To shave my head to get rid of lice?

[HairIsOverrated]

Tldr: I've probably got lice (though not 100% sure), I'm struggling to get rid of them and I want to stop wasting so much time and effort on this issue. I just want to cut/ shave my hair but I can't go to a hair dresser to get a proper short hair cut. If i just shave my head I'm worried about what other people think.

Ds brought lice home from school about a month ago. No problem. We used hedrin twice, wet combed a few times and that got rid of them. Unfortunately, he seems to have passed them on to me. I found one louse about a month ago in my hair and a few nits. My hair is slightly longer than ahoulder length but very, very thick. It's a nightmare to wet comb. It takes me over an hour and im pretty sure im missing large chunks of hair.

I have used hedrin shampoo 4 times now and once lyclear. I wet comb every few days but I still have nits and my head itches like crazy. After thst initial louse I never found another one but I am pretty sure that's because of my lousy wet combing technique. Im just not getting to all the roots. Dh thinks it's just dandruff or dry skin or thst my scalp is irritated from the constant treatment but I think I've still got lice. My head itches non stop. I have got a rash on my forehead and my neck and I csj still find nits on the nit comb (yup, it's a nitty gritty).

Anyway lice or not im just fed up of it. Im fed up of the wet combing, having to wash bedding and all my clothes all the time and I don't even properly hug my kids anymore because im so scared of passing the lice on to them. I just want to grt rid of this problem. Ideally i would like to just cut my hairvery short to.make wet combing easier but i can't even go to a hair dresser to get a proper short hair cut because I'm sure no hair dresser wants someone with a potential lice infection. So my only option is to use a long hair trimmer at home.

Dh shaves his head so why csnt I?

I dont care what i look like but I do care about what other people might think. If I shave my head everyone will either think (correctly) that i have got lice or that i am undergoing chemo. And they will ask questions. And I dont want to tell people I've got lice. Especially not on the school run. ds' son's school still has a lice problem so people will provably think it's because of us. But it's not. Ds doesn't have any lice and we have since cut his hair really short so it isnt hard to check.

I've got so many other things going on at the moment I dont want to waste time and energy on this nonsense.

Yabu: just put in the hours to wet comb your hair and get rid of the lice the traditional way.
Or live with them. Or act as if i I don't have lice till I actually see a live one and hope the itching will eventually go away. Having to face people's questions and telling everyone at the kids' school that this is a lousy family isn't worth it.

Yanbu: just cut the damp thing off. Life is too short to spend so much time on doing completely stupid things when there is a quick and effective solution.

Shaving your head is a rather extreme solution. Only need to do that if you actually want that hairstyle. I've never had that much success with lice treatments, tried many over the years on my kids. Only solution I got to work was regular combing (usually in conjunction with an initial treatment, but not essential). Not going to deny it it is time consuming.

Comb every 3 days, with lots of conditioner in your hair. It's impossible to do your own hair if it's long, so you are going to need your DH to do it. Reason to or that frequency of combing is down to the life cycle of the lice - they take about 10 days to become fertile adults, so you want to make sure you've removed them before then to break the cycle. You could get away with combing less often, but only if you're 100% successful.

I'm with others though - you may actually have already go rid of them at this stage. You might just be combing out old empty nits (shells) from lice that have hatched and been killed/removed ages ago. The itching could just be psychological - it's making my head itch just thinking about it.

I hope you get on ok at the hairdresser today, OP. And that operation wash out the gloop goes smoothly, too. It’s a miserable business!

OP I had a terrible infestation over the summer - caught from my short haired DS but then I had them for about 4 weeks. I had an awful rash and spots on my neck. Like you I have extremely thick hair.

For me the numerous hedrin treatments + wet combing didn’t work - I was finding live and dead lice but obviously not all/I wasn’t getting all the eggs. The only thing that worked was doing 3 x lyclear treatments - 1 go, then 3 days later, then 4 days later, and that finally got them.

For the combing, I slathered my hair in conditioner and used clips to separate into sections then did it under the shower.

Why not wear a beanie when you go out? It will soon grow again.

Just to give a quick update: I got my hair cut!!!! I am so happy. I can't even tell you how happy I am. It's like a long pixie cut (hair avout 10cm long). It doesn't look amazing but I don't care. The only thing I regret is not going shorter. Maybe I'll do that at my next trim. The hair dresser was so so so nice. She is just lovely. She said there are no lice. She couldn't see any nits either. My head is still itching and it has started burning now as well so no idea what's going on. I am still not 100% convinced it's not lice but for now I'm just happy to have got my hair cut.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT WITH ME. 💜

Congratulations!! I bet it looks great!!

Your poor scalp is probably inflamed from the treatments and the combing. Headlice treatments are pretty brutal - the irritation on the users scalp is considered worth it for something that can penetrate the insect's body. Try and keep your head protected and cool, so no beanie hats or anything like that. But also try and keep it dry, don't let it get rained on, avoid swimming for a few days (or wear a silicone cap if you really have to swim). You might benefit from a moisturising scalp treatment after a few more days healing. An antihistamine tablet each morning might also help, if your scalp has had a reaction to the treatments. But you will start seeing the itching and burning settle, please don't be tempted to re-treat or anything in the next few days. If you're worried, go back to the hairdresser and let her have a proper look before you do anything!

It's probably a dry irritated scalp from the treatment. Use a moisturising conditioner after washing it and allow it to air dry.

Ah bless you @HairIsOverrated bet you're relieved!
Agree with @roundaboutthehillsareshining and @Balloonhearts re the moisturising and antihistamines. That stuff has probably been hard on your scalp. I honestly think though at least part of the itching is psychological - I just have to read the word 'nits' and my head starts to itch 😆

I am so glad that your hair dresser was able to help you. Some might refuse but some will help so always worth asking.

Glad you like your new hairstyle. I was going to suggest to make sure that your DH is nit free so as not to cross contaminate, but I'm sure you have considered this.

Have you tried oral ivermectin? I didn't have head lice but I got body lice and ivermectin got rid of them. Kills them all in 24 hours. Ask your doc. I took a 6 mg tablet 4 times at 2 week intervals. The doc said I only needed 2 doses, but I wasn't taking any chances.

I don’t think those lice creams/ointments work. I have long super thick hair and have suffered for years with lice.
Now, if I feel an itch, I drench with conditioner and comb through with nit comb (really easy & quick when drenched with thick conditioner) and repeat this process every 4/5 days for the next month. This clears it up!
Shave your head - I think it would look really cool - but it’s probably unnecessary- try the above and keep your lovely long locks!

My niece passed them on once as an adult and it sounds weird but I found using a temporary box dye got rid of everything quickly. Would only recommend if you haven't already got an inflamed scalp from the treatments though.

I second this great stuff .. plus niys can live on hairs that’s any longer then a number 1-2 all over x

Have you vacuumed your hair? I saw on this morning they were talking about headline and this company vacuum your hair to get rid of them treatment is £140 but you could do it at home, have a look on YouTube for the this morning program

Could you try and do a DIY pixie cut, then do the lice treatment (hopefully effectively as easier on v short hair) and then if the cut doesn't look good, go to a hairdressers to get them to fix it? There are lots of YouTube videos on DIY haircuts from covid times!

I feel your pain. A few drops of Neem oil in your hair conditioner wirks as a lice repellent
do a search online for Neem oil to find out more.

Do you have a lice clinic Uk near you? Google. Sorted in one visit. Expensive but worth it. Shaving your head is ...going to have some negative feedback

I've definitely found the itching after getting treatment even hot treatment (only low maintenance one that works). If you were my wife and shaved your head i'd leave you asap so something to consider. Lice center heat treatments kill everything and it's done.

Head lice are getting immune to the treatment and also I have a rash from them too. Conditioner and nitty gritty comb helped me and DD. Thankfully she's now over the age of playing so closely with her friends and they're a memory! Ugh I am itching thinking about it

Hedrin makes your head itch! Using it 4 times has probably killed all the nits but dried out your skin so badly it's itching like crazy.

Conditioner every single night and comb.

Lice Clinic UK don't use a pesticide. It's a high heat treatment that kills both the bugs and eggs. They still brush them out for you but don't technically need to as it kills everything. It's the only treatment that does. The bugs can't become immune to it because it's heat not a pesticide. It's pricey. £360 for 2 of us but so worth it. They come to your house and it's just like getting an at home blow dry. All done in about an hour. Only treatment we do.

I feel for you, had them and was difficult to get rid of them. If this helps, I used hedrin for a whole night, producing foam and covering the scalp, and then wrapping my hair tight with kitchen paper and a tight piece of cloth wrapped around. At Poundland they sold a sort of hair towel that you can wrap as a cap, I used that. Combing hair the next day is the hard bit I know, so make your hair straight as much as possible with tons of conditioner. my partner and I combed reciprocating before wash and after dry . After washing drying we went for a thorough hair inspection until the scalp and hair was truly immaculate .

One thing I found useful is to freeze bedsheets and towels for a week, it's cheaper than high temp washing and should kill lice and eggs.

One thing to note it is very irritating to keep hedrin a whole night. I kept doing it several times because I was furious with the itch but wouldn't cut my hair. Part of it was actually a scalp rash due to hedrin, but I didn't find an alternative.

The repeated lice treatments may have irritated your scalp. I personally found gentle shampoo and squalane (applied directly to the scalp) immensely helpful.

Try to get an appointment with a dermatologist (or at least family doctor) if the issue persists. Your hairdresser should be able to advise you in the interim.