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?

NITWITS.

No combing necessary (though you may want to, to get rid of the (visible) eggs.

Only thing that has worked on my long-haired daughters.

Several posters said it did work.

Thick hair is more hassle, of course. It will work though, it's not about going through lots of hair, the comb is designed to gather the eggs at the scalp, and then, ideally the bits in the hair. The second part will be harder in thick hair.

You need to section the hair even more & do very small sections, with tonnes of conditioner. It's a pure pain & time-consuming but it will work & mostly the first time

2 of my DC have fine hair but lots of it - it was easy though time-consuming to comb. The 3rd has thick hair, luckily a boy, so it was absolutely harder, as only tiny sections could be done but it is possible & it does work.

I'm staggered that OP could have been this cavalier. Wondering about cutting his hair after 3 weeks, and getting the CM to do it. I'm amazed she was even prepared to mind him.

With lots of time and conditioner they most certainly do work

the words i wouldnt think twice come to mind. Yes my little girl would get her head shaved to get rid of nits.

I wouldn't shave any child but I'm not a fan of hair that requires maintenance beyond a brush and a clip in any young child so would be keeping difficult hair short, girl or boy.

There’s no need to though. I’ve managed to get rid of nits from very long, thick hair without shaving.

DD1 with long hair would sit still - DD2 with actually easier hair wouldn't so her hair was cut. No-one is saying you can never get rid of nits from long thick hair - of course you can but if there's an ongoing problem other solutions need to be considered.

The OP says she tried and spent fair bit of money and time already and the boy hates cooperating with the combing.

She is at the point teacher has had words and the childminder is "joking" which probably means everyone is sick of the problem - as people tend to be very reluctant to broach in these circumstances.

Hair dressers likely won't deal with boy at this stage and you can get clippers with fairly long blades - so doesn't mean buzz cut - so it worth at least thinking about a hair cut help clear the nits - make it easier to treat hair for them and then look at further prevention via sprays going forward.

It appears that common sense is no longer common. Much better to have a child who’s itched for weeks, is probably infecting/reinfecting others because that way he can keep his long hair. That’s important because his mother doesn’t want to cut it, because she’s sentimental…

OP, what did you decide to do in the end? Did you cut his hair? We’re in all suspense here!!

Have you boil washed all bedding? Try a bug bomb too.

You don't have to shave him bald, but you should discuss with him that the problem would be fully solved with a good, close cut. Otherwise, the only thing you can do is change his bedding daily and coat his hair with mayo nightly and do a daily baby oil and comb. Some people also swear by Cetaphil if you all have that and look up how to do it.

My daughter also has thick and wavy hair so although when she was at primary school and got nits/lice, it was a bit harder to get rid of them but not impossible. I used conditioner and a Nitty Gritty comb and did thst process over the next ten days. Also, Vosene do a really good Tea Tree Oil conditioning/prevention spray for the hair, which the lice HATED. Don't forget to wash the bedding etc on a hot wash as to deal with any stragglers.

Shave it all off 😁

Are any of his friends affected? They could be re infecting him

The only thing that worked permanently for mine was quassia bark, just brew it like tea & use it as a rinse once you've washed your hair. Also a spray before school etc. nits hate it

Does your son have dreadlocks? How long have you not been able to brush it for?

Use teatree shampoo conditioner and spray headlice hate it

Once clear of headlice routinely use tea tree oil shampoo and separate conditioner. Cheap and 100%effective. None of my children ever got headlice!!!!

Tiny sections, comb the hedrin through. Methodical and thorough. My daughter has very thick spiral curls, this is the only way we could do hers.

I used to know a woman who's son had lovely thick hair, he was prone to nits as a young child, so she just shaved his hair off whenever he got them (which was usually when his hair had grown longer and thicker again). Once he was old enough to understand he needed to keep his head away from other kids, it happened a lot less often.

THIS!!!

Only thing that worked for us. We tried several treatments but none of them worked.

Only thing that worked daily combing with heaps of conditioner. One of mine also has long hair I couldn’t shave his head. I wouldn’t shave a girl’s head so I wouldn’t do it to a boy.

I used the conditioner and comb you treat then condition and comb until there are no eggs so every night, my son has very thick dark curly hair so it took a while but better than beasties in the hair, he is autistic as well and sat really well for him. It’s not nice, but it takes patience and time to deal with them. The more lotions you put on the more likely the lice become immune. I used Hedrin and nitty gritty comb then the cheap Alberto balsam conditioner slathered on so wasn’t sore to comb through.

Full Marks is a good one, worked on DS and DC after two goes.
Heard they hate peppermint too so sprayed all brushes and combs with it. You can get peppermint oil from any health store than just dilute a bit. Anything to stop them coming back.

Nitty gritty comb and alberto balsam tea tree shampoo and conditioner. Just keep combing til comb comes out clean..good luck

Just use vinegar