Oh brother, a terrible fear of mine became reality today. My 6 year old daughter was diagnosed with head lice. Not pretty, not fun. All the usual things came to mind: people are going to think we're dirty slobs, what am I going to do if all four kids get it (who will pick the nits out of my head if I have it), and last, this is the end of my and my children's social life!
I attacked the problem "head on," ready to divide each section of her hair and conquer. I went and bought a variety of products (basically if it had the word "lice killing" on it, I bought it), took my poor baby home, and got to work. I used one of the recommended brands of lice pesticide products, and followed the directions in all of its detail. Boy did her hair look
gorgeous after the four hours I spent pic
king out the nits, one at a time, by hand. I put her hair in a ponytail and breathed a sigh of relief. No more bugs in her hair. Granted, I had "loads" of work ahead of me (laundry), but she had been an angel through it all and I had motivated her to be patient while I nit picked (wow, I just discovered why they use that term!!). She loved the pet store so off we went in her cute and very clean ponytail, or so I thought.
The kids played around with the dogs and picked out some things for the fish and as we paid, I
looked down at her and I saw a live bug crawling through her hair! All my hard work down the drain (or literally so I had hoped)! I flew home faster than the speed of light, all the while plotting my next course of treatment. A friend of mine told me to use Listerine with a shower cap for two hours. It was worth a try. And the try was worth it because after drenching her hair with Listerine and wrapping it in a ziplock bag (I don't own a shower cap), I found 3 more dead lice in her hair. It's gross isnt it? After that, I rinsed her hair in vinegar because that loosens the glue on the nit so you can comb them out more easily. Then we slept with olive in our hair overnight. It seems these home remedies are more effective than the chemical pesticides (in my opinion).
(I bought a big bottle of Listerine and put her head over the sink and applied. Ziplock bag and let her sit in it for as long as she could, which was 30 minutes. I washed it out and then applied warm, white vinegar, combed out nits and had her sleep in olive oil. Research shows that the lice smother in olive oil after 2 hours.
You do realize how many fantastic embarassing stories you now hoave for when they all become teenagers....and Ryan thought that Santa watching him was bad.....
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