We all know that as soon as our children start school, they will most likely pick up every bug going! Now, we can try our very best to help prevent this by making sure that we give them a good healthy diet and that we teach them to wash their hands regularly. However, as much as we might try to prevent our children from getting poorly when they start school, it is pretty much inevitable that they will pick up something at some point.
In all honesty though, my most feared bug of all is head lice! Just the name is enough to send shivers down my spine. I think that it’s because these are actual little bugs that are so rude that they think it is ok to make a home in amongst your child’s hair and lay eggs! Erghh!
So, how can we prevent these horrible little bugs from making a home in our children’s hair?
I think that the most commonly used tip is to use head lice repellent shampoos and sprays. As with most things you have an option of brands and products to choose from. It seems to me that the leading brand for children’s head lice repellent products is Vosene*. You can pick this up in most supermarkets for around £2.00. I have used this shampoo myself for a quite a long time, well it was straight after my eldest son came home with head lice when he was in Reception at school, so about 2 years ago. And I can honestly say that whilst I was using Vosene, he didn’t pick up head lice again.
Annoyingly though, the supermarket that I used to buy it from stopped selling it, so I had to try a different shampoo. At the time, there wasn’t any other nit repellent shampoos to pick from, so I decided to buy a tea tree shampoo* instead. Now, I know that it isn’t the nicest smelling shampoo around, but tea tree does seem to be the most commonly used ingredient for repelling head lice, so it kind of made sense.
I know it’s silly, but I was a little bit nervous about changing my kids shampoo in case it didn’t work and the horrible bugs came back! But to my relief it worked perfectly, and at 89p a bottle is was a big saving too.
Once the time came around to restock however, I was enticed by another brand of children’s head lice repellent shampoo DGJ Kids Organic Lice Repel Shampoo*. I think it was the fact that it was organic, smelt of strawberry and had natural head lice repellents that made it too good to resist. Unfortunately, I realised that it wasn’t as perfect as I thought just weeks after buying it, when I discovered head lice in both of my boys hair! I was furious to say the least! For years I had managed to keep the nits at bay and it was the shampoo that I thought would have worked the best that didn’t work at all. 🙁
The conclusion that I have come to through all of this is that tea tree is a vital ingredient to repel head lice. The only shampoo that didn’t have tea tree on their ingredients list is the only one that didn’t work.
Personally, I don’t think that I need to worry about buying a big brand that is made just for children either, the 89p bottle of tea tree shampoo worked just as well. So I might as well save some money and rest easy, knowing that head lice shouldn’t be a problem again.
So, what tips do you have for preventing head lice?
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