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?

Look, OP, I really feel for you. Luckily I live in a place where - even 15 years ago - there was a nit nurse you could go to (she is probably living on a private estate on Martha's Vineyard now - she had this thing nailed) but the reality is you do not want your child to be THAT child with the continuous headlice and you don't want to be that mother/family either. It isn't rational but it is an ancient fear of infection.

Cut his hair. He may like it. If he doesn't he can grow it again. I cut my daughters' hair when we had them.

Also put him in front of a movie with a tub of ice cream when you comb him (straight from the nit nurse)

nothing replaces combing. (except high heat - higher than you can provide - I dream of the day when all schools have high heat things to zap headlice)

My daughter has bum length, thick hair. She managed to go all through primary and never got them once. Year 8 she got them, just when I thought we were in the clear.! I used to section her hair and comb it through every night for about 2 weeks, just conditioner and the nitty gritty comb. I also had another comb that made a sound when it detected a louse so I used that for about a week to make sure. It used to take an hour at a time which was a nightmare but we got there eventually.

do you mean buzz his hair?

well I'd probably cut it very short rather than buzz it (although at the same age my ds did have a buzz). Whatever just get rid of a lot of his hair and start combing every day.

Straighteners are quite fun to get the eggs to sizzle. Other than that I’m afraid it’s time combing through every night. You’ll have to pop on some good to to keep him entertained.

If he won’t sit and have it treated then you’ll have to shave it but what worked for us was a film (or surely YouTube will keep him sitting for a while?)? A lot of conditioner and nitty gritty. Takes a good hour+ every night for a week then reduce it down to a through session once a week with a quick comb through every day once it’s conditioned enough to get the comb through easier.
regular normal brushing is important too-I always remember a saying I read some there (probably on here) ‘they can’t lay eggs if you break their legs!’)

I can’t believe you’ve left it to go on for 3 weeks and also he will have been at school and passing them on to other kids the whole time.
So little consideration for others.
Cut his hair and treat it properly.
Also it must be horrible for him to feel the nits on his head all that time , poor boy.

Is he being re- infected by someone, possibly someone symptomless (it can happen).

Tea tree oil shampoos are meant to be a good deterrent

Ds2 had long curly hair, and often got lice at pre school

The trick is catching it early. As soon as you see him scratching , commence battle.

Hedrin or Lyclear, once a week for 3 weeks. Preferably the oily sort..After each application , comb though with nitty gritty comb, plus again in between treatments. Wash bedding etc.

I have treated him for every night for 3 weeks and I don’t know how to cut hair.

My daughter has incredibly thick curly hair, and she's an absolute fidget, hates sitting still, hates having her hair washed. She's had nits a few times from her friend with a recurring problem.
The only way with her is bribery. Bag of favourite sweets, favourite TV show on, a sweet every 5 minutes she is still and £2 when it's all done.
I use a full bottle of cheap conditioner, go through the full head with an afro comb to get the big knots out, then a small tooth comb to get the small knots out, then do tiny sections with a nit comb.
Repeat every other day when nits are spotted, and monthly just in case.

Op read through the lice programme explains about life cycles etc and when to comb over a 3 week period.

Was the only thing that worked on dd1s very thick curly hair. She was getting reinvested at school and we spend 7 months fighting it constantly. Then summer holidays and they were gone. Pretty sure I know what child reinfected her said child went to grandma's for the summer and no nits after.

Perhaps I’m reading this wrong but you’ve applied a not treatment every night for 3 weeks?

pardon?

I own a child with super long thick hair, who for whatever reason is prone to nits. Thankfully less now she's at secondary. But i do have expert de-lousing skills.

Do make sure you properly check rest of family for further infestation

1. buy a nitty gritty comb. No other comb will do
2. use the oily hedrin. Leave on for 20 minutes (or however long packet says)
3. sit child in front of a screen with favourite Netflix show then section the hair.
4. spend an hour combing sections (starting back of neck slowly moving to higher sections) Make sure you scrape from scalp to end of hair. Take it in thin layers, cleaning comb into bowl of warm water. if you put a piece of white paper under a glass bowl you'll clearly see the eggs and lice accumulating you may need to change water in bowl occasionally.
5. rinse out hedrin
6. send child to school with hair in ponytail or plaits
7. 2 or 3 days later smother wet hair in conditioner. Resume netflix show. Comb comb comb.
8. check hair again in 2 or 3 days
9. spend the next few weeks of your life combing.

Ok thanks, I’m going to give a nice and very short haircut with the clippers tomorrow to make the treatment easier for me and him.

you’ll get there. Like it’s not necessary to cut his hair.

I have 3 thick curly haired children so I’m an expert on lice 😅

I douse their hair in half a bottle of cheap conditioner and section up their hair with hair ties and methodically comb it throughly every single night. (With a metal comb)

Stick him in front of a screen or bribe him with something big and just get it done.

Nit treatment

How? You can't be symptomless if you have nits and are spreading them around!

yes

Sorry, but they don't always stop at secondary. It is rare though. I'm a secondary teacher.

My dd is 7 and we've only had nits in year 3 so far thankfully. My god it was tough, especially when I had a 3 day old baby and a 7 year old sat in the bath at 10pm as I was still combing her hair. I am still obsessed with checking her scalp as they kept re-appearing despite treatments and combing. She only ever had a few little lice and white tiny eggs. I still don't know if she has normal scalp dots in her hair or if the nits are back. They are easily brushed out with a hand so I'm hoping that means not nits. I, like another poster, found it much easier to comb after giving the ends of her long hair a good trim. Bribe with tablet and a treat to eat while sitting on a chair in the bath. The nitty gritty comb is easier/possible to pull through at certain angles I find - so maybe try adjusting that.

She's had threadworms at least 3 times too. Children are disgusting sometimes!

I do think it might be best to shave his head. Personally I think that's a job for a parent, not the poor childminder.

Yes that’s what I’m probably going to do. The only reason I was going to let her is because she has the clippers and I don’t. But at least if I can do it he won’t come back to me bald!

shave his head, it'll grow back and its quite on trend atm to have a grade 1 all over

Your children aren't home during the week due to being at boarding school? If that's the case, how could you properly manage this problem? It requires daily care and bedsheets and towels washed daily in hot and dried in the dryer on hot. Sounds like the school is not managing it on their end. 🤷‍♀️

Really?
but I agree, plus he has never had short hair before so he might actually like it.