School-louse blues

Advantages: If there's an advantage to having headlice, then I haven't heard about it.
Disadvantages: Hardly ideal family pets

Doesn't your child bring some delightful things home from school? Paintings, egg box models... headlice...eeurgh!!!

These days, we're told that there's no stigma attached to school children who have the mis-fortune to suffer from headlice. "Nits prefer clean hair!" Great - but this is one status symbol we could all live without.

It's no joke either, especially now that GPs are unwilling to prescribe traditional lotions in view of the chemical dangers to children. Even if you are willing to take the risk, these preparations cost a small fortune over the counter.

However, it's not all bad news. Last year my daughter regularly brought these unwelcome guests home - three times in a week once. That week we did resort to the chemicals, but they were back within days. The battery operated comb we bought was a failure, as it constantly jammed. Besides, I'd far rather prevent the appearance of headlice than spend my evenings electrocuting them - blood sports just aren't my thing. So what now? Now I just comb ordinary conditioner through her hair every night, with one of those fine-toothed nit combs you can get from any chemist's for around 99p.

It doesn't take long, and it works! In the nine months since I've been doing this she hasn't had headlice once, though her school seems to be more infested than ever.

Another thing you might like to try is an aromatherapy recipe given to the school by a desperate mother. This also works, but has its drawbacks. I find it very hard to get out of the hair afterwards, and it doesn't smell too pleasant either, but for those facing a particularly indestructible strain of the beast you will need:-

1 egg cup of cooking oil
10-15 drops of Tea Tree oil
5-10 drops of Lavender oil

Mix together and apply to hair. Comb through with a fine-toothed comb and rinse.

If every parent were to follow these steps at least twice a week we could eradicate the problem, and if your school sends out as many nit notes and louse letters as ours does, we could probably save a few trees as well.