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Lions, and Tigers, and Lice! Oh, My!
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Picture this: a mother serenely brushing the hair of her two beautiful children after their baths. Storybooks are piled on the bed in happy anticipation of their peaceful bedtime ritual.
Little does this mother (ok, it was me) know, but something lies waiting beneath her son's tawny tendrils. Something shocking and vile. Something that will destroy any promise of serenity that the evening held.
When I first catch a glimpse of movement ("What the...?"), I merely think that my eyes are deceiving me. I blink. Shake my head. My hand goes to my own scalp almost reflexively because I'm suddenly itchy. And at that very same moment I realize that I'm staring at a bug on Henry's scalp.
And just when I think it can't get any worse, I see that the bug has friends. Everywhere. That's when my inner teenager comes out and I'm yelling, to my great embarrassment, something I haven't said in 20 years: "Gross me OUT the door!"
When things like this happen -- you know, disgusting things that appear out of thin air and have to be dealt with -- I wonder how I suddenly became the responsible adult in the room. Really? Me?
But there I am, with my sweet children, who are in need of a mother who can fix it all and make it go away.
Since lice is such a rampant problem these days at elementary schools, most school nurses are very experienced in dealing with it. I contact ours immediately and she is extremely helpful, explaining how to get rid of them and directing me to the website www.headliceinfo.com.
After I learn what needs to be done, I stock up at our local pharmacy for essential lice-removal kit items: olive oil, plastic shower caps, tea tree oil, Dawn dishwashing liquid, lint removal brushes, and Licemeister metal lice combs. After we treat the kids' hair and scalp with olive oil, we nitpick for many hours over the next few days until we're sure the little buggers are gone.
I learn so much about lice and re-infestation prevention that I'm sure I'm entitled to some sort of certificate. Now Henry has a shorter haircut, Julia ties her hair back, and they've both been instructed not to share hats or baseball caps. At any notice that lice is going around, I put tea tree oil in their hair before they go to school.
Like most things, once you deal with having lice, it's just another notch in your mommy belt. And to my mommy friends (who of course didn't witness my initial freak-out), I say, "It wasn't that bad after all. It's empowering. My new mantra is: Bring. It. On. I've conquered lice."
Are you a "lice survivor"? What did you find worked best to get rid of it? Click the comments link below to share ideas.
Member Comments On…
Lions, and Tigers, and Lice! Oh, My!
When I was 15 my two little sisters (ages 5 & 8) came home with lice, and dealing with the problem fell to me. We bought tons of the commercial lice shampoos and none of them worked, even with the HOURS of nit-picking that I did every day. Mom made us try baby oil but washing it out of their hair every day was simply overwhelming.
Finally we heard about Listerine as a remedy. I was at a loss for options so I decided to try it. The girls would take their baths around 7, so by bedtime their hair was dry. Then I would soak their hair in Listerine (we used the original kind) and let them go to bed that way. We nit-picked the next day and they were able to go to school again after that. We continued the head treatment for 3 weeks (to be safe, lol). We also added some to the rinse cycle of each load of laundry. They never got sent home again!!
Adding it to your laundry is actually a good idea to do all the time if you have kids, because it goes a long way in preventing an infestation.
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I worked in a daycare for 11 years and thankfully never had lice. I used tea tree oil in our shampoo and when my nephew started school I put it in his shampoo as well. So far he hasn't had head lice either. I just put a some drops of the oil in a shampoo bottle and shake well.
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Then an older lady told us to cake vasaline on her hair and put a shower cap on, which we got both at the dollar store, and leave on overnight. This was the only thing that actually worked and it was a lot less expensive. The only down side to this was we had to use dawn to cut thru the grease when we washed her hair. I went thru her hair with the combs and got all the nits/eggs out again. Then two weeks later I repeated another treatment with the vasaline to get any possible eggs that might have hatched. Now I just put her hair in a pony tail or braid (Not in a bun) and comb through it everyday after school to make sure she hasn't gotten them again. So far, we have had no more problems.
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My daughter had hair down past her bottom when she got lice from a friend at school this year which I found out that their policy is just to send the child home, and as long as they don't have "live" bugs, they are allowed back in school. This means that even if a child still has eggs which are live bugs that could hatch at any moment, they can return to school. The first time we got the lice shampoo. We made sure we got every egg and/or nit out, and they were gone. In hopes of preventing her from getting them again, I started putting her hair up in a bun and using hairspray. Well, at the end of the week I was checking to make sure she hadn't gotten them again, just to find out that she had, and there were eggs all the way through out her hair since they lay eggs close to the scalp and her hair had been in a bun. This time it was not easy. I tried three over the counter shampoos and two prescription shampoos, and nothing was helping.
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One thing you DO NOT want to do is leave commercial products on the hair for any longer than directed. A family friend's grand daughter kept getting lice for years, not knowing any better her daughter put the medication on and left it on for a few hours, The child ended up with neurological problems, she had all kinds of test at Childrens Hospital in Cincinnati, and nothing can be done for her. It affected her motor skills. so use as directed if you do use the over the counter products.
We just use a good metal nit comb and apply cream rinse to the hair and comb through each night. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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My niece and nephew has had headlice every time they comes to live with us since age 1 and 3 , so it is obvious the buggers love their chemistry. They are now 11 AND 13 and have been her for the past 3 years. I found that using a nit comb with hair loaded with cream rinse to check for live buggers every night when washing their hair when infestation is going on at school. I read on a website a few years ago that the buggers do not like coconut, so I always have them use coconut shampoo and cream rinse and even with several kids each year in their classes we have been lice free. Of course if they do become infested, the hunt each night for eggs is the most important step. Good Luck
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Check out www.fairytales4hair.com
They have all natural, organic hair care products to repel lice and other insects.
We use the rosemary repel shampoo, but they have lots of products. And you can buy individual items or packages.
My 6 year old daughters hair is down past her rear and when there was an out break at her school i was so glad to be using these products, she never got lice! Also i keep her hair in tight braids. She knows she can have her hair down at home.
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The pesticides sold inthe store do NOT work. Buy Natural RID. It is a gel/oil that you leave on their hair and then you have to comb out and pick the bugs and nits with the lice comb provided in the box. My daughter had this a few years ago and I totally freaked out. The sprays are a gimmnick. You are just spsaying toxic fumes into your home. Bag up stuffed animals in garbage bags for 2 weeks and wash and dry everything else. I've been told that drying anything on high for 30 minutes in the clothes dryers works as well. There is a solution I bought over the internet that we use as drops into shampoo. It is called "NitMix" and cobines several essential oils lice do not like. Do some research on line, you'll be surprised what you can learn about these pesky parasites.
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Being Native American most Indians have long beautiful hair. Being a tradition to "not" cut Indian hair it's hard to get rid of lice. I found what works is doing daily head checks. If you notice lice or nits wrap a white sheet around your child and yourself and pick, pick, pick. Then do the lice treatment. Then pick, pick, pick. Vacuum, clean, dust, your home immediately. Notify your child's teacher so that they can do head checks right away. Keep your child's hair up or braided and off the shoulders. Tell them the importance of not sharing clothing, hair ties, hats, anything that could spread. I notice one thing that did work, Head & Shoulders shampoo. But the best thing is to have patience and pick, pick, pick!
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My granddaughter had been out of school for 3 days and when she came back the teacher pulled her mother to the side and said that some of her friends had to be sent home because of lice well low and behold they had to check sarahs head but she didnt have them that night we went to church and when the preacher asked for any prayer requests my 5 year old granddaughter raised her little hane and said pweacher i want the church to pray for my friendsa at school because they had a disease in there hair my daughter felt like crawling in a whole for sure kids say the darndest things for sure
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