Lice have become resistant to the pesticides in the home treatment kits (Rid, Nix, etc.) so those treatments are not as effective as they used to be many years ago. Studies have shown that the over-the-counter kits are now less than 50% effective. Many people who use those kits still have live bugs crawling around on their heads. Also, those kits do NOT kill the nits (eggs), even though some companies claim that they do. The hard shell on the nits is extremely difficult to penetrate. There is no product on the market that kills the nits, so don’t be fooled by the false claims! To stop the cycle from continuing, the best thing to do is to comb out the nits so they don’t get a chance to hatch. The nits are extremely difficult to remove because they are glued onto the hair with a cement-like substance. Most people mistakenly think they’ve removed all the nits because it’s difficult to see the new ones that were just laid (they are almost microscopic and clear, so they blend in with the hair). This is why it is important to do MULTIPLE treatments, so you can cycle through all the nits that are in different stages of development and remove them before they hatch. If you don’t, within 7-10 days those nits will hatch. Then within another 7-10 days, those newborns will be full-blown adults, start mating, and lay more eggs. So if you don’t do multiple treatments, there is a good chance you will leave nits behind and the whole cycle will start over.