I am about to talk about something that no one likes to talk about, but I found out something that was a huge help so I am going to share. This morning, Clover was digging at her head, I checked and found dark nits (meaning they still had something in them and had not yet hatched) in a couple of spots (not many, just a few, but if there is even one nit EVERYONE in the house gets treated). Frustrated beyond belief and doing my best to only use Christian words, I contemplated throwing her out in the chicken run and letting the girls peck anything off of her that was there, but instead I tromped off to CVS, Sally's and finally Walmart. Determined to stop these nasty little critters in their tracks, I decided on a full on arsenal but didn't want harsh pesticides and chemicals. CVS, nit/lice comb with 2 sized attachments. Sally's, Queen Helene cholesterol treatment (to suffocate anything that I didn't find & to help condition her hair after treating with what I thought would be harsh chemicals...she has curly, extremely coarse hair on a good day, it is worse after you do anything to it...this is the 2nd time in her life that she has had nits/lice and I learned my lesson the first time). Walmart yielded a nice surprise.
I don't know how many of you have dealt with lice before, but the little plastic nit combs that come in the kits do not do the job. You need a good metal nit comb with tight fitting prongs, and at places like CVS these run over $10 (I know, I just bought one BEFORE I went to Walmart). Well I get there and see this product called Lice Freee Spray (yes it has 3 "e"s in it, that was not a typo) that says it kills on contact with no pesticides. I check the ingredients, pretty much is a type of alcohol that dehydrates the louse & egg (nit). I am skeptical, but it comes with a comb like we had years and years ago when the boys got them during baseball season (sharing helmets with the team), so I give it a go.
Get Clover home, spray her head down (still hoping there are no bugs and it came, laid a few eggs and moved on), and start looking again. Sure enough I find an egg filled louse (you can tell because their abdomen will be dark because of the eggs). I put her on a piece of paper towel and spritz her directly with this Licefreee spray, wondering if it really will kill it. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes she is d.e.a.d. I know this sounds like a sick set of events for my day, but seriously, with hair like Clover's you do NOT want to mess around with these critters (you don't want to mess with them at all, but with her hair it is so hard to make her sit while you go section by section). So this stuff says you can leave it in, but after about 10 min, I start combing her hair with this fine tooth metal nit comb and find out, it makes a fine detangler too! No tears, nits came right off the hair with one or two swipes of the comb (they are held on by a STRONG glue and are sometimes only able to be gotten out by plucking the hair)! She is now running around the house with Queen Helene cholesterol on her hair (conditioning treatment) even though this stuff wasn't horrible on her hair, it did dry it out a bit and besides, every girl can use a little pampering after the day we have had. Between spraying off furniture, gathering up pillows/blankets, treating, combing, conditioning everyone's heads, I have been at this since 8 this morning. It is now 4.
So, I said all that to let you know that this Licefreee stuff is worth a try if you get that dreaded surprise or if the school nurse calls to say it has been found in your child's class. Now, for those of you who are freaked out, thinking we are a bunch of gross-outs, here are some lice facts....
1. They LOVE clean, well kept hair. Yes you heard me right, they prefer to be on clean people more than dirty people, getting lice is not an indicator that someone is unclean or unkempt. Clean hair makes it easier for them to glue their eggs to the hair shaft.
2. ANYONE can get lice. They do not care how much money you have, how clean your house is, how precious your children are or if they only hang out with the "good kids." However, they are less likely to be found on people of certain ethnic groups.
3. Lice can only live off of a host (you, me, our kids), for a couple of days. Unlike some parasites, they cannot go long periods of time without eating and what they eat is us (blood). So, bag up anything that can't go in the dryer, leave it in a secluded place in the basement or shed or garage for a week or so and then bring them back in.
4. I have heard they do not like hair products, esp those containing oils &/or natural ingredients (such as the herbal essences line). We have just started backing off on using Silken Child leave in cream on Clover's hair and bam, we have to deal with lice, so there is probably something to this...we will be back on to using conditioning products on her hair again. Also, we had become lax on keeping her hair up and close to her head, we will be back to that as of now (either braided, french braids, buns, bantu knots, ect).
5. Lice to not fly or jump. Nope, they crawl. MOST cases of lice are from direct head to head contact. I know it is hard to do, but it is safest for girls to learn not to hang on each other and hug goodbye at school esp. It is possible to get them from sharing hats/jackets/brushes, but most comes from direct contact.
Finally, it is not a shame to GET lice, it is a shame to keep it. If you know that someone in your family has gotten them, treat EVERYONE (even if they don't itch or seem to have any nits or lice...even if they are an adult...even if it is YOU...even if you think you are immune to it, treat EVERYONE), throw anything that you can, in the dryer on high heat for at least 30 min (lice cannot tolerate the high heat), if you can't throw it in the dryer, treat it with a spray of some sort or bag it up in garbage bags and get it out of living areas (again, I HATE using pesticides but unsure what to do about furniture like mattresses other than use the sprays made to spray on furniture...which are pesticides). I would love to hear of any alternatives to using pesticides on the furniture!
Here is what the product I was talking about looks like:
So here is to hoping we are DONE with dealing with lice, now excuse me while I go scratch my head after thinking about creepy crawlies.
*Update: Clover is off to school now (I drafted this post last night but didn't publish it), lice/nit free, hair tightly french braided with a bun at the bottom, herbal essences detangler in her hair (temp fix while I search out some Silken Child), and momma's words of wisdom hopefully ringing in her ears "no hugging, no secrets (heads touch way too often when little girls tell secrets to each other), no sitting back to back..."
Hopefully I don't lose any readers after posting this. I know it is not a fun topic, but it is a real issue and if I can keep someone else from freaking out over it, it was worth the time to post it.
Also had to add a little "funny" that I don't know whether he was serious or just teasing Clover, but Hayseed told her last night that she was lucky to have a mom like me because he wouldn't have spent 3 hours on just her hair (I spent 8 hours total yesterday dealing with it, 3 hours was just combing through her hair a few strands at a time)...if he was teasing, it is kind of funny, but if he wasn't teasing, let me say this: if you have little boys, it is fine to shave them to remedy the problem 1/4 inch is short enough that they can't really thrive, but if you have a daughter, unless SHE is okay with a super short cut PLEASE do not shave her. Ask your doctor for help, ask a trusted friend to help, if you know me in person and we live within driving distance ASK ME I am more than willing to help treat heads, homes & will even make sure the child is nit-free by combing their hair myself! Nits are about the size of a fleck of pepper and are tear drop shaped, lice range in size from that of a nit (when they are just larvae) to the size of a large sesame seed so both are hard to spot unless you know what you are looking for. I knew a set of sisters whose dad chopped their hair because of lice. One daughter was in jr. high, the other, I believe was a sophomore or junior in high school. The older daughter wore a stocking cap for months. It was devastating and embarrassing for those poor girls 1. to have had head lice and 2 to have to deal with the taunting and embarrassment of having their heads nearly shaved. It is not necessary if you take the proper steps to get rid of it.
