Friday, December 17, 2010

Well isn't this lousey....

I am embarrassed to write this post...not that I should be, but I am.
Yesterday two of the boys were sent home from school because lice were found in their hair.

I have never had an experience with lice, and I never thought any of us would ever have it...well, I thought wrong.

I have done a lot of searching in the last 12 hours about head lice, and how to rid my children and home of it. We have washed bedding, thrown away and bought new pillows, bagged stuffed animals and vacuumed, cut kids' hair and treated them with the special shampoo stuff....now it is time to wait and see.


This little bug is very transmittable. It can ride on hats, hair brushes, or stray hair and find itself a new home. While headlice aren't particularly harmful, they don't carry disease, they are very annoying and if they are allowed to get bad enough they can cause damage to the scalp. Occasionally children can scratch their heads enough to make themselves bleed, and these sores can become infected.

Lice prefer CLEAN hair, as they can hang on to the hair much more easily and their eggs stick better. Head lice are not a "dirty" thing. It is suggested that any child who comes into contact with other children use hairspray, gel, or mousse daily as to make it less appealing for the lice to stick to their hair.

From what I have read there are MANY alternative treatments. Some include Vaseline, mayonnaise, lysterine and vinegar, and tea tree oil. While all of these probably will get rid of the lice, the only way to get rid of the nits (lice eggs) is to comb them out. So, we will be combing very carefully, daily. 

The good thing is neither of the two boys who had it had it too bad yet. Only a couple of live lice and from what I could see, no nits. Here's hoping our lousey problem goes away easily!



7 fantastic comments:

Pesky Settler said...

When my girls were younger and had head lice, once a week we did the mayo, saran wrap then wash with dish soap and then comb out the hair treatments. As they got older, we did just the weekly combing (unless I saw nits or lice).

the mayo loosens the nits from the hair and suffocates the lice.

Thankfully it was something they outgrew.

(BTW, this is Devo from FB)

Pippi's Mom said...

My daughter got lice on an airplane when she was barely 18 months old. Because she was so young, and I was pregnant we couldn't use the special shampoos (did I mention she and I had been sharing a pillow!). Also she had beautiful little Shirly Temple ringlets that I couldn't bear to cut. SO, we mixed vaseline and Mayo and got our selves one of those nifty little combs. It worked. We spent HOURS combing for nits. It took a good week to get the vaseline out of our hair, but we got the little buggers. I found out later that I didn't need BOTH Vaseline AND Mayo, but overkill does have its place sometimes...

Julia said...

My 6 year old's class has had a lice epidemic this year, so many kids have had it and this is a good, school, good neighborhood, so yeah, lice can show up anywhere. I've been spraying my kids hair daily with a lice preventative eucalyptus spray (from CVS) and so far they haven't got it.

Ami Allison said...

AWW! Don't feel bad. My sisters and I all got em when we were kids. DURING SCHOOL. My step daughter had them twice FROM SCHOOL. It happens!! That comb is MOST important!!!!

Christina said...

Hello, I came from Cafemom in the Blogging Moms group. I haven't had to deal with lice, my son is only 3 but I am dreading the day when he comes home with it from school. I hope you got rid of all those pesky critters!!!

Abi said...

We were a family with three girls and never fail when we came home from summer camp each year one of us had lice. I remember my mom using that little comb for HOURS on our hair. Using the shampoo I don't remember having to do it more than once.
Hope your experience with them is short lived.
Also, just looking at that picture makes me itch.. ugh.

Heather said...

Oh I can completely empathize! If you have some time read my post from the eve of Christmas eve for our house...http://teensntoddlers.blogspot.com/2010/12/chaos-anyone.html

I have added drops of Tea Tree oil to every bottle of shampoo and conditioner in our house and will continue to for as long as I remember! Peppermint oil too.

 
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