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More itchy and scratchy = lice
KR - kid related tale of woe
My 8 y.o. got lice a couple of weeks ago. Lucky for me, I have shared custody and miraculously it was during winter break. My H had her for a whole week. That's very unusual, b/c I have her on school days and he has her 3 weekends.
They did non-chemical treatments. Sounds like they dumped Listerine on her head to kill all of the crawly things. Then, they treated with mayo. Then, with neem oil. No lice left. Her step-mom brought her to school on Monday following the holiday. The nurse said she did not have lice any more, but did still have nits. Her step-mom brought her to my house.
I have never seen lice. I knew that I didn't want them in the house... the carpeted house. The stepmom and I stood outside in the sun looking through my daughter's hair like monkeys. No moving things. Have you ever seen a nit? The egg thing that is on the hair shaft?! Weird! It is like a tiny speck of superglue. It is clear and completely stuck on one hair strand. With as many strands as a person has on her head, this was a nightmare.
I wrapped her head in coconut oil and tea tree and sealed her up with a shower cap. I bought RID metal combs to get out whatever that was stuck to the strands. Hours of combing... vinegar... combing... and a coconut oil head overnight. Voila! No lice.
Monday through Friday, I checked her every day. I did the coconut oil every other day. Everyone in my house did. We're paranoid like that. No lice.
It was our weekend, so we had her M,T,W,T,F,S,S,M,T,W,T,F. In that time, any lice that could possibly have been at their house would have died. They say that they die 2-3 days w/o a head to terrorize.
Thursday, the school nurse did a followup check and no lice or nits/eggs on my daughter.
She went to her dad's house for the weekend.
Guess what? Lice!!!
I can't believe it. XH emailed me at midnight Sunday. He said they found 2 live lice. They wrapped her up in mayo and planned to wake her up in a couple of hours to wash it out.
Yuck. We picked her up from school. She has more nit/egg things stuck to the strands of hair. Comb, vinegar, comb. Tired of combing.
I cut it.
No, I'm not a hair stylist.
She has a little non-pro bob now. She loves it! Now, I have the brilliant idea that I should cut it more in the back. She can't see it... might be longer than the front... might be shorter... might be trimmed to an inch underneath... should I?
What else can I do? I have never had to deal with this. I heard the chemical treatments are bad.
It seems like we get rid of everything and she gets them again from someone at school or the bus. We decided no more bus. We informed the teachers and the school nurse from the very beginning.
I hope that I can't get it with my 'fro. I read that lice only like certain kinds of hair... and curly isn't one of them. Thank God I like coconut oil. It's bad enough that she is... if we all get it and it is this hard to shake, I'm going to be a crazy person.
Newlyweds since 2007
Re: More itchy and scratchy = lice
Do you recall that I got headlice when B was like 3 weeks old? It was HORRIBLE!! I used oil, mayo and the stupid combs... for days I combed my hair. It sucked, it took HOURS while trying to breastfeed and lots of crying from B and I! I ended up using Cetaphil. The LC told me to use it. You put it on your hair and blowdry your hair then leave it there for as many days as you can. (I made it three, it's nasty and makes you hair feel weird and yucky). Then the day I washed it out I combed through with the tiny comb again and blew dry AND hot ironed, better safe than sorry!
It sounds like she picked them back up at your XH house. They need to wash EVERYTHING in hot water. I washed the pillows, pillow cases, couch pillows, comforter, sheets, throw pillows, you name it, if I was ANYWHERE near it, I washed it in hot water. Hot water kills the nits and lice. I repeated the wash everything process about 4 days later too just to be safe (cause I'm crazy like that!)
Good luck! I'm itching just thinking about them!
Ugh that sounds awful!
OK, take this with a grain of salt, because I'm no expert and have never had lice, but I'll tell you what my cousin did with her kids (she also wanted to avoid chemical treatments). She'd read in one of the Little House on the Prairie books about how they treated lice by putting turpentine through the hair and then braiding it really tightly...well obviously she didn't want to put a flammable liquid all over her kid, so she ended up using Vaseline - lots and lots of Vaseline - and then braided her daughter's hair in a super tight braid. Apparently it worked, although I don't know how (smothers the little things or something?).
I know I mentioned it before but I grew up in kalihi and hung out with the neighborhood kids after school and I had lice at least twice and each time it was horrors. I lived in a big house with lots of people too so it was a community affair so to speak.....but my head would get scrubbed with RID and Lysol. And everything would be washed several times in not only hot water but Lysol as well. I wouldn't let my father cut my hair, I threw a fit. So I couldn't hang out with the neighborhood kids anymore, that was the price I had to pay.
Good Luck
Yes, S, I do remember your battle with it. Wasn't it the ILs that gave it to you. I haven't heard of Cetaphil for it. Seems like there are so many "cures".
I cut her hair again last night. The back is pretty short. It is so much easier to comb. We have never seen a bug at this house. The little glue things that stick to the strands of hair are all I've had to deal with. They are a PITA. I feel like I have superhero powers to zoom in on those specs now.
Maybe I'll tell her she has to wear a shower cap the entire weekend at her dad's house.
Newlyweds since 2007
ewww, I think her dad and SM need to make sure their house is lice free (seems like they would be scared of catching it... ick!)
I totally remember the mayo and TTO treatment. I never got it but my sister brought it home a couple of times. I always had SUPER long hair and the combing was NOT fun. Probably easier now that you cut her hair. My sister had tight springy curls as a kid so combing for her was miserable too. My mom would tightly braid our hair for weeks after the outbreak to help make sure we didn't get it from the kids that didn't treat it well enough.
Good luck - sounds like you got it under control, now you just need to hope her dad's house was properly treated..
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
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