Every parent should have one of these, absolutely amazing! (Nitty Gritty Comb)

Member Name: skybluecat

Product:	Nitty Gritty Comb
Date:	16/10/09 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: IT WORKS!! What more do you need from a nit comb? And it's easy to use.

Disadvantages: arguably the price, but it's a one-off purchase and WELL worth the money

We all hope our kids won't get nits but, as all parents know, there comes a time when mixing with others in crowded classrooms makes it almost inevitable!

A lot of the stigma around head lice seems to have gone, I'm pleased to say, but it's still not particularly pleasant to find one crawling around on your child's hair, and getting rid of them before the infestation can spread certainly becomes a priority.

I had absolutely no experience of these things when my daughter first ended up with head lice, so I did a bit of research. I really didn't fancy the idea of using chemicals on such a young child (generally, as far as I'm concerned, if something kills insects it's probably not TOO healthy for other living things either!), plus I'd heard that lice can become immune to them which would make the whole thing pointless anyway.

The other option, I soon discovered, is 'wet combing'. This is where you wet the child's hair, coat it in loads of conditioner and then work through it with a fine-toothed nit comb, for hours at a time if some of the accounts I read were to be believed! Well, I'm sure I'm not alone in not actually having many spare hours in a week, surely there must be something better?

Luckily, after reading about a few more mums' experiences online, I found the same solution popping up time and time again - the Nitty Gritty Comb.

This comb has 33 metal teeth, approximately 35 mm long, which are extremely close together. They have rounded ends, so as not to scratch the scalp, and each tooth has a narrow spiral groove running along it. Now, I'm not sure exactly what these grooves actually do but, believe you me, this comb WORKS!

I've not ever used any other nit combs, but just looking at them it's obvious that they will not work as well as this one. Some, especially the plastic ones, have such widely spaced teeth that I can't see how they would remove anything at all, and it's no wonder people have to sit for hours at a time combing through their child's hair to get any results.

We find that combing through every bath time for a couple of weeks (this sounds a lot, but that's more to do with the life cycle of the lice - you must make sure you get all the newly hatched baby lice and eggs, and not just the original adult ones), for only around 10 minutes at a time, was enough to remove the infestation. Now we use the comb once a week, just to check that our daughter's hair is still clear - if there were any lice we'd see them immediately using this comb.

Strangely, our little one doesn't seem to mind us doing this either, which is a huge bonus. Not sure if that's down to the comb or her temperament though!

The Nitty Gritty is also suitable for running through your own hair once in a while (use loads of conditioner first) to make sure you haven't picked up any hitch-hikers, so to speak....

Some would say the price of this comb (around £9.99) is a major disadvantage, but I would have to disagree for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, you will probably need a nit comb numerous times during your child(ren)'s time at school (it's a good idea to check them regularly anyway, so you'll need one for that), and this stainless steel design miracle is extremely hard wearing. It also has a lifetime guarantee, so you will never need to buy another, unless you lose it of course!

Secondly, I believe the Nitty Gritty IS available on prescription, although in my case I was desperate to get it home and use it THERE AND THEN, rather than wait to see the doctor or nurse....

I thought this comb would be hard to find, or only available online, but no, apparently they sell it in Boots, and I got mine from my local Co-op Pharmacy.

Summary: One of the best investments you'll ever make, seriously!