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.

You don't have lice. They become very obvious very quickly, especially if you're brushing regularly. You do seem to want to shave your head though so why not do it? If people ask, just say 'I felt like a change' and don't invite more discussion. It's none of their business.

I'm from a big family and my mum was always dealing with nits, she became constantly convinced she had them but she didn't - I used to check her hair for her sometimes so I know! She had a dry scalp - and I think some of the treatments make that worse - but I think it was partly mental because she spent so much time making sure we didn't have them.

BUT cutting your hair off is totally fine too!

You can go to a hair dresser, it will just take some ringing around. My friends girl has really curly hair and spoke to a hair dressers who had her bring her daughter in at the end of the day so they could properly sterilise everything after. They actually treated and then cut her hair. This may be something available locally. It's worth calling

Alternatively, shave bleach and dye a funky colour and people will naturally assume you wanted a drastic change.

You need to make sure you’re washing pillow cases and stuff too otherwise your head could be totally clear and you’re just reinfecting yourself.

My daughters hair is very fine and tangles so much at the ends it’s impossible to wet comb, i started using nitwits about a year ago and haven’t seen any nits/lice since.
edit: i don’t wet comb with nitwits either.
are you sure you still have lice? My eldest daughter has very thick hair and we was constantly being called into school because she was itching and they thought she had lice but she never had any, she cut her hair into a pixie cut about 2 years ago and hasn’t had any problems since, i think she had heat rash on her scalp from the thick hair xx

I used to have headline a lot as a teenager (my parents didn't have the patience to comb my hair or buy me the shampoo).

I started dying my hair and that killed all the lice and eggs. Maybe give that a try? Dye your hair either the same as your hair now or go for a fun colour and do it a few times and it might work for you.

I found on my dd's thick hair years ago that using hedrin once on 3 separate occasions a week apart each solved it. I would use an absolutely gigantic quantity of it to make sure every hair is totally coated and then use an entire bottle of shampoo - again in massive quantities - to wash it several times during one shower.

I’ve done it, more than once.
I 100% recommend it.
My hair, like yours, is very thick. So combing and treating was just a nightmare and wasn’t working, so I buzzed it all off.
It actually felt great and I didn’t feel as self conscious as I thought I would.

It's now shoulder length again (shaved last year) and I would do it again if I had to.

Op...I'm saying this with great kindness.

Are you sure you have nits? I only ask because I had a family member with a history of mental health conditions who was absolutely convinced they had nits when they didn't and even convinced the person they were living with that they had them too. I am not suggesting you are experiencing the same thing...but if you can't see any nits..then perhaps the itching is psychosomatic?

I wonder if there are any professional hairdressing services which can check for you and if you do have them, treat them professionally? Then you would at least know either way.

OP - try Vamousse. It kills both the eggs and live lice. No need for the constant repeating you have to do with Hedrin. Use once job done. It’s brilliant & effective stuff.

A "number 9" with your home shaver will basically be an instant pixie-cut.

Actually better than a lot of pixie cuts that I have had.

I've gone for a full head of bleach before when I've had nits and basically had a short blonde pixie cut.

Ok so I had a quick google and there are indeed companies who will check to see if you have them and treat you if that is the case. I would do that first ...get a definitive answer as to whether you have them or not

This!

I remember your other thread and I think this is becoming more of a psychological issue for you than an actual lice problem.

Do you have any female relatives at all that are decent with a comb? I'm thinking mothers of girls with long hair that would be used to parting and combing the hair properly.

If you have a rash you really need to give up on the strong treatments and give yourself a chance to heal. Cheap, thick conditioner and a comb is all you need (if anything at all, I am really not convinced you have them! )

I got head lice from a hostel in Poland from bedding my head itched all the time i dye my hair anyway so after a month a died my hair with a permanent colour at home leave it on for half an hour and all lice dead and no more itchy so dont cut it off just dye it if your hair is long and thick i would use 2 hair dyes together

This is probably gross but so are nits but you need someone to sit and section your hair and pull out the eggs with your fingers. I don’t think combing is enough.

I did this when DD was little and they never came back.

I can see nits. I just can't see any lice. However I think that is because I not able to
Properly nit comb my hair. I can do the upper layers but I'm not able to systematically section off my hair and go through individual sections. Whenever I try do that thr nit.comb.grts entangled in a neighbouring section and I cant pull it through. Also if I try to do it with conditioner in my hair I shed too much hair and it's all just too cumbersome.

It sounds stupid and im pretty sure im doing something wrong but honestly at this stage I think this all isn't worth it and I either want a medicated treatment that is strong enough to just kill them or I want to get rid of my hair
I dont want to wet comb it anymore.

I agree with a pp you seem fixated on them but not actively looking for them, I know it is a total pain but if you are able to wet comb it will be easier to detect, I also think all parents with school age children should be checking as part of a routine .

That's a nightmare op, they can be so persistent.

I am wondering if you contact a mobile hairdresser could they come to your house and cut your hair there maybe if you're honest about the reason why?

I would ask your dh to have a good look in your hair to see if he can see any lice to be sure this is what it is as opposed to an irritated scalp.

I think if you are happy going for the buzz and feel confident enough with it then why not. I would never look at someone and immediately think nits, I'd probably wonder a bit about their health in fairness but if they said they fancied a change then I'd accept that for what they've told me.

As a teacher nits are an occupational hazard. Couldnt get rid of the things.

My hairdresser advised me to use gin - I kid you not.

It was what she used she said, just combed it through and then rinsed it out. She did add some water to it though, so it wasn’t too strong.

It did seem to work but I never had the guts to use it again. Reading it up it does work but can irritate the scalp, and you have to be careful to only use a bit. It can be too alcoholic for children and folks with weak immune systems so read up on it first.

Well if you can't wet comb the only other solution is to just cut your hair off look for a mobile hairdresser explain the situation and they might come and cut your hair,

Also there is so many women nowadays with really short hair i don't think ive once thought "nits".

Put hedrin mousse on and leave it for 48 hours. Lots and lots of it. Looks horrendous but so what? Then do it again 1 week later and leave on for 48 hours. That works pretty well. And consider taking an anti histamine - all the scratching is just aggravating everything.

When we were in lockdown, I cut my hair really short by using my husband's hair clippers on the longest setting. It didn't look too bad IMO. I used to gel it to make it spiky on top. It wouldn't be as extreme as shaving, but would make wet combing easier.

Sort of like this.

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/15-short-spiky-haircuts-for-2025-that-will-give-your-look-an-edgy-twist--185914290863076476/

I do wet comb every few days but I just do a rubbish job.

I think ill try to find a hair dresser who could check and rhen cut my hair for me. And if I cant find anyone ill get the longest setting with dh' hair clipper.

Are there any hair clippers that have longer guards?