NITS are a curse for the parents of young children but a Ludlow mum and aromatherapist has come to the rescue.

Elizabeth Ashley found that her five-year-old son Dexter had nits after an outbreak at Ludlow Infants School.

“There were a lot of nits in Dexter’s hair and some of them were very big,” said Ms Ashley, who qualified as an aromatherapist in 1993 and got a diploma in the subject a year later.

She writes regularly on the subject and set about trying to develop a treatment that did not use harmful chemicals.

The basis of the treatment is a lotion made with an over the counter hair conditioner combined with a mix of natural ingredients.

“I used it on Dexter and the nits just fell out,” she added.

“The important thing is that it not only kills the head lice but also sterilises the eggs. I apply the lotion to the hair and then simply wash it out about 40 minutes later.”

However, although the treatment was found to be highly effective it was frustrating because when Dexter went back to school he just became re-infected.

But now after consultation with the school 200 bottles of the lotion will be made available to parents and carers of children at the school at a cost of just 50p.

It is planned that there will be a mass attack on the nits after the Easter Holiday.

“Dexter is very relaxed about it all and it is good for the children because it enables them to see science in action,” added Ms Ashley, who has written several books on aroma therapy including ‘The Complete Guide to Clinical Aromatherapy and the Essential Oils of the Physical Body.’

“The children are able to count the nits and see how many of them are still alive.

“I do not know exactly what is in the conditioner but I only use natural products and no pesticides or harmful chemicals.”

The name that has been given to the lotion ‘The Secret Assassin’ may not be very pleasant but that will not matter if it helps to deal with a problem that is common to schools especially with young children.

Head lice or nits can be common with children and are not anything to do with being dirty.

They live in hair and are passed on by moving from one head to another through contact as they cannot jump or fly.

Lice are the size of small seeds and have six legs. Females lay eggs on individual hairs and these will hatch in between seven and 10 days.

The remains of the eggs can be seen in the hair and the head lice are able to lay eggs after just 14 days.

Young children are especially vulnerable because they tend to play closely together and touch heads but they can be caught by anyone including adults.

If one person in the family is infected it is best to check and treat others who they have been on contact with.