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?

Yeah I remember Glen bless him in Year 4. The nitty kid.

It sounds like you are the problem, op.

You want him to have this thick hair but you aren't looking after it enough to get a comb through and your son has had lice for 3 weeks now. You don't have a treatment plan so you have to cut the hair to be able to treat it properly.
Can you not understand that?

His hair might be lovely, but it’s riddled with nits that you can’t get rid of. What’s more important?

My daughter's hair is incredibly thick and curly. I had to chop an inch or so off the ends so that I could get the nit comb through it. Once i’d done that I treated with treatment and then just kept going over her hair with the nit comb every few days got rid of them. The first time, it took nearly 3 hours with the cutting and combing and then subsequent combing (once cut) took approximately an hour to do the whole head, so it was very time-consuming but doable and most importantly, effective.

If your son has thick, wavy hair then you can't go too wrong with cutting it yourself. It's very fine and straight hair where a bad cut is harder to hide. You can buy hair scissors fairly cheaply too.

I feel like I have tried every treatment hence the post, I have spend at least 2 hours every night combing. I just wanted to gauge whether it was cruel to cut his hair.

Is it if he still has them because you aren't treating it properly...

No, it's not cruel..

Angelina in year 8 who sat in front of me in Mr Bowles biology class

It's more cruel to not cut it

I've tried just combing but never managed to get them all so gave up.

Hederin once worked for us, as did "nitnot"- both very similar, really sticky stuff that you comb though the hair that suffocates the nits. Difficult to wash out but it's worked for us both times we've had nits home.

I did a nitty-gritty comb though when we realised we had them, bought the treatment and did it the next day, got a couple more lice when combing the treatment through which had escaped my nitty gritty efforts. Re-treated the following day and found nothing when combing the treatment through- so it was clearly effective in killing the eggs etc off too.

It doesn't matter if you've never cut hair before, a buzz cut is the easiest thing to do, no styling required. Get a barber's razor on next day delivery for about a tenner. Buzz buzz all over his head. Done.

He will look so smart with a crew cut. And it'll be radical enough to reassure all his peers that he's no longer a vector

Ok, his childminder offered to shave it all off. Do you think I should say yes?

But it is neglect. Your son is infested with parasites that drink his blood.

I have very thick, coarse, long hair and I know how frustrating it is when they won't sit for long periods but get the sweets and the tablet because it is the only way if you want to keep hair long.

It’s more cruel to leave him infested with nits.
Although my daughter had thick, curly, bum length hair when she got nits and I cleared them with 2 treatments of Hedrin, a week apart, plus combing every night with cheap conditioner between.

I’m not sure but at this rate I think I’m on board with getting the clippers out based on the thread

Get over the counter lice treatment to try and get rid of some of them.
Then conditioner and nitty gritty lice comb , section hair and comb through to remove lice and eggs, repear daily after about a week retreat with lice treatment, but keep going with conditioner and combing til none left.
If DS has long hair maybe worth tying it back to try and prevent reinfestation .
Almost Non stop nit infestation is sadly common at nursery and primary school

My daughter has thick hair down to her bum, you need to keep doing it often, wash bedding, teddies on the bed and check everyone in the houses hair.
we use tea tree oil shampoo regularly and comb once a week, if any are found then I do not treatment every other day for the whole family and wash everything on all our beds and never had a problem getting rid of them

Nitty gritty comb, OP, and a fuck ton of tea tree conditioner.

If I could do it on my dd's hair, you can do it on your ds's.

Bless Angelina. Glenn was a nice kid, had blonde hair so we could see the crawlers!! Poor lad.

I think that’s part of the problem as he keeps getting them after I treat them and non of his siblings have them.

My son has very thick afro hair, and the length when wet is almost to his bum. I have no problem combing his hair through when it smothered in conditioner and wet.

Get him in the bath, soak his hair, smother in conditioner and it will be very easy to comb through. You may need to detangle with a brush first but it'll comb through fine.

I'd recommend Faith In Nature Tea Tree conditioner. It's a watery conditioner and gives loads of slip when combing through, plus the tea tree deters the buggers.

The chemicals are not effective just on their own, you have to comb regularly. With an infestation as bad as you describe the only way to truly get rid of them is combing every day for a minimum 2 weeks and then maybe drop to every other day for two more weeks. Invest in a nitty gritty comb and a wide tooth comb. Slather your child's head in cheap conditioner - the 99p a bottle kind and then work through it sectioning it first with a wide tooth comb. Then do each section again with the nit comb. You should find that the conditioner and the wide tooth comb help you get through it. It will take a long time to begin with but you don't have any other option. You should find that each day the combing gets easier as it is less and less tangled.Obviously a hair cut will help as you'll have less to comb through so worth considering.

I just wanted to gauge whether it was cruel to cut his hair.

Don't be silly. This can't be a serious question.

No, don't shave it all off 😵‍💫 talk about drawing more attention to him.

Cut it to a reasonable length, slather in conditioner & treat using a nit comb, Nitty Gritty only, as others said.

It will take ages the first night, yes. Just accept it.

Do it 2 or 3 days later (no point in doing it the next day, you are waiting for any eggs to hatch), it will be much shorter. Keep going with this until you've fully cleared it.

No need for treatments. They are messy & less effective.

And without being harsh, be more of a parent. 3 weeks is awful, to have let your DS endure this.

Hedrin Once works brilliantly. DO NOT USE THE 1HR TREATMENTS. They do not work. Hedrin once kills them. You leave it on overnight then shampoo off in morning. Then repeat it 7 days later. Also nitty gritty comb. Hedrin once is only thing iv ever found works and all the 1hr or 20min treatments are crap and a waste of money