Tag Archives: lice

Scratching Your Head ~ A Lice Public Service Announcement

A couple days ago Holden told me he had to go to the office and have his hair checked.

That only meant one thing.

Rhymes with rice.

I guess it’s “going around”.

And it is NOT fun. You can read about our experience a couple years ago when Elliott got it in Kinder here, here & here.

Sucked. Big time.

I did A LOT of Googling and researching. Maybe too much.

I did read in several places that good ‘ol inexpensive Suave coconut shampoo and conditioner is good for PREVENTING lice ~ not killing or treating. Apparently lice do not share my love of all things coconut….something in the scent they do not care for.

Needless to say, we have been using this combo for the past year and a half. Like a buck fifty at Wal-mart or Target. If you’re not a fancy schmancy salon only haircare purchaser, you may want to start using this on your kiddos.

On another note: the school gave me a flier for a lice treatment place in the LA area. I became desperate and thought about spending money to get our household lice-free once and for all {Elliott was the only one that got it, thank you Lord. I was a maniac with washing sheets and blankets and banishing Pillow Pets to the garage in a trash bag} Anyhoo, I decided to call our insurance to see if this would be something that they would cover {flier said that their services were covered by insurance, but I never trust fliers}. Our insurance said that this would NOT be covered since it is not a medical facility. That ended that because I also went to Yelp and found that these places did not have glowing reviews and that they were very expensive. I did not want to spend Jay’s hard earned dinero on getting nits out of our daughter’s hair. So I persevered. I did some more Googling and found that a comb at Walgreen’s came highly recommended. After spending DAYZZZ picking nits, I finally went and purchased this comb…

The minute your child is sent home with lice, get this comb. The one with the super long teeth took the nits out beautifully. I almost had it bronzed. Almost.

I’m not going to go into the lice killing shampoos. You can be the judge if you want to use them or go a more holistic route. I called our pediatrician and he said any of the national brands were OK. I ended up getting the generic Wal-mart brand that was comparable. It definitely murdered the actual lice, but then I started reading about how toxic these shampoos are. I freaked and then used a couple natural remedies as back up to make sure the bugs were kaput. {you can read about them in the links above}

*****

With Halloween coming and all the dress up play dates our littles partake in, I thought I’d pass along this info. I’m sure somewhere little Johnny will want to try on little Bobby’s scary mask, right? Just something to be aware of because you do not want your Halloween to be full of tricks. Trust me.

In speaking with several mamas at school, they were not aware of the coconut shampoo & conditioner secret.

That is it for my public service announcement! I’m here if you have any further questions. 😉

Fried Lice

Hello and Happy Friday!

I really wish that my last couple posts were about {knitting} and not nitting. I hope for this to be the LAST of the not-so-nice lice entries. Believe you me, I am OVER googling, reading, rereading and regoogling this particular subject matter. I know life is not always lollipops and unicorns, but I’m ready to move on.

I came up with a brainy idea on Wednesday evening…I was {hoping} to send Elliott to school on Thursday so I thought “what if I burn the nits to a crisp using my flat iron?” We sat on our bed on Wednesday night and I took my Tigi Rock Star to her head. And I combed. And combed some more.

{via}

As mentioned, I kept her home yesterday too. We’re making progress, but it is a SLOW process. Between picking nits, vacuuming, doing laundry, spraying, folding and putting the laundry away, making the beds again and again, it takes some time to get the nits out. Just to make myself feel better and try to convince myself that I have done {enough}, please let me share the treatment I’ve put my sweet daughter through over the past few days:

Tuesday: lice shampoo, mayo slathering and more lice shampoo in the evening!

Wednesday: Two 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water treatments and 10-15 minutes of flat ironing

Thursday: Combing and combing. Picking and Picking.

Friday/Today: Fearful that the remaining few nits may still be {alive} I put just a little more lice shampoo, but just left it on for half the time {bad I know, but remember, I’m desperate at this point}. Then, just as I tell myself that I’m NOT going to Google anymore on this subject, I do and I find this….”killing lice with a hair straightener”. Brilliant!

OK, so I’m not the one that first discovered this, but I was thrilled to see that I actually did something the {may} really be effective 2 days ago in making sure the nits are dead…{I know this is a gross topic, but thanks for sticking with me for those of you that are still reading!}

As clever as the {Fried Lice} title is, I did not come up with it. Here is a little video of a young British girl who apparently did this as a science project.

I do not wish this ordeal on even my worst enemy.

*****

OK, enough already with that….what can we talk about now?

Oh, I know…have you ever gotten snail mail or an e-mail out of the blue from a friend with the sweetest sentiments? Well, the other day when I really needed it, I got an e-mail from a mama friend that made all things right in the world. Her kind words were a source of encouragement to get me through this week and I am eternally grateful. Thanks again, Liz!

*****

I am seriously thinking about running to Albertson’s and getting the fixins for these:

{via}

If I do decide to make these and you know where I live, you’d better come and take some away!

*****

Hoping to play in some snow this weekend in the local mountains.

Have a cozy {President’s Day} celebration!

Desperate

Hello, floppers!

Trying to keep upbeat here…

I kept Elliott home again today {so much for perfect attendance}. I just want to make certain that she is “nit free” because I DO NOT want my child to be {the one who infected the whole school}.

_ _ _ _!! {insert swear word of choice}

If we had a swear jar, we’d be able to send the family on a European vacation for a month just from the past 2 days. Many of these lovely words have been said in my head, of course, but a {few} may have slipped out. Once or twice.

*****

In perusing the internet, I read that hair dye is good for {killing} the lice.

Awesome. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do some preventative work on myself AND cover the grays. I am learning real quick that I will stop at nothing to get this household back to a {normal} working mode.

That said, Holden will have his head shaved this evening when Jay gets home.

*****

This morning I stopped by my friendly neighborhood Barnes & Noble and picked up my copy of this {I ordered it last weekend}:

{via amazon.com}

CANNOT wait to read it. We were sitting in the B&N parking lot, with the car running, and Elliott kept asking, “Mommy, why aren’t we going?”

“Shhhh, honey. Mama’s reading.”

Looking forward to really reading this book from cover to cover this evening when 50% of the household is tucked into bed. I really, really need this book right now.

Please check out Wendy’s blog. She’s darling and will make you laugh out loud. I particularly love {Stylin’ Saturdays}.

Book review coming up!

At My {Nits} End

Elliott was sent home yesterday with LICE!

Ugh!

Embarrassing, I know.

A parent’s worst nightmare once their kidlets enter preschool or the elementary years.

I b-lined it to Wally World for {the special shampoo}, comb and spray. But after some research online and proof that the cheap plastic fine tooth comb wasn’t going to work {we later set out for a flea comb!}, I decided to try a more {natural} approach.

Olive Oil or Mayo.

Pick your poison….er, monounsaturated fat.

{Best Foods ~ not just for sandwiches anyore!}

I read online that a woman used mayo and combed out the nits with success…not to mention her daughter had silky, shiny hair.

I didn’t have quite the same outcome, but I only left her condimented locks in the plastic shopping bag for about 2.5 hours and it said to leave it overnight! The white goo and the lack of oxygen is supposed to suffocate the lice and kill the eggs….ya think?

I’ve collected all Pillow Pets, stuffed animals and the like and have abandoned them to the garage in plastic trash bags for the next 3 weeks and have been doing MASSIVE loads of laundry!

UGH!

Keeping her home today and making sure the nits are GONE for good! Washing machine and dryer have been going non-stop and I’ve sprayed and vacuumed and sprayed some more. ;-(  Last night I did a second helping of the nasty, pesticide shampoo. I hate to use that stuff again so soon, but I think I was way too conservative when I did it the first time. I also read that a 1:1 ratio of distilled vinegar and water will loosen the glue on the eggs for easier removal. So we’ve also tried that! Between that, the two {toxic} treatments and the mayo application, I’m hoping we’re clear. Holden is still free of the pesky, wingless insects……knock on wood!

*****

This is one entry that I wish I didn’t have to make. It goes down as one of the {glamourous parenting posts}, I guess.

Yes, this is nothing but a pain in the @$$, but I know things could be much worse.

And, for that, I am grateful.

Edited to add: And YES, I did think about going the Sinead O’Connor route! I mean Britney Spears did it….

And I’m NOT even joking….not one little bit.