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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!
most people would not think that this works but it does. believe me i have tried it. it is an old home rememdy that my mom told me when i was younger. and she also did this to my sister and i as well.
-when my sister an i would get lice mom would grab a bottle of Real Mayo not miricle whip. she would take the mayo and pour it on our heads and smother our hair until drenched with mayoniase. she would then, get a shower cap and put it on our heads and make us sleep in it. when we got up the next morning she told us to wash out our hair without using shampoo. she would check our heads agian and to our amazement they all were GONE!!!! then to top it off we could only use conditioner on our hair on the same day mom would check it. lice although little, you would think that they like dirty hair but actually they love to be in clean hair. they cannot stand oily, greesy, dirty, hair. REAL MAYO will kill lice eggs to it smothers them ALL!!!!!
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no one would say it works but it does i have tried it. it is an old rememdy that my mom did to me when i was young. she put real mayo in our hair. she would drench it because lice cannot stand oily hair, they like clean hair. after she put mayo in my hair then she would cover my head in a shower cap and make me sleep with it on the entire night. the next morning i would get up and wash my hair real good and have mom look at my hair agian. suprisingly enough it worked. the lice was no longer. lots of lice killers works but this is better i think. it is also alot cheaper and it does not take so much time out of your busy day to pick out lice and eggs from your childs head. try it, it works!!!! your child may not think the best of it but it is very much worth it.
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My daughter and I BOTH had them. It was awful. I did not think we were ever going to get rid of them. I try over-the -counter shampoo, perception shampoo, mouthwash (a home remedy from the Internet), and any other thing people would recommend. Finally, someone recommended sleeping with hair oil on our heads with a shower cap then comb it out in the morning. Then, keep olive oil on our heads for the next few days. You can find this in a spray in the hair products. We also put a dab of tea tree oil on every few days because they do not like the smell. We do this regularly to help keep them away.
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Oh my!!! I taught kindergarten for 12 years and praise God...I never got lice. Now that my oldest is in kindergarten, I'm praying that HE will never have lice. Bless all of your hearts who have had to deal with it!
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Newest way that nobody talks about is a antibiotic called septra. If you are lucky enough to get the doctor to give you a perscription, it kills all lice and nits immediately!Cost is cheap use your script copay!
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And the daycare version of the lice problem is hand-foot-and-mouth disease. My 2-year-old came home with it, and there's no known medication/treatment for it. It's simply a bacteria that has to work itself out of his body. Outwardly, he has a rash that started at his throat and tongue, moved to his feet, and finally to his hands/arms. He also had a fever for the first couple of days. Doc said he's not contagious after the fever subsides, but the rash will continue for 10 days. The good news is that once a child gets it, he/she won't get it again!
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My daughter's school has been battling with lice ALL YEAR. She came home with them right before Thanksgiving, and I seriously took a week off from work and declared war on head lice. I used a product called LiceFreee (with three e's) and treated her with it every day for 4 days. I combed her hair several times a day and looked through her hair constantly. I also washed her bedding every day for two weeks. I also bought an aerosol spray for our couches, car seats, and her locker at school (she's in 1st grade). Cutting her hair was not an option as she needs long hair for dance. She now goes to school with her hair braided every day, and a little handkerchief tied 'round her head. Lord help me if they come back!
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My oldest daughter must have the right kind of hair, because she has had the nasty little buggers 4 times. Different schools, years apart, but still. UGH! She has had to learn to NOT hug everyone, to tie her hair back, to wash and BLOW DRY (they don't like the heat) and use tea tree. Just never use the mayonaise and apple cider vinegar treatment, greasy and smells of sour...Nasty! Great for the hair, but not sure it worked. The picking is the best I think. As dreadful as it it. Just remember, the kids are even more mortified than you are as the parent, they are embarrassed. It is true, clean heads are very well liked by these bugs, they like the shampoo, and don't use Pert! Never share helmuts for Softball, hats, pillows, brushes/combs... And remember "this too shall pass"
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It took three tries to remove the infestation from our little girl's 3 1/2 foot long hair. Christmas eve was spent conducting the second treatment. All I can say is that it was a good thing the mother who told the daycare "oh, I forgot to tell you they had lice and chicken pox when they were here last." didn't cross my path. At least there's a vaccine for the chicken pox. Three years later we still have things bagged up and everytime the word is mentioned we all start scratching.
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We have had 2 outbreaks with the "nasty buggies". We used the shampoo and then I bought a Robi comb from Walgreens. It's a bug zapper for lice. And we carefully combed and zapped all three children for hours. Stripped the linen, bagged the stuffed animals and are generally skeeved out by the whole situation. We'll see if it happens again.
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