Lice treatment

What’s nice about lice? NOTHING is nice about lice. Holy crap let me tell you about this crazy week- I’ll try and put it all into a nutshell…
This cute gal here with Pierre and his kitty (declawed) casts lovingly signed by family and friends (another story entirely)… has somehow contracted lice.
I noticed a bug in her hair Monday morning when I was doing her hair for school. So I:

1. Looked up lice online- to be sure it was actually lice- be prepared, it’s a visually gross search that will leave your scalp crawling. Then looked up lice treatment.

2. Called the doctor, then called the school to let them know to check the class- where did she pick up lice??

3. Ran to the store, where I found only one kind of lice treatment, the brand is Nix. It comes with the shampoo and comb. (*The comb is the most important part.)

4. Did the Nix shampoo lice treatment.

5. Did the combing through with the lice comb (but not very well ‘cuz I didn’t really get that part yet)

6. Started doing laundry nonstop, washing everything I could fit into the washer in hot water, scrubbing sinks and vacuuming… The rest of the family is sans lice- thank heavens. I carry a pen around all day to itch my own head which itches constantly.

Tuesday– I finally figured out the comb thru process for lice treatment and the importance of the beloved lice comb. One comb thru session= 3 hours. I cannot believe what the comb gets out, the tiny nits waterproof-glued to each hair follicle. Just when you think there can’t possibly be any more nits… you find another one.
I find out her class at school is clean, the only place I can imagine she picked it up is at the dollar movie theater in Provo. Gross– make you think twice about the movies, an airplane, hanging your coat up next to others…
Everything I read about lice has huge discrepancies- how long they can live away from a blood source, what is a nit, the life cycle etc. Different brands of treatments, websites, people all claim different things- but the experts do agree on 2 things:

1. Lice cannot jump, only crawl.

2. Every single nit must be removed from her hair in order to be completely lice free.

It could take 7 days or 10, 14, 20… I still don’t really know.

Wednesday– Talked her into cutting off as much hair as possible without making her look weird, we cut off about 6 inches- it’s still very cute.
I can now honestly promise that I will never snicker or be amazed when I hear so-and-so just shaved their daughter’s head because of lice, the thought actually crossed my mind, if she was one of her brothers all her hair would have all come off on Monday. More combing thru, about three times a day, fewer and fewer every time but still at least 20 nits in each comb session.

Thursday– I heard about the ‘mayonaise treatment’ (or Vaseline) from a good friend… it apparently suffocates the lice. We gave it a try last night. She smelled like a ham sandwich- what lengths to be rid of this… Including when I failed to properly wash out the mayo (needs dish soap or the like) this morning, sent her off with wet hair- she came home in the afternoon looking like she’d just stepped out of the shower. Oops, a bad case of the greasies. It’s a good thing M is such a good sport. She’s taking all of this in stride and with a smile on her face.
We continue to comb thru about 3 times a day- vacuum, scrub, launder everything in hot water and toss and turn at night having bad dreams about being infested myself. So far the rest of us are good to go. Now we are going to try the tea tree oil concoction and see what luck that brings, and keep combing thru…

Friday–  I finally made the Tea Tree Oil shampoo I heard highly recommended and treated the entire family to close the final chapter on this lice (learning) experience.  We all used it, all 6 members of the family walked around for about an hour with the shampoo on our heads, wrapped in Saran Wrap, to ensure our own personal head safety. I would follow the Nix treatment process to remove as many of the bugs and nits as possible but leave the final cleansing to the Tea Tree Oil shampoo- as a final insurance policy against return or spreading.

Oh and to top it all off, I just found a giant black widow spider on the stairs to the family room as I was vacuuming for the 5th time. Are you kidding me?? This house is a death trap.