To feel utterly defeated by nits ?

[Biggadyboo]

Have two kids with learning disabilities. They have both had nits since January. Which means I have too.

Treated them first with Hedrin, three times every seven days, wet combing mid week.

still there

Then tried nitnot , no difference.

was advised by a GP friend to try Lyclear as different active ingredient. Have done that three times now. No change.

the kids both utterly hate having their hair combed. Their learning disabilities and sensory issues make it a stressful battle.

But nevertheless I’ve been fucking combing it with conditioner as much as I can the last two weeks . Almost every night. It’s utterly hell, screaming, crying, horrible. But I’ve been doing it

and today there are still literally hundreds of the bastards. I literally can’t comb them all out. There’s just too many

i don’t know what to do😭

There's a lot of misinformation on here.

Boil washing bedding and vacuuming is unnecessary and will make no difference. Headlice die quickly once off the head and as such stay close to the scalp and don't hide in bedding or on carpets.

Hair dye will not kill headlice. They don't care about the hair, clean, dirty, dyed, straight or curly. They are after the scalp and the blood.

The best way to kill them is combing with conditioner as many are now resistant to the treatments. It needs to be done at least every other day, with A LOT of conditioner (so the hair is literally slathered in it) for 2 weeks so you get any newly hatched ones- the eggs can take up to a week to hatch.

You have to be REALLY thorough and if your kids have long hair then it should take at least an hour to make sure you've gone through every single bit. It's not fun but it has to be done.

Maybe try letting them watch a TV program or eat a snack you don't normally allow whilst you do it.

If you're using Hedrin aren't you supposed to leave 2 weeks in between treatments to get the second lot of nits that have hatched?

You’ve got to get the eggs out. I had this during primary with my daughter who had very long thick hair. I had to sit and comb through it every single day. It was horrific. Once she got to secondary she didn’t get them again. Also make sure other children are not reinfecting in class as that was the case with us. So sorry, I know how awful this is.

They must be getting reinfected at school.

Only half a term until the summer holidays. Do it at the beginning of the holidays, will be telling then if they don't get reinfected (until they go back to school)

I might have to pay the vacuum cleaners

Are you washing and changing the sheets and pillowcases and towels and any hats, coats/ hoodies/ anything with hoods daily as well? Hoover sofas/ armchairs etc daily. If your kids are literally crawling in 100s of lice they will be living in soft furnishings too. They can live up to 2 days without a host. I worked with a child who had them living on the headrest of his specialist wheelchairs and it was a nightmare to get rid of them!

Oh that actually sounds fun. I must be one of the few people who enjoyed ( and got sense of satisfaction) going through kids heads removing lice

The only way I could get rid of nits was to use the olive oil method - conditioner was hopeless for us for a couple of reasons

Nits have a life cycle of 3 weeks so you need to continue doing this method for 3 weeks but you can leave the olive oil in the hair - with my daughter this was ok as it looked like her hair was slicked back in a ponytail and then plait

https://www.in.gov/localhealth/gibsoncounty/public-health/public-health-nursing/#:~:text=Olive%20Oil%20smothers%20and%20kills,Apply%20a%20shower%20cap.

Apply oil on days 1, 2, 5, 9, 13, 17, and 21.

I would do it once or twice a week and then afterward the hair was wash the following day would use hair strightners on the hair to help kill the eggs

Get the school to put a notice in their next communication to parents.
I'm not sure if Vosene still do a range of nit related hair products but it's worth a try on between the Hedrin treatments.
If you have a DP they will need checking too. Unless they are bald!
What finally worked for DS was a combination of treatments, a no 2 cut with the clippers and the national lockdown!

They must be getting reinfected at school.

a lot of the time an egg has been missed and then hatches and it all starts over again, its rarely a reinfection from another outside source - down the the life cycle being 3 weeks

My daughter had them and I could NOT get rid until I saw a tip saying to use washing up liquid as it suffocates them same as the proper nit treatments.

Yes - this was the only thing to work when my daughter was school-age.

This sounds like a really difficult situation and I sympathise. It must be that some nits are getting through every time if you’re finding hundreds when you comb.

What worked for us was nitty gritty comb and conditioner after hedrin treatment. I used to plonk the DC in front of the TV or iPad with a bowl of sweets and take an hour or so to do a complete eradication. One of my friends used a professional service which also worked well.

We just combed and combed every night for 4 weeks. Sadly took minimum 30mins per person if long hair,, using clear conditioner spray and tiny sections.

This

It's what I did when mine had lice.

I don't mean the nitty gritty Comb.

But the comb that comes with the lice treatment- hedrin- I think it is.

I just combed through their hair quickly without conditioners as I would a normal comb when they would come back from school.

It didn't take long. Just got all the knots out with Hairbrush and then used the mit comb quickly.

Did that for a few weeks.

But not every day.

And the things myself and PPs have recommended you’re not interested in?

Ok.

Have you tried hair straighteners?

Obviously that was after I treated their hair.

Another vote for Nitwits off amazon. Honestly the only thing that worked for us.

I've heard you can use hair straightener to get rid of nits as the heat will fry them. Maybe try that.
Good luck

I came on to say this. I had tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner with added drops in. And comb until they are gone. It was the only thing that worked with my daughter. She’s now 28 and still remembers the smell!

They’re not going to magically disappear unfortunately @Biggadyboo

It takes consistency and attention to detail. You have had lots of suggestions and dismiss them all.

I’m really not sure what else you’re looking for from the thread

We have the same issue periodically and what worked for me:
I sleep and walk around the house (kids often come to my bed) in a bonnet, I have a set of 12 and I change them daily and then wash once a week. Protects my hair and means I dont pass them onto kids if I do get them.
We did cut hair and wet comb with conditioner every 3 days when I notice a breakout.
Everyone treated the same evening, pillowcases changed aftewards.
Sadly shorter hairstyles are a must, as we all have very thick hair. Nightmare.
The important thing is that the school informs other parents periodically.
I also thought we would get nowhere, but it gets better. Nits produce lies after 6-9 days, so if you catch them early, they dont spread.

I have massive sympathy OP. My kids had thick curly hair and got them constantly. The eldest had SEN and it was a nightmare. I remember writing down the amount of hours once for one ‘incident ‘ and it was in excess of 100 hours. One day, on holiday in France, it was over 40 degrees and so we stayed in the cool farm house and nit combed! In the end, it was olive oil and frequently combing followed by straighteners that worked

My thought is maybe there are other family members who are inadvertent repositories for lice - have you checked with grandparents etc? I have a really strong suspicion that my DM (after an initial contact with my nitty dc many years ago) became a ‘safe house’ for the nits, and were re-infecting us when we saw the grandparents (they lived a long way away so it was maybe four -five times a year). Maybe your treatments are effective, but they keep getting re-infected by friends / family members?