AIBU that I don't seem able to shift nits

[bostonkremekrazy]

just that....I have treated DC age 5 every week for the last 5 weeks now using VAMOUSSE as advised by GP.

I treated her thursday, no live nits left, used the comb to get all the eggs out....today - 3 fully grown lice in her hair AGAIN. they cannot have grown from any left over eggs since thursday....aaargh.
I went to the pharmacy, they said I cannot retreat her hair with chemicals again till Thursday. (I've bought a lyclear treatment they recommended ready for Thursday)
So I've used the Nitty Gritty comb, conditioner and got the 3 lice out, combed loads and found some more eggs, got them out, combed, combed. Washed her hair in Tea tree anti-nit shampoo....

For school hair in pigtails....plaits won't hold as hair is too fine.

The bedsheets are changed and 60o washed after the nit lotion. The other kids are checked and treated if they have them - boys in household had hair cut short and haven't had them again.

What else can I do?

DS was in the same cycle a few months ago. It was driving me nuts, especially as I kept catching them from him too (he comes into bed for a cuddle every morning). I have long, thick hair and was so close to just chopping it all off it was that much of a nightmare to keep combing and treating! I found alternating between a chemical treatment and then some kind of oil (coconut was the least messy to apply) overnight eventually broke the cycle for both of us.

The conditioning spray with nit repellent is good, it's a citrus smell and works well for my two.

What works for me is brushing hair twice a day, washing every other day and blow drying and using the spray daily before school. Keeping hair super clean and shiney I think makes it too slippery for nits. I don't believe the saying they prefer clean hair, as a social worker I have seen an awful lot of children suffering with nits and they tend to have dirtier hair. But that's only my take on it.

Can you comb some tea tree conditioner into her hair and then plait the hair and leave the conditioner in? The nits can't get a grip on conditioned hair so that might protect her as she's obviously catching them from someone at school. Can she change tables for a while, as the likelihood is that it's someone she's bending her head towards regularly.

Could have bought a house with the amount of money having two girls in primary school cost me in nit treatment. Nitty gritty, olive oil, everyday for a week. Nitty gritty and tea tree conditioner every week. Tie hair back and punch out any mother that doesn't take the infestation of their kid at school seriously. Don't let infested kids sleepover at your house, sounds like your daughter is friends with someone who has them and doesn't bother to treat them.

I find the best treatment is the one which smothers Nitts and eggs in one treatment. It’s very oily though - mumsne tip was to put talc in hair to soak up oil before washing out.

talc tip is utterly brilliant - thank you

You need a product that contains dimeticone as this has a physical action of suffocating the eggs and lice.

I used Sainsbury's own brand as it was cheaper than hedrin but contained dimeticone.

Lyclear contains a different chemical which is less effective. Can't remember what is called but info is on nhs website.

NHS does not recommend products containing permethrin (lyclear) and also tea tree/lavender etc as they are unlikely to work.

Give her hair a good spray of texturising hair spray before plaiting, keeping her hair as close to her scalp as possible should hopefully help.

We nitty gritty on wet hair once a week on wet hair to check for nits. Plus every evening after school, I use electronic Boots nit comb on dry hair on my girls.

My sympathies OP. We got them last year and it was endless slog to get rid of them 100%. Good luck.

Boston did you ever get rid of them? I need some hope, having had the little barstewards since last November! Picked up from my granddaughter unfortunately

Have tried absolutely everything including Hedrin, Nitrid etc. numerous times (I dread to think how much I’ve spent during this time), and spend at least 2 hours every day combing with a nitty gritty (excellent for ripping my hair out). I think my problem is twofold - I can’t see the back my own head (obviously), and the lice are absolutely tiny so I’m obviously missing some. It’s definitely not re-infestation as I don’t let anyone near my head anymore!

I’m sat here now with a mixture of coconut and olive oil on my head... what an excellent waste of a bank holiday

We always use hedrin once and that seems to do the job. However I have used mayonnaise before (full fat) applied before bed hair wrapped in a towel for bed or you could use a shower cap or something and washed out the following morn that worked too and no chemicals. Apparently the mayo suffocates them

Coconut oil, enough to drown the hair almost, come through, leave in for a few days (don’t wash hair). The oil build up will eventually kill the nits and the eggs.

Lots of good advice above also straightners can destroy eggs but at 5 you might not be able to get close enough to the root to get them all.

We got rid of my daughters nits using Hedrin then every day use 3 drops of pure tea tree oil, comb through we didnt have an infestation for 6 months. Then i stopped combing tea tree oil through her hair and bingo the little sods are back and i havent been able to get rid of them since.

Mayonnaise is the only thing I haven’t tried, and I have coconut oil on my head now. I’ve used chemical treatments every night for a week, more than once, but can’t clear them.

The issue is that it’s extremely difficult (almost impossible) to nit comb your own hair properly, doing someone else’s is different altogether . I section it and comb each section for ages, cleaning the comb after each pass, but I can’t see my own head to see if there’s anything left in there. My hair just touches my shoulders (I’ve cut it to this length to try to make it easier), but there’s a lot of it. And I straighten it every bloody day.

I was just hoping that someone else who’d had a similar nightmare could tell me that they did eventually get rid of the buggers, and give me some hope.

It took me 5 weeks. For the first 3 weeks I used Hedrin once a week. For the final two weeks of the 5 weeks I used Vamousse. It worked. Not sure which one worked. Maybe it was just the 5 week battle was too much for the blighters. I was also combing daily just to make it harder for them. Eczema on my scalp made me think it hadn't worked but I realised it had, I was left with just the eczema!