To suggest a hair cut to help with nits?

[ShouldIBuyOrShouldIGo]

Does it work? Long story but a girl in my class is running alive with lice. Parents treat them but eggs hatch again in a week and we are back to Square one. They say they nit comb but clearly not enough. Any good suggestions? Would a haircut help? Make it easier to comb?

[ludothedog]

No. They just need to make sure that they treat every week and wash bedding, combs and brushes etc.

They are obviously not treating that well if she is "running alive with lice". Can the school nurse get involved?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

The shorter the hair, the easier to comb - but unless they go really short would not make much difference. They need to be combing properly with a metal comb, preferable a nitty gritty every day until they think kid is clear, and then every few days for a few weeks, and then weekly as an ongoing check.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

No need to wash bedding etc - if lice are falling off they are dying.

[PollytheDolly]

My DS got nits when he was young, really thick hair so he got a no.1. Could not get rid of them so Cured that.

My DD had long thick hair, same problem. I ended up using my ghd's on her.

Burn the bastards. They actually explode on the plates. Most gratifying. Cured that.

[Fink]

Hair cut wouldn't really work as it's head to head contact which gets them, however sorry the hair. Unless she shaves her head, like the ancient Egyptians did.

Lice can live up to 24 hours off the head so anything which will be used again within 24 hours (pillow cases, hairbrushes ...) needs to be changed on day of treatment.

Make sure they're using a '100% effective in one go' treatment not a 'repeat after 7 days'.

Is it only 1 girl in the class? Frequent reinfestations are more common when you get a group of friends who are all treated on different days so some of them will always be carrying live and they'll keep on passing them round.

[lifetothefull]

It would help in the sense that girl may not object so much to nit comb. Combing will be quicker. But it won't help if they are not going to do it, which it sounds as if they aren't. I comb every other day for about 2 weeks with a nitty gritty and conditioner. Even then it can still be a recurring problem.

[Fink]

Sorry for typos. Phone autocorrect. Should be 'short' not 'sorry' and 'lice' not 'live'.

[Yoarchie]

I'd send the standard nit letter twice a week but include advice on which product and hoŵ often etc. You can't really suggest a haircut.

[TheABC]

We had lice over Christmas. DS had his head shaved (preferably to nitty gritty screaming) whilst the rest of us got headrin and I boiled all the bedding and brushes. You need a scorched earth policy with nits.

I would lay money on at least one other family member with nits.

[user1483804139]

Assuming you're the teacher, if she's got such a bad infestation, can you send her home?

[Catlady1976]

Many hairdressers won't cut here with any nits.

[ILoveDolly]

You can't get a hair cut if you have nits they send you away.

[Crowdblundering]

Nitty gritty comb every single day on wet hair with hair conditioner in. Comb for a good half hour wiping on tissue paper until no lice coming off comb.

Won't be able to go to hairdressers anyway.

Don't bother with expensive lotions.

Time spent combing is your friend.

[RockyBird]

My DD had a short bob, worst hairstyle for lice. Since she grew her hair long and we've been able to put it up, she's been clear.

I spray her hair every morning with detangler so it smells perfumey rather than hair like.

[ShouldIBuyOrShouldIGo]

Thank you. The issue is staying still long enough to comb- child has special needs - which is why I was hoping for a positive suggestion for home as I think they feel like we are always having a go; they do treat them but its just not enough.

[flumpsnlumpsnstuff]

We have twice weekly combing, both DD's have waist length hair. All bedding boil washed on same day and brushes bleached, we finally sussex it was dd1's friend reinfected her so spoke to the parents ( both doctors) total non interest they don't treat with combing because they use the herding once a month they say the lice can't survive off the head more than 3 hours so boil washing is unnecessary and not eco friendlyso now we treat, comb repeat and straighten twice a bleeding week oh and make sure I see a different dr !

[bumsexatthebingo]

If she's absolutely crawling I would suspect they aren't being treated. I would suggest doing whatever they can to get her to sit still long enough to comb every day until they are gone. TV, sweets, whatever. If they could take a few inches off the length it might help with the combing yes.

[Pythonesque]

If the child won't stay still for combing then I would think a shorter haircut should help, but as above they would need to be able to trim it themselves at home. I don't know if a mobile hairdresser might be able to help them at home, especially if they could supply their own scissors.

Probably what would be more useful is helping them find strategies to allow effective combing. I think that one effective combing session every 3-4 days would be a lot more successful than partial combing every single day without fail. And more likely to actually happen. Perhaps if they have a stool the child can still sit on in front of the television, with a favourite programme or video on?

Particularly in the presence of large numbers, any treatment will need repeating after about a week to catch newly hatched lice. If you do it soon enough they will be killed before they have a chance to lay more eggs. In a bad case like this one sounds I wouldn't be surprised if the best strategy was 3 treatments in a row, with a week between each.

Good luck helping this family get on top of it! And yes, they should actually be dealing with everyone. (itchy head just thinking about it ...)

[bumsexatthebingo]

Good point! Make sure everyone in the house is being treated and not just the child.

[Allthewaves]

Comb in her sleep. They need to thorough comb for 3 wks every night. Honestly pixie cut would be the way to go after chemical treatment to kill the lice

[Allthewaves]

Thry may need to try different treatments, sone of smells make friends child with asd sick

[bumsexatthebingo]

Also depending on her understanding have they explained to her what they are doing and why they need to do it? My ds has sn and would be much more likely to sit for something uncomfortable if he knew it was going to be good for him. The itching must be awful for her if the infestation is bad.

[RockyBird]

Some of the nit sprays are so stinky they make my kids cry.

I just stick to an artificial smelling detangler. Strawberry, coconut whatever.

The Vosene lice one is vile.

[BastardBloodAndSand]

I did the mumsnet haircut on my SN dd when she had nits. It was a little wonky but I cared not, it took off all the ratty ends so I could treat her properly.