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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To shave my head to get rid of lice?

257 replies

HairIsOverrated · 10/11/2025 11:49

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.

OP posts:
SpicyRedRobin · 10/11/2025 21:28

Shave your head it's freeing and you only live once.

Although I will say as someone who also shaved their head, make sure you have hats for winter or your head will get super cold.

Katemax82 · 10/11/2025 22:29

The thing that got rid of my daughter's persistent lice was perfumers alcohol

Mazanna123 · 10/11/2025 22:49

If you do a search for nit nurse near me you'll be able to find someone to come round and get rid of them for you if you're happy to pay

BaconCheeses · 10/11/2025 22:54

If you want a good cover story then set up a fundraiser to shave your head for charity.

PrettyBigThings · 10/11/2025 22:56

Have very very thick hair and have caught from my DS before. Agree it is a nightmare and almost impossible to remove the nits.

The only thing I found to work was the Lyclear EXTRA STRONG lotion version. I also did some combing but wasn’t very good at it - generally combed through whilst in shower. However the extra strong lotion was much better than any other over the counter product. Good luck!

RubySquid · 10/11/2025 23:00

roundaboutthehillsareshining · 10/11/2025 12:20

Of course you can go to a hairdresser. You just tell them when you're making the appointment that you think you might have headlice. They'll wear gloves and be able to make sure all equipment is disinfected after they've used it on you. A professional hairdresser can also assess the health of your scalp and help determine if you do have active lice, or if the itching is a result of irritation.

Never known a gairdresscthatvwill touch hair with lice

HeyThereDelila · 10/11/2025 23:22

Use clippers on longer length so you don’t have anything less than a grade 4. Or maybe ring a mobile hairdresser and ask if they’d come to your house if you explain?

Doesn't hair dye kill nits/lice? Can you dye your hair with a box at home?

ArchieStar · 10/11/2025 23:29

OP, this may sound weird but dye your hair (esp if blonde and can bleach) worked wonders when I had them.

SuperFi · 10/11/2025 23:54

Katemax82 · 10/11/2025 22:29

The thing that got rid of my daughter's persistent lice was perfumers alcohol

How did you use the perfumers alcohol @Katemax82

SuperFi · 10/11/2025 23:59

You have my sympathies OP I have really really thick hair, I don’t think some people realise how unruly it can be.

if you do shave your head you can get some lovely wigs now.

Ireolu · 11/11/2025 01:19

Dd got nits in Dec 2023. Traumatic. My good friend had all her hair chopped off when she got nits off her kids but I think her hair dresser was happy to do it. It made it that much easier for her to get rid.

We used a combination of nitwits, nit comb with lots of conditioner. I'm itchy all over reading your posts....

Evergreen21 · 11/11/2025 03:07

If you want to shave off your hair then go for it. If anyone asks you wanted a drastic change.

Get your oh to do it. He can't be busy 24/7and he has offered so get over whatever issue you have with him doing it and let him.

When my ds had nits I used headrin but I combed his hair using a nitty-gritty comb everyday. It probably took me about 40 minutes as whilst he has short hair it is thick. I did this daily for at least a week and then after treatment too to make sure i had got rhem all.Dh and I took it in turns to check each others hair but thankfully we didn't catch them.

Rtmhwales · 11/11/2025 04:09

I’m abroad in Canada but here we literally have mobile lice hairdressers you can hire fairly cheaply that come to your house and do the treatment and combing several times until you’re clear. Is there really not a service like this in the UK?

Katemax82 · 11/11/2025 06:05

SuperFi · 10/11/2025 23:54

How did you use the perfumers alcohol @Katemax82

I applied it to my daughter's hair to saturate it (just dropped it on carefully, use a squeeze bottle) then left it for about an hour and all the lice were dead. Apparently vodka works too. Just had to do the combing thing after and she didn't get them again

nagnagnag · 11/11/2025 07:26

I say go for it. Cut it all off and get rid of them - it sounds really upsetting and you will be free of them. Then you can wear a hat or a scarf when you go out if you want you. It’ll grow back in no time. You need to get rid of them before your mum visits. Good luck!

Chenecinquantecinq · 11/11/2025 07:43

There are specific services in London that will do this for you I don't know about elsewhere but google. Obviously at a cost but easier someone else treating your hair than you.

Chenecinquantecinq · 11/11/2025 07:43

I meant services that will apply the anti nit lotion

AzureFinch · 11/11/2025 08:12

Chances are you've already killed them and the itching is irritation from all the messing about with your scalp.

Book into a salon who don't know you, (other side of town or whatever).Get the shorter haircut. If they find anything plead ignorance. They've seen it all before! You wouldn't be the first.

PorridgeAndSyrup · 11/11/2025 12:13

One method I was taught at school when there was a constant lice problem was just put an old t-shirt on, and brush and brush and brush your hair over and over, really rubbing the scalp with each brush to stimulate oil production. It will make your hair super-greasy and the lice won’t be able to hold on so they just fall out onto your t-shirt. It’s absolutely grim, but it does work. You have to do it for about an hour, but you can do it while you’re watching telly or something. Repeat every 3 days for 2 weeks to break the breeding cycle. The advantage of this technique is it doesn’t rely on your combing technique.

ReadingTime · 11/11/2025 13:10

I think it's impossible to comb your own head thoroughly enough to get rid of them when you have thick hair. If you DH is too ill and busy to spend an hour or two combing your hair, could you ask a (very!) good friend to do it for you? It shouldn't take more than one go, if it's done really carefully by someone who can see the back of your head and section the hair carefully. You could provide nice wine / chocolate as their reward!

I've done this before for a friend who was single and caught nits from her friend's kids. She was mortified but I didn't mind at all and it turned into a very nice and funny evening.

lucywrightbooth · 11/11/2025 15:53

Dye it then straighten it - burn the buggers!

HairIsOverrated · 11/11/2025 22:03

Currently sitting here with nitnot in my hair. Treatment number 5. Didn't realise it had to soak in for 2h so looks like im in for a long night. I guess it's pretty unlikely that I still have lice after 4 treatments. Even if my combing technique is rubbish wouldnt the treatments have killed off the lice? Or maybe both hedrin and lyclear are just rubbish.

On the plus side I called rhe hair dresser i sometimes go to and explained my situation to her. She was super super super nice!! She said I could come in and she would have a look. If there are no lice she could cut my hair. Hopefully even if I have lice the nitnot will kill them and I get my hair cut tomorrow.

Every time I have cut my hair i have regretted it because the shorter it is the more unmanageable it becomes but im just fed up now and want to get rid of it. Like someone on here has said. Life is too short to worry this much about hair.

OP posts:
Acg1991 · 11/11/2025 22:42

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it and I'm not sure how effective it is, but apparently straightening your hair with the straighteners on full heat will kill them all. I'd do that daily alongside the treatment every week for a couple of weeks and see how you get on. By the time you've tried that, it will be perfect weather to just wear a nice warm hat all the time if you need to shave it!
At the end of the day though, it's just hair, it will grow back! Do whatever you feel most comfortable with :)

Aoap78 · 11/11/2025 23:06

HairIsOverrated · 11/11/2025 22:03

Currently sitting here with nitnot in my hair. Treatment number 5. Didn't realise it had to soak in for 2h so looks like im in for a long night. I guess it's pretty unlikely that I still have lice after 4 treatments. Even if my combing technique is rubbish wouldnt the treatments have killed off the lice? Or maybe both hedrin and lyclear are just rubbish.

On the plus side I called rhe hair dresser i sometimes go to and explained my situation to her. She was super super super nice!! She said I could come in and she would have a look. If there are no lice she could cut my hair. Hopefully even if I have lice the nitnot will kill them and I get my hair cut tomorrow.

Every time I have cut my hair i have regretted it because the shorter it is the more unmanageable it becomes but im just fed up now and want to get rid of it. Like someone on here has said. Life is too short to worry this much about hair.

I feel for you, I hate the damn things too. I think calling the hairdresser was a very good shout, and great that she was nice - and if you mistakenly didn’t use the right timings etc then it can be a bit like antibiotics as in it won’t work properly - so hopefully all soon sorted, without need to cut your hair ( unless you still choose to because you wish :)) )

HairIsOverrated · 12/11/2025 01:59

Just finished the nitnot treatment. I had it in for almost 4h rather than the prescribed 20min to 2h. Again couldn't find a single louse though there were a few nits. This time I combed my hair really thoroughly. Actually I combed it thrice. Once with a nitty gritty comb, then with the comb that is provided by nitnot (just in case the magic lies in the comb) and then again with another nit comb. No lice. How is this possible? On the upside by the time I combed my hair for the third time there were very few nits as well. Another upside is that my scalp has stopped itching. Instead it's burning and really sore.

No actually it's still itching 😬.

Anyway I need to be up in 4h for work and I will have to wash my hair a few times before that because the nitnot stuff is super greasy and hard to wash out. It actually says on the instructions to wash your hair with washing up liquid. I didn't do that but after 3 times shampooing my hair still feels greasy. Maybe I'll add a drop of washing up liquid to my shampoo tomorrow.

Anyway hopefully I can just get it cut. Lice or not I just want to get rid of the damn thing now.

OP posts: