My head is itching just reading this! When my daughter was in first and second grade lice were awful in her school. She got them about four times in the first grade and it was miserable. She hated the combing and picking but I bribed her into cooperation!
The pesticides just didn't work. The school nurse told me that was happening a lot and contributing to the outbreaks. So we did the mayonaise treatment. That worked well and made the hair slippery so the nits were easier to pick out. I invested in a good comb and that helped too. The plastic ones aren't as good. The buzz cut was very popular with boys those two years. I got to the point where I was thinking about shaving my daughter's head!
By second grade we learned about tea tree oil and that did the trick. She didn't get them at all that year. But every time she scratched her head I would be there checking. She got to be really paranoid about the lice and so didn't I.