Need advice about constant nits

[Aldilogue]

I'm looking for advice for my 10 year old DD who has nits nearly all the time. It's been going on for about two years now. I have a nitty gritty comb, I comb I condition, I have tried the treatments, natural treatments, apple cider vinegar, essential oils. They always come back. She has quite long hair that she really doesn't want to cut as I cut it 2 years ago and she now wants it longer.
Unfortunately there are kids at school who have nits and no matter what I do they come back because she is re infested by being near others. Her hair is tied back and sprayed with hairspray. I've spoken to the school and there is not much they can do more than what they do now which is notify and advise parents.
Anyone have any tips that I haven't tried yet?

We had this and my mistake was sticking to natural treatments. We tried them all. Then one day I got so tired of it and felt so sorry for her that I bought some proper stuff...Hedrin I think. That was 3 months ago and she's been nit-free ever since.

I also boiled all her bedding.

I use pure tea tree oil in my daughters hair, just a few drops every morning brushed through. I did this after i cleared the last bout of nits and no nits for 5 months. When she went back to school in September i forgot to use the tea tree oil and a week in she had nits again. Works for her.

You need nitrid.

That stuff is amazing.

Forget the "natural" treatments - nits laugh at them. Get some Nitrid, treat her hair and boil all the sheets that she uses. Then treat her daily with the Nitrid preventative spray. She'll thank you for it.

I can recommend hedrin foam. Think it's called treat and go. I did all the nitty gritties etc and at the point at which I spent a half term holiday abroad nit combing 3 screaming dcs every couple of days I'd had enough! You douse the head in this foam, leave it for 8 hours / overnight, then wash out. Repeat 7 days later. It's worked for us.

Know that this won’t go on forever.

I had this with only one of my children. A friend always had bits as the parents didn’t do anything about it. Kept reinfesting all the girls in class.

We used the treatments (which worked) and weekly did conditioner and nit comb trying to prevent.

Both my daughters had long hair (still do) but we did have to cut some inches off for the daughter who was continually getting reinfected. It was just so painful to get the nit comb through.

Run straighteners over her hair too, should kill the eggs because of the heat

Thank you everybody. I've just gone out and bought Hedrin (I'm in Oz). I remembered that I'd bought it when I was in the U.K last year and it really worked. I didn't realize you can buy it here but have discovered you can. Will give it a go.
I don't have a hair straightener because my hair is curly but that sounds like a great idea. Burn the little bastards!!

I believe Heston and similar (ie containing dimethicone) are supposed to be a bit more effective than other treatments because they suffocate the lice and eggs rather than poisoning them (some ‘super lice’ are becoming resistant.) Make sure you do a follow-up treatment a week or so later (the Nitty Gritty might do the trick for that) to catch any that hatch in meantime.

Good luck, I’m not sure any treatment is completely effective against other parents not bothering to check their DC 😭

Oh and obviously it’s important to be hygienic but no need to boil wash everything the family’s come into contact with, they don’t live for long if they leave the head!

• Hedrin not Heston 🙄

Since the start of term I’ve had to treat my kids every weekend! Absolutely nothing over the summer holidays, apart from the first weekend which was treated.

Treat every Saturday with whatever treatment I buy - comb 3 x a week with conditioner and nitty gritty comb (not fun as dc1 hair is just above her bum! And won’t let me cut it off!! And dc2 hair is shoulder length) the 7 days later on a Saturday have to do the same again.

I’m off to get some of the NitRid mentioned above! I am so sick of it. It’s every bloody weekend!

We think we know which parent isn’t treating their child in dc1 class - but you can’t say anything!

I did all the above and then tied back hair and put a bandana in and sprayed hair with hairspray.
It seemed to work.

I have also found the ones which suffocate the lice and eggs to work. Have used Hedrin and Lycoclear here. I comb through with the Nitty Gritty weekly as I figure it should comb any of the buggers out!

This stuff

We've amazingly had more successful with a mouthwash. I think it's called Listerine.
You douse the hair in it, put a shower cap over for 15 minutes and it kills all the live ones. Wash hair as normal and they all just fall out.
I do that with combing on Sunday nights and it catches them before they have a chance.
Also has the advantage of being tonnes cheaper.

My farming friend absolutely swears by Frontline! Her DD was absolutely tormented by recurring nits due to a classmate whose parents refused to deal with the issue. So they were constantly infested and gave them to everyone else. She got so sick of it all that she did the usual Hedrin + Nitty Gritty to get rid, then regular Frontline treatment prevented then returning ever again.

Note: I am not a doctor (or vet) so have no idea if this is actually a good idea or not...