To clipper cut DS’s with lice

My son has long, thick, curly hair, and if I told him he was getting a buzzcut because of nits 1) I don't think I'd be able to catch him and 2) if I did, he'd never speak to me again.

I find this a bit odd - why are they at school if they have nits? At my kids school, if you find nits, you keep the child off until they are treated - otherwise it's just going to keep going around. There's no shame in it, it's just nits. Annoying and sad for a kid if their parents don't properly treat it and they keep re-infecting their friends, but not a source of shame for them.

Yes it takes a while to treat (we use the oil method - Nit Not - as my DS has a sensitive head and the insecticide ones sting), but we get rid of them, and they're gone until the next time they come round (seems to be about once a year).

Do your children keep their hair tied back at school? I use a tea-tree spray for a while after treating in the hope he won't get re-infected.

What if they don't and they have to explain to all their friends that their mum shaved it off because they had headlice?

Please don't be this parent!

Because you cannot shave girls hair without them being ridiculed. Nobody will say anything about the boys hair being short.

Well, as someone who has had to deal with reinfestations at primary, I salute you. I work in a secondary school - yes, I do admit that the thought of lice did occur when we had a child come in with an extreme buzz cut.
It quickly grew back though.
I suspect that some of the posters don't realise how resilient lice are now - you only need to miss one with the nitty gritty and the other treatments often don't work. Whilst your solution is radical, it's going to fix it quick enough (lice can still live in very short even shaved hair though so you still need a visual check. Hedrin mango spray works as a nice smelling deterrent).

And there were tears. It wasn't up there with one of my finest parenting moments...

No1 🙊

I'm a working mother too of 3 all of whom got head lice , 3rd one a girl with long hair numerous times , if you do things properly you soon get it sorted , if it's not lice there's always going to something else taking up your precious time

I'd do it unless they really object. If they have lice then The chances are that they caught it from classmates so you will keep on having to treat them.
My boys had buzz cuts all through their childhood and they never once got lice despite many times when everyone else in the class had them. I think it looks adorable too.

I accidentally gave one of them a cut with no guard on the shaver so was a 'shave' rather than a buzz cut. It looked a little harsh but looked fine after a week or so.

My daughters have extremely long and thick hair (not British!) and the one time they got lice was a nightmare - it took hours and hours of combing.

Sure. Their self esteem and trust will grow back too, right?

I’d rather ‘put myself through’ treating them than put them through the bullying and shame of having their heads shaved.

I'd cut their hair too! Why put yourself through hours of treatment. It will grow back.

A https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nitty-Gritty-Comb-Assorted-Colors/dp/B000KUALPE/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?adgrpid=78092442148&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.j9hLO-ixxpo5ZgHLGeMR7C6LHcXURBnz4aY1rWnvmIOM7viVs8y9p_EanSPFK_d2TghpUG4CP3vViUYXIqXn2EOSEUoDJpMXwMUvgYQPAYzvW7p5nJG1_vgH0P7FKrr87H2Cbt8FCtqXG_Tnk1UVjTGyGMssJueMRcBoIrO2u6ynu0PGNYhktnAaUxA7NQGfjDBMN9ctSXe2f4_YM5C2NA.YLgtVOq42npqYvZH6n2OsSd8TkePf_tBvCTnh1eTWZc&dib_tag=se&hvadid=606326729449&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9046645&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8169218685049129857&hvtargid=kwd-342477855575&hydadcr=13958_2301953&keywords=nitty-gritty+comb&qid=1726306748&sr=8-3

One of these, cheap conditioner, a film on TV. Jobs a good un

My dd had lice and I was absolutely devastated after reading all the horror stories about how hard they were to treat, especially as both dds have really long thick hair and dd1 had absolutely loads of them, she must have had them a while but she was 13 and brushed her own hair so no one had noticed.

I bought the treatment from the chemist spent an hour combing it through their hair. Then repeated it all once as instructed and that was it. Never had any of the issues other people seem to have, and I can’t imagine feeling like it was necessary to shave their heads to treat them!

If your boys are happy with a buzz cut, go for it!

I used to sort my little sister’s hair whenever she had headlice (frequently!) as I had more time to do it as a teen than my Mum did. Conditioner and nit comb, plus a bit of patience and I got all of them, every time. I never once shaved her head!

Your poor kids will be bullied if they go into school with shaved heads on Monday as everyone will know it’s because they had headlice.

If you have a pair of hair straighteners, you could use those after you’ve conditioned and combed out all the lice, as it will burn off any remaining eggs. You could add some leave-in conditioner to their tied-back hair when they return to school to make it more difficult for lice to grip back on so they don’t end up with them again.

You MUST ask them. To force a shaved head on anyone that doesn't want it is absolutely outrageous. Call me overdramatic but my DS's would be devastated if this happened. The trust would take longer to build back than the time it took the hair to regrow. Maybe some of you would think I'm soft or don't appreciate what the Op is saying about how tight her time is but part of rearing happy and healthy children surely can't be disregarding their wishes when there are alternatives (albeit that take more effort). Of course, if the child makes an informed decision when the treatment options are explained and they choose a haircut, that's a happy outcome. Choice over something so essential should not be reserved for those who happen to be over 18.

You don't need to go as short as a buzz cut, that looks really severe and they'll stand out. We've always cut our DS's hair at home with clippers, it's not that difficult (and I have dyspraxia). We take the bulk off with scissors all round, then trim with an 8 guide on the top and a 5 for the back and sides. It looks very neat and is easy to manage when you need to treat for nits.

Lice don't have lungs, they breathe through pores in their exoskeleton so covering them with anything that will coat the insect's body will smother them - oil, conditioner, Hedrin, etc. Doing this and going over them with the nit comb for a few days afterwards should sort it, and your sons might decide they prefer having this cut, who knows?

Yeah I'm worried about all these people not reading the instructions.

Of course he can do his own hair.

But I don't care if its a single parent family. No kid should have to touch their siblings lice ridden hair. Even if they have their own lice.

Full marks etc do not kill the eggs. Even hedrin once only has somethng like a 50% kill rate on eggs, which is why in their own faqs they tell you to treat again a week later. So its not really once.

Just get a decent treatment, slather it on and deal with it. Repeat next week, and the week after.

Get the extra strong 5 minutes lice treatment shampoo, Comb normally and liberally apply it to all three children's dry hair. Put a shower cap on them and leave 10 minutes. Wash it off. You don't need to lice comb

There are no treatments that kill all the eggs in one treatment. None.

You have to comb & re- treat. Otherwise you are one of the fools who's kids keep infecting everyone else when the eggs hatch and the whole class has lice again.

I believe you i went to school with a buzz cut.
As i said above my sister has had a buzz cut since she was 16.
Her oldest daughter has had a buzz cut since she was 12 now 24 still got a buzz cut.
My friends daughter 15 has a buzz cut and goes to high school.
Ive seen loads of girls and young women with buzz cuts.
I had one for years,

I'm a lone parent and my son has long, thick, tight afro hair. If I can do it you can too OP. Brush with a nit comb and conditioner, nit treatment, tie it up at school. They were gone in a few days.

Are you seriously implying that those in less affluent areas just shave their kids hair if they get headline??? I live in a very deprived area and can assure you that no one is buzz cutting kids hair whether they are male or female.

My mum taught for 30 years in a deprived area. It was extremely common to buzz cut boys to treat/avoid lice. Its not a new thing. For girls it was more common to send them to school with very tight french plaits, close to the head, lots of hairspray, again as a way to reduce chance of nits. People do it because it works!!

He HAS lice ridden hair - at the very least, he can help do his own conditioner and help with keeping the 7&9 year old brothers still and entertained. It's got to be a bit of a family effort when it's a single parent working long hours. Its just hair and lice, we arent asking him to de-worm his siblings for fucks sake. I don't wish to argue about this anymore.