DS 9 riddled with headlice, have tried everything under the sun. Please help!

[Hanarb]

DS 9 has been riddled with lice for 3 weeks now. I have tried treatment and spent nearly £100 on various remedies. He has very long, thick surfy hair and it is a nightmare to treat. His teacher has notified me which is mortifying. His childminder said she would get the clippers and shave his hair off (I’m not sure if she was joking). I don’t own any hair cutting equipment but this is seriously taking up so much of my time and causing a lot of stress. What should I do?

What have you tried?

A nit comb, lots of conditioner and plenty of time + patience. Repeat daily until the lice are gone

No need for nasty chemicals

Hedrin once. Hen use a nit comb.

use hedrin once again about a week later. Nit comb.

nit comb a week later. If you find nits, use hedrin once again. Repeat as needed.

put lots of conditioner on when using nit comb. Make sure you are treaty the whole household at the same time.

Yes give us a list of what you have tried.

We only use Nitwits now. It is excellent.

Nitty gritty comb and conditioner. Every single day until you break the cycle. No need for chemicals. Nitty gritty comb are around a tenner in tesco, boots etc

Wash every night and comb through with gallons of conditioner.Comb comb comb. Repeat every morning too, start from scratch, wash, condition, comb. Keep his hair tied up in school. You may need to cut it, if it doesn’t improve.

I have used hendrin, full marks, conditioner, straighteners, vamousse, lyclear, boots home brand and bought an electric comb. I think the problem is the thickness of his hair as it’s impossible to comb

If you've spent £100 and it's been 3 weeks just shave it off.

Get the biggest bottle of the cheapest coconut conditioner you can lay your hands on. Smother his hair in it and then go through section by section with the nit comb dunking it in a bowl of water after each go to clear the teeth of gunk and nits. Do this daily until there are no nits or eggs left. If he ends up with them again then I would say he keeps being reinfected rather than them not going in the first place.

I didn't believe it beforehand but the nitty gritty comb really is better than the cheapo plastic ones. The spiral teeth crush the unhatched eggs.

The downside is it hurts a bit to pull it through your hair which might give him the incentive to cut it short ultimately

The problem I’m sentimental as hair hair is lovely, plus I have never cut hair before 😭

You have to put conditioner into your dry hair then using pins, make the hair into sections and comb right from the scalp.
Plunge the comb into boiling water frequently and wipe it then comb again. It's a long laborious process.

When I look back on Things That Were Worth Every Penny when DD was little, honestly the Nitty Gritty Comb was one of them. Feels time consuming when you do it especially if you do it religiously until end of the egg hatching cycle but it's the only thing that will get rid .

Shaving of course probably will also.

His hair will grow again

No.

Your problem is your child is infested with head lice. That’s disgusting. If you can’t get a comb through his hair then you need to get it de-matted or cut it. It must be disgusting to have ‘very long surfer type hair’ that you can’t get a comb through and is crawling with lice.

You dont need skills to shave hair short and hair grows back BUT are you sure you can't comb his hair if you split it into tiny sections and its smothered in conditioner? Nothing is going to work without the combing part really.

Yup without the combing you have no hope ad if even one of the little fuckers is left it will lay eggs and you will be back to square one.

So plan a - wide tooth comb, section the hair, regular comb, then nit comb. We always used a nutty gritty. Allow 30-45 mins to do huw whole head. Settle down in front of the TV or tablet and give him some sweets to distract him if it pulls.

Plan b - hair cut, though even with short hair you then still have to do plan a. Plus most hairdressers won't cut nitty hair so you may have to do this yourself.

This. Only way.

Usually Hedrin would work even if you didn't comb. Have you tried both types? Hedrin Once and the other one?

Also instead of rinsing use a piece of tissue to wipe the comb through first. Satisfying yet horrifying in equal measure to see the little fuckers

do this - except I would wipe the comb - proper nitty gritty comb - on paper towels. You have to do this every day - and even when you think you've eliminated the lice, keep combing every three days. you need to keep combing at least once a week in case he is reinfected.

Also, cover his hair in olive oil and have him sleep with it like that overnight. In the morning wash it out with a bit of dishwash liquid in the shampoo. Then comb again. The olive oil will smother the live lice but not the nits so you have to comb.

Honestly, though, I'd cut his hair off before combing. It will grow back in no time if he wants it long but right now it is just a complete pain.

I use tea tree and then when my daughter gets them I comb and treat every other day and end of the week they’re gone

If you can't comb it, I think you really need to cut it.

Hair grows back!

At nine and especially with it coming up to summer he'll probably enjoy having short hair.

The only guaranteed way to get rid of them is, as PP say, comb through every single section of hair with a nit comb to catch the nits. Then repeat every day for about a week, or until they have all gone and all eggs are hatched.

To keep them away in future, plait his hair tightly (or cut it short) and spray every morning with tea tree oil heavily diluted in water (about 5 drops in 50 ml water, don't use it neat). The tea tree oil is amazingly effective.