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?

Absolutely buzz cut it short. I did this to DS when he was in Year 3/4 and he never got nits again. Honestly, life's too short to be spending hours and hours every night if it's making your son grumpy. It'll look short for a week or two and then be lovely for the summer.

This is exactly how I cleared my children’s hair. Cheap tea tree oil hair conditioner, in wet hair, sat in front of a family film and a nit comb. For two weeks my husband and I did this. The only solution that worked and kept their hair. I considered shaving it off at one point!!!!
Also hot wash for bedding as many times as you can do it each week, especially the pillows cases and pillows.

Your child has nits which you can’t get rid of.
He must be extremely uncomfortable most of the time and finding it hard to concentrate.
You don’t want to cut his hair because you’re “sentimental” about it.
He's probably continually infecting other children.
How about you try something unusual - be an adult and cut his hair. It’s hair, it’ll grow back. You’re not amputating a leg!

Well, I said cut, not shave.

A traditional boy's short haircut would be comb-able and would quickly grow out if he wants it long again. Needs must.

Many hairdressers and barbers will refuse a client with nits.

YoI'm didn't hold back there @AgathaMystery 👏🏻

You do realise that all the other kids will know he has nits. Therefore all the parents will know your son has nits & they will be telling their kids to stay away from him so that they don't get nits.
Kids are also cruel & they will point out the nits & react; yuck! Running away, yelling etc
Just shave his head and get rid once & for all.
The hair will regrow.

This is actually true. I've told mine to stay away from certain kids, who had head lice for a long time. Because I was fed up with mine being re infected with them. Kids will probably not play with him, because of it. Shave it off, and medicate the scalp. It will grow back.

You do realise that all the other kids will know he has nits
Therefore all the parents will know your son has nits & they will be telling their kids to stay away from him so that they don't get nits.
Kids are also cruel & they will point out the nits & react; yuck! Running away, yelling etc

Kids aren’t cruel - it’s the parents. How would you like your child to be treated like that for something that’s not their fault?

I would simply do the responsible thing and not let it get to a stage where my child was walking around with nits for weeks on end in the first place!

That's a bit mean when the Op is obviously trying and spent a lot of money on treatments that are meant to actually work.

There's always the kid with nits because parents aren't doing the weekly check in the Bath with the nitty gritty comb

Grim

Poor kid clearly needs his hair cut

It's neglectful at this stage not to after weeks of nits

But OP clearly thinks nice looking hair is more important than a ravaged scalp

Grim

Neglectful

Selfish

It's a safeguarding issue at this stage really

This is why lots of girls get their once long hair suddenly cut into bobs in primary school

Nits

Just cut the poor boys hair

With all due respect to the OP, as many PPs have said the combing method is by far the most effective. You can get through anybody’s hair, no matter how thick so I’m going to be harsh but I really don’t believe that she’s trying hard enough if she hasn’t been able to do this for her DS. It takes lots of time and patience but every parent has had to do it at some point. After so many weeks of nits it’s a matter of urgency to get it sorted

If you can't comb it, you aren't using enough conditioner

If the girl's mother was insisting that she couldn't get a lice comb through the hair, then yes, I expect she would be advised to have it cut short. Which is what people ARE suggesting. Very few have suggested shaving it off.

It's for his sake too - and it is deeply antisocial to not do what you can to stop him affecting the other kids. OP has said she's the one who likes his hair.
Why not just put vanity and sentiment aside and give him a short haircut if he'd be happy enough about it. What a waste of time to spend two hours every night fine combing his hair - claim your and his freedom back

Getting rid of nits is hardly a waste of time

The point is that it's taking much longer than it needs to, particularly when the lad is - by all accounts - unwilling to tolerate sitting still for lengthy periods of time.

No, but the length and thickness of his hair is a major factor in terms of why it's necessary to spend hours on it and the mother has said she keeps it like that for sentimental reasons. It sounds like the situation is really out of hand and cutting his hair short is a quick solution that really isn't so tragic in the scheme of things.
And yes, I would advocate for girls to have their hair cut if they were very infested and treating them was taking up so much time.

Only thing that ever worked was the nitty gritty comb every night for a fortnight with loads of conditioner.Lately I found Nitnot and it is fabulous,tried all other stuff and useless.

Only thing that ever worked was the nitty gritty comb

It doesn’t work in thick hair, it pulls and stretches the hair and is painful for the kids.

But the way kid-logic works,

That's not how kid-logic works!

There's no need to shave the poor boy's head. Especially if he currently has long hair so likes it longer.

Cut it short, do the combing, problem solved