and I hope it feels better soon.

lol Pat I dont like not washing my hair, my hair is really fair and get greasy really fast :p do you guys have dreadlocks or something because I know you arnt supposed to wash them......

my daughter never got nits when she was small despite sitting next to someone in school who always had them. We always used a lot of tea tree oil just generally and I have heard that they do not like that although whether this is true or not I've no idea! It was probably just that she had really thick curly hair and the nits really didn't fancy trying to climb in there! But it may be true about the tea tree oil - now I need to go google it!

well i got some tea tree sampoo and condistioner today the chemist said it helped so it might do, as for the curly hair my niece has really thick curly hair too so it might have been the tea tree, thanks for the advice veganzee :-)

You'd be surprised, BlueGreenEyes, how oiliness regulates itself once we give up the fight. Me, I wash once twice weekly but my daughter just hates it, so,monthly at best. Her hair is shiny soft and apparently clean; her scalp does feel waxy. Works for her....

oh ok thats really interesting I admit I was a little confused, shes really lucky then I'm just thinking of all the time she saves plus all the money for sampoo and condisioner @sigh@

I thought it was psoriasis, my dad has that and it runs in the family. 'Twas the doc who told me it isn't though. I hope he's right.

maybe you should get a second opinion? If you are worried about it....

I had nits last year. I used this with a load of tea tree conditioner Nitty Gritty Comb. I think I bought it from Boots.

A guy once asked me what I would do if I had parasites after he learned I was vegan, I said "That's easy, I'd f*ing kill 'em! Just as I would attack or kill anything else that tried to kill or eat me." Apparently he had asked the same question of another vegan he once knew and they were completely stumped, but I really don't see what the hang up is, this is self defence. Of course I feel bad for the little buggers but I don't squish 'em they just get combed out and retire in the bin.

Thnaks for the advice vorpal lol 'retire to the bin' I like that phrase! I have got tea tree sampoo and conditioner with nit comb (sigh) there are worse things to smell of then tea tree! this combing I didnt see any of the little biters in the comb so fingers crossed I think I free!!! will keep up treatment for another week just to be sure though........ how long did it take you to get rid of them Vorpal?

Make sure you're checking your hair as well as the comb! If there's anything in your hair near the roots that looks like dandruff but then doesn't shift it's a louse egg and you need to get a finer toothed comb (metal are sometimes better than plastic because the plastic ones can bend out of shape with repeated use).

I had an infestation when I was at uni which we let get out of hand because my boyfriend at the time didn't know what he was looking at and swore I didn't have any, even though they were happily munching away at my scalp for weeks. I had to soak head in tea-tree and comb comb comb, but got there eventually!

Festered, I don't know if it's relevant but a few years I started having flaky, scaly, burning and itchy skin on parts of my head and face - horrid. Anyway, the GP I saw was sure it was sebhorreic dermatitis but actually it was a reaction to a conditioner I had bought, and went away immediately when I stopped using it. (Think it took me a while to realise what it was because I didn't have the reaction until a few hours after using it.) So you could think about any substances you are using and maybe try just washing your face and hair in water for a while to see if it gets any better. ETA and if it doesn't a second opinion, from a dermatologist, sounds a good idea

Thanks Twinkle :-) I have been watching the comb rather obsessively!!! The time before last there where nits in the comb (nit comb and its metal :-) ) but this time I didnt see any and I was checking very carefuly!! I feel like I am winning the war!!! yay!!!

I tried for years to clear my daughters' head of head lice and it got me so depressed, I used to cry when she came home from school with them again. In the end I tried EVERYTHING, pesticides, metal combs, tea tree... persistent little bu**ers. (I wasn't vegan then). Then one day I sat, and I went through not every strand, but every individual hair, and removed eggs, took me 4+ hours. Next day, I did it again, tok me an hour. Next day, it was clear. Then I put coconut oil on her hair and tied it up for school. The coconut oil isn't a deterrent in itself, but the little blighters can't make their eggs stick to it! Just after, the six week holiday started and she was clear all through, then went to High School and I think, that we solved it, it's been 14 months now. My son is now growing his hair long, he's nine, and I check every day. But he doesn't wash his hair often, it re-oils itself as mentioned above, and looks lovely and shiny, and no lice.

Twinkle mentioned tea-tree, they hate the stuff. Also, add a lot of olive oil into your hair as it prevents them from gripping to your hair and makes it easier to comb them out. I speak from experience as Mrs vegcurry managed to bring some of the blighters home from work one time a few years ago, when she was nursing a child who insisted on a lot of close up head hugs.

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BlueGreenEyes

Thnaks for the advice vorpal lol 'retire to the bin' I like that phrase! I have got tea tree sampoo and conditioner with nit comb (sigh) there are worse things to smell of then tea tree! this combing I didnt see any of the little biters in the comb so fingers crossed I think I free!!! will keep up treatment for another week just to be sure though........ how long did it take you to get rid of them Vorpal?

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You are most welcome :) Only took me a couple of sessions to clear them out but I was rather obsessive with the combing :S

Thanks for your post Blueberry (really want to buy some blueberrys now LOL) its good to know that others have had the same battle and won! I dont know about the oil though............. I really hate my hair being greasy........ even nice oil like coconut and olive! thanks for the sugestion vegcurry yeah yeah blame it on the mrs :p and vorpal the word is 'careful' not 'obsessive' :pno I dont obessivly check the comb... honestly..............now that I am posting about this my scalp is just itching.............