The Never Ending Lice Story


Remember back before Thanksgiving when Addy came home from school with lice, well it is back.  Actually, this is the thrid round.  Despite washing everything we own, putting stuff animals away, washing down all surfaces, and trying all treatments.  So off went the hair, and tomorrow we have an appointment with a professional service that claims they can rid heads of lice.  The problem is the lice are the same color as her hair, so they are really hard to see.  I am not a person who swears, but I have had to hold my tongue.  I am exhausted!  Do you know how many times I have washed her hair and combed it, or the number of tears shed (hers and mine), and how much laundry that has meant.  I am beyond frustrated.  Praying tomorrow will be the end of our lice woes!!!

Comments

Francesca said…
I hear you! My middle boy got lice countless times when he was little. Back then, his hair was a dark sandy color, and although it helped that I could just give him a cropped haircut, finding the nits was never easier. As you know, hair products only work on the lice, and not on the nits, which you have to remove by hand. The best way we found (thanks to an article in the New Yorker, actually!) was to use lots of hair conditioner, which makes the existing nits very easy to remove, and coats the hair making it more difficult for future nits to grip. Hair conditioner + good light + lots of patience + good movie to entertain the child are the best treatment for nits, despite what anyone else - especially pharmaceutical and hair product companies - say (based on my experience and on the NYer article).
Good luck!
abrianna said…
You can also coat her hair with olive oil or coconut oil and then put a shower cap on her and have her sleep. In the morning, the cap should be full of the vermin and their nits. The oil smothers them. Repeat as many times as needed-bonus-soft tangle free hair.

Also if you can, wearing hair in a bun, braids,twists or a twisted/braided bun will keep them away-once you are rid of them. They don't like "tight" hairstyles. They also like clean hair so if you put some sort of styling product in her hair they don't like that...for example a leave -in conditioner.

When the word cane round that lice had been found in my Blessings school I made sure her hair was in a braided bun. We always have some product in our hair(curly girls here) so had that taken care of. I feel for you -my blessing has a *lot* of hair and I knew that if she got lice there would be no choice but to cut it short due to the sheer amount of hair she has. It would take me 4-5 hours at least to comb out nits each time.

Addy sure does look cute with her new cut though :)
awww, I hope that lice goes away ASAP!!! xxo
Jamie
www.jamieeverafter.com
Molly said…
Buy a proper nit comb, wash her hair and put tons of conditioner in it so that it coating all the hair... comb from the root at the scalp to the ends in small batches making sure you cover all the hair. Rinse and dry her hair with a hairdryer and ideally straightener at a high heat. It kills the nits. sadly the only way is to do that every night for 7 days and then every other night another 7 and then at least 2 more times the following 7 days. It is a pain but it totally works. Also buy some pure lavender oil and drop a couple of drops into her scalp. It works as a repellent.

Mollyxxx
Susan Cook said…
sorry you are going through this, I don't have any experience with this so no suggestions, but hope you find a solution soon :)

Popular Posts