Yeah, that's about right. Whatever. You got a kid, you're gonna have head lice someday. Period. Now, this outbreak is so bad that Lissa tells me they are issuing black garbage bags every morning to all the students. They take off all their outerwear, coats, hats, scarves, mittens and shove them in the bags and into their lockers. They also cover the backs of their chairs with the garbage bags. But, they still go to school if they have them. They are required to.
Sorry, but, I think the whole panic is pretty funny, considering our history with head lice. Lis has red hair. Everyone knows lice love red hair. She also has oily scalp which means she has to wash her hair every night and she likes washing it in the morning and at night. This more for styling and straightening purposes than hygiene, but, whatever. She always gets fucking head lice. I'm so on the look out for them now, that I catch hers before she can get more than a couple. I used to be grossed out by them, now I've become immune. I look at it as a hobby, like fishing. They don't even bother me. Washing all the bedding is much more annoying, 'specially when I'm a line dryer. But, oh well.
So, here's the story, last time she got exposed to head lice was when cousin Autumn was staying here. Autumn lives in Carter Lake, so she was visiting for a couple of days, she had a school break. Autumn and Lis slept in the same bed, used the same hair brushes (I'm sure) and wore each others hats. Autumn goes home to her mom and her mom called her step mom and tells her Autumn is LOADED with head lice. Step mom panics and comes over here apologizing and all upset. I said, hey, calm down, it's no biggie. I checked Lis and by some miracle, they has skipped her skanky little head for once. Not one lice. I washed all the bedding, just in case and forgot about it.
But, Darling Cousin Joey, who you all know is mad as hell at me, takes it upon himself to go to all, ALL, the relatives and neighbors and tell them Lissa has head lice, in fact, she's loaded with them and spreading them all over. Poor Autumn was a victim. Poor little Autumn. (Umm, maybe HE could watch her next time.) AND it's all because I am so dirty, filthy and never clean and we live like animals over here. Gossip. It always comes back to you, most of the informed told him about head lice and how all kids get them, but, not being a parent himself, Joey took it upon himself to start sending out notes and making phone calls to, it seems like, the whole town. Probably Social Services too. One neighbor told me he was flat crazy and I said, that seems to be the general consensus. But, then again, we live like filthy animals, so what do I know? Oh, except that Joey has now had all his utilities shut off, so I'm wondering how he flushes his toilet? But, I don't lose sleep over it. I am going to make a copy of this school note and leave it in his mailbox. I wouldn't say I'm mad, but, annoyed wouldn't be too far off.
PS, Still no head lice here. I'll bet it's because her step grandma bought us this awesome shampoo that's supposed to repel them before you even get them.
BTW, I spent the last three days cleaning this dump and doing 5 loads of laundry while it wasn't snowing. Lis came home, looked around and said, why is this place so fancy? I said, because I picked up your shit and vacuumed. Fancy!
23 comments:
My oldest daughter and her best friend shared lice back and forth for a whole year, maybe it was grade 4 or 5?? Yeah, kids are going to get them...just a fact of life, I think. And I'm sure they like some kids more than others, just like mosquitoes seem to like some people more than others.
Yep. They love oily scalps. But, before people give up and cut the hair, they should research. I have found out lots of amazing things that have helped us get rid of them. You can kill the lice with Rid and similar products, but, that does NOT kill the eggs and in 10 days..a new outbreak! There are ways to get rid of them for real. I also recommend this preventive shampoo. It seems to help.
For me, the one time she gave them to me, I tried smothering them with plain old cooking oil and plastic wrap. It worked like a charm. But, the kid hates that because you have to leave it on so long.
Working in pediatrics, I get calls at least once a week about a child with head lice. There are some families that have it once a month. Stated that if you have a kid, you will have to deal with head lice is dead on. People who deal with it over and over is usually not treating their house and car as well as the kid's heads. Putting a couple of drops of tea tree oil in your regular bottle of shampoo prevents them and is cheap!
Oh, good tip! I haven't heard of that, but, I have some, so it will be tried. I'll let ya know. The panic over them is so silly, it just takes some work. Some people are so fucking lazy, that's why we have an epidemic now.
ps, and those lazy people have washers and dyers! If they could be in my shoes, carrying all this wet heavy bedding to the line, thru snow, they'd maybe think they were lucky. They piss me off. But, I do it, because I may be half hoarder in this tiny cabin and I may be disorganized, but, I do not and will not have bugs of any kind.
Right on the money with oil and a shower cap... The only thing that worked for us. Then, a wash and 2 hours of spraying the hair with a combo of half rubbing alcohol and half water and nit combing section by section. Tea tree oil in the shampoo is an excellent deterrent. The laundry situation really sucks and you have my sympathy.
Isn't it the dryer that actually kills them? Never had them when we were kids. My kids never had them. And we had strict rules about sharing hats with friends. It's like trying on a hat in a store, or at Goodwill. Who buys used hats? Eww. Stop it. Does Goodwill even sell used hats? Now that I think of it. I saw an undercover video the other day, it showed hotel maids NOT changing pillow cases when changing bed sheets. Lots of maids did that. Why? In fact they skipped nearly all sanitizing measures. No wonder shit gets spread. & kids, they must spread everything anyway. Is anybody else scratching their head now? Lol...gawd. Freaks me out.
Rox
Tea tree oil. That's awesome. I love that stuff. If you have an earache, drop it in ur ear. It goes away! And I love the smell. Thanks for the tip. It should be mandatory in kids shampoos.
My son made it all the way through primary school without lice. Then when he was 16 he and his girlfriend got it and being teenagers they just kept infecting each other and then Michael and I got them too. That's when I became like you, Pat, unafraid and determined to kill the buggers. I caught a few of the largest lice I could find and experimented with ways to kill them. They resisted heat, but I put them in a jar with lice killer and timed how long it took them to die. Some of them lived for 15 minutes. So made us all wear the lotion, which you were only supposed to keep on your head for a few minutes, for half an hour and covered heads with glad wrap. They never returned. But the worst part is washing everything. And I don't believe hot dryers kill eggs or that tea tree oil worked. Well they didn't for our lice. But that was a long, long time ago and thank goodness those days are over.
Tea tree oil--is the best thing for smelly dogs as well. Put it in a spray bottle with some witch hazel or whatever & spray all over dog's fur (try to reach the skin)-- It will really lesson stinky dog smell between bath times!
Feel for ya Pat with the lice. Mpls. is having an outbreak as well if it makes you feel any better. ? It's been on the news the last few nights.
My great niece brought a letter home about 2 weeks ago telling parents to check their kids for lice. When I was teaching, we had a nurse that would come around to check the kids. The minute I saw her, I would start scratching my head. I'm very suggestive. After Katrina, I had a child from N.O. via Houston. He had scabies. I almost ripped the skin off my arms. And, yes, I'm scratching right now.
Lice are attracted to clean, not dirty hair, When I was in the south with my daughter years ago head lice was everywhere and i would spray that no more tangles in her hair every morning and she never had lice, ever. Because Lissa's hair is oily, I wonder if hair spray would have the same effect- as far as I recall, it was having product on the clean hair that kept lice away- like I say, No more tangles worked for me.
We never had lice, and we didn't know anyone at Andy's schools who did, either.
Where I work now, there is someone whose daughter has had them many times, and she tried mayonnaise, oil, etc. with plastic wrap. She had success with those measures, but it sounded like it took lots of work, and very close inspections, as sometimes just missing one or two could make a huge difference.
Now that I am thinking about it, many years ago, my niece (who was very small at the time) was sitting in my lap, and I was combing her hair, when I suddenly realized her hair was crawling. She was loaded with lice. My nephew, who was a couple years younger, only had a few. Totally gnarly Thanksgiving. Not kidding. I think it was Thanksgiving day, after dinner. I had a quiet freak out. I felt so bad for my sister and her kids. I hadn't thought about this in years. Interesting tip about the Tea Tree oil.
Christina
Lots of good info here and I thank you! Here's what I know. I too, put the buggers in containers (after I got over my gross out) and basically tortured them. Mayonassie (sp?) smothers them. It stinks and it's expensive. Smothering them works best. You can use expensive olive oil, Crisco, or plain old corn oil at a buck fidy a big bottle. That's the best in my opinion. It doesn't stink. But, you must shower cap or wrap in plastic, like glad wrap. Tight. And you must wear it for at least 2 hours. Kids hate it. I did that after using Rid shampoo. Then I found out the really expensive lice shampoos are not needed (and don't really work anymore, the new lice have become immune to it). Just the smothering. BUT, that kills only adults as does the shampoo. You must wait a couple days and then go thru every single hair. You will see the baby nits, and you can get them. Wear plastic gloves if you're grossed. I'm not anymore. I pick those suckers by the bathroom sink where I have lots of light. I toss them in the toilet and flush. I look thru every single strand of hair. She hates it, but, she understands. We make a game of it and I show them to her. I let her use my magnifying glass. We cheer when we get one and yell 'die sucker'. It takes forever, with all her hair. THEN when I find them, we go thru the smothering process again after I remove them all manually again, just in case I missed one. Sometimes you can see an egg. But, usually, you can't. That's another myth websites on it tell you. So, after you pick, smother again and wash all bedding again. Also, if they sleep with a stuffed animal, (lis does) wash that too. No need to get crazy and wash everything in their entire room. (If you are that paranoid, just bag that stuff for a few days, it kills them.) Just what they sleep with and wear on their heads, like stocking caps. Also, check hairbrushes and clean with hot water and soap, put them in plastic bags for two days. Throw all hair ties, scrunchies, ect in the trash.
Someone mentioned cars..yes, Where they sit in your car, put plastic over the head rest part, leave it on a couple of days. It smothers them. Also, just look. You can see them. When you get like me, you can spot a stray one on a sink or car seat in a heartbeat. I am always on the look out. As for experiments. I have isolated them and put them in containers and doused them with everything recommended on Rid sites and on the net by moms. Rid only killed some of them, not all. Isn't that interesting? Smothering them works best. THEN watch for the hatchlings. It takes 10 days for them to hatch, but, you don't know how long they've been waiting. Check and check. The very best way to get them gone for good is to check the hair, every single hair, every night. Oh, do this when hair is wet after their bath or shower. Works better. You'll get every one of the suckers that way. One night you'll find none. YAY! But, do not stop there. Keep checking. If you find none for a week, you're free of them. Wash bedding, ect, one more time and call it good.
PS..more I thought of. Some sites recommend vinegar as a spray. It does not work for us.
Also, buying used caps and hats? I sure do! I can only afford to shop at used stores usually. A trip to wal mart is a huge deal for us. Anyway, I buy used and I take them home and bag them for a few days, then wash them. There is nothing wrong with buying used as long as you take precautions. Kids trade hats at school, I have found out. They do it as a badge of friend ship. BFF wear each others stuff at recess. Nothing you can do about that. You can talk to them all you want, but, it's a thing. It's their thing and they won't stop it.
Oh, and Lis has a fav chair she watches tv and laptops in. It's HER recliner. That gets treated to. That's about as crazy as I get about the damn things. I mean, you can't drive yourself nuts over them. They aren't bed bugs (thank the universe), they need air and blood to live. Take it away and you kill them. It's pretty simple really. Just takes some work. Mostly laundry and hair checking. It's not so bad in the scheme of things, like life.
BTW, while I'm chatty, do you realize how many kids have tried on that brand new hat you bought in a real store?? Think about that.
Oh, and yes, she has No More Tangles, she uses it every night. No effect on lice for her. She has a VERY oily hair problem. It has a name, I've forgotten, but, she HAS to wash her hair every night, even on weekends. Much to her dismay. But, anyway, she has oily red, but, extremely clean hair. She is still usually one of the first ones to bring them home. The only thing I can contribute this new lice freedom from is that preventive shampoo her step grandma gave her. I love her step grandma. I think I'll send her some flowers. She's going there for thanksgiving and staying until Saturday! OMG, this will be the first break I've had in awhile. I'll miss her after two days, but, being alone (and not checking for lice) will be nirvana. My guitar is calling me.
AND..while we're on the subject of gross things kids give you. Someone mentioned scabies. OMG. Fuck that shit. I've had them. My son was little and he loved kitties. He was playing with a stray cat in the yard and I went out because the cat looked sick. It looked awful. I said, Eric don't touch that cat. But, he loved it up anyway. That was Eric. He was the only one who could get near the wild thing. I left food out for it, but, it disappeared in a few days. A few days after that he started scratching between his fingers. So bad that he left wounds. I had no idea what to make of it. I looked at it, touched it to treat it with antiseptic and then I got it! It was scabies, I found out when we went to the doctor. He called it the seven year itch, because untreated it lasts seven years (in folklore) and the wounds are hourendous if left untreated. He gave us topical and non topical meds. It went away. Scabies ALWAYS starts between the fingers. If you see a kid scratching or has wounds between his or her fingers, no matter how small, GO TO A DOCTOR..because it's scabies. And it sucks big time. And yes, you can get it from animals.
The alcohol/water mix helps dissolve the nit glue. I worried it would fry the hair, bilut I guess the olive oil soak protected it.
Pat you have to use a hot dryer to kill them in your bedding.
Also use a hot blow dryer on her hair all the times. My kid never got lice because I never let her hair drip dry
The new ones don't mind heat at all.
yea, ok
no wonder she keeps getting them
Dumbass, she has a condition called seborrhea of the scalp. Extreme oiliness. Her hair is washed twice a day usually. But, lice love her red hair. THAT is why she gets them when we have a school outbreak. Nearly everyone gets them. For once, she hasn't. For your info..her hair is ALWAYS clean.
For the life of me, I can't come up with one good reason why I would go to someone's blog, read their personal written meanderings, and then insult them, but then again, I come here for entertainment, amusement, and interesting factoids.
And, I'm sane.
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