It has happened. That shame that every single parent of school age kids dread more than anything else. Oh the shame. Oh the embarrassment. Paint a red plague sign on our door….yes, our kids got LICE!
EWWWWWWWW
So pissed about it. I KNOW that it is more common than ever these days. But I have been pretty smug for four years of school that we had gotten away without dealing with them. Now the bastards won’t go away. Thank goodness myself and hubs have so far remained clear of them…..we are like monkeys these days constantly checking each other.
The kid have not been so lucky. First it was just Adam who was hit. We started combing and cleaning out HIS head immediately. We bought mass amounts of Nix but really did not find it effective at all. And we have been DILIGENT. We have washed everything in hot water. We have done bedding and stuffies in garbage bags and the dryer on hot. We have combed the buggers out twice a day. We thought we had them beat.
We even KEPT with the treatments and tried Resultz. ….on everyone in the house who remotely felt itchy. That stuff does seem to work a lot better, especially with helping get a nit comb through Caity’s hair.
We dreaded Caity getting them in her insanely thick hair. We THOUGHT we had managed to escape that horror. But not. No such luck. I cut three inches off her hair to get at them and mange the crazy knots that her curls were turning into.
One big issue with Nix and Resultz? The combs that come with them are DARK in colour. This makes it hard to see if you are successful in combing. We were lucky to still have a flea comb from the cats left over and THAT was far better with finer tines on the comb too. I recommend the flea combs if you are ever struck at your home with these horrid things.
We are now finding that using the dog shampoo with tea tree oil in it seems to help a lot. That and combing combing combing.
This however irks me. WE are being diligent. But who did Adam get them from? I even called the school to tell them about our problem. They notified his classroom and apparently put a mention in the newsletter about how to deal with them. I don’t think any other parents are bothering to check their kids. None have shared this with Adam or Caity anyway.
The kids are devastated too. We don’t want kids sleeping here or our kids sleeping at other kids houses while this goes on. Caity is ashamed. She says her thick unruly hair already makes her the butt of some cruel jokes about not brushing her hair. She was very happy with my make-do cut.
But our kids will keep getting these things until the WHOLE school does something, and we are now SICK of combing and picking and washing and checking.
Hence me speaking of the horror on my blog. Check your kids heads! Make sure they are not getting hit by these things. Stop the spread if you can!!! Symptoms can be not clear either ….Adam had a rash on his back. We asked the doctor about it and even suggested Lice and he checked and said NO. Do the checking yourself. Google images, samples everything.
I wish the kids in Adams class would get treated as we are getting so tired of this now.
claire says
If you get a little bottle of tea tree oil and add it too conditioner it will help keep them at bay.
apple cider vinegar should work too. Are the kids in car seats still? lice can’t live off the human body for more than 48 hrs so they should die or put the car seat covers in the freezer.
in the end stick with the tea tree oil treatments and put some in the conditioner
Kasia Rachfall says
Kerry so sorry to hear about your ordeal! I remember once getting lice as a kid – thankfully the shame of it didn’t stick around for long. Our kids’ school has a whole committee that does check ever child’s head I believe once a week. It’s something every school should have! The good news is that you’re being proactive and creative in solving the problem! Hopefully you and the kids will be able to laugh about using a cat hair comb and dog shampoo one day!
Emme says
Oh no! I remember those from when I was younger. I was the girl with the big head of messy hair. After the first go-round (yeah… there were three) I became super obsessed with having as clean of hair as possible… which is for some reason how those buggers like it. After the first two bouts nix no longer worked. The older lady across the street (in her 80’s back then) recommended saturating the entire head of hair in real mayo, top with shower cap and sleep on it… yeah… it is as horrid as it sounds. After a night of sleeping on goo… follow up by rinsing the hair (outside… you don’t want it in) with white vinegar. According to my aunt and grandmother it made the nits dissolve. Go through with a comb and a spray bottle of vinegar to make sure they are all gone and then shower with real shampoo… though you will smell like salad dressing for another week or so.
Also… steam clean rugs, carpets, comforters, drapes… anything and everything your child’s hair could have come in contact with.
It’s been almost 20 years, but it makes my head itch just thinking about it! Good luck!
Marilyn @ A Lot of Loves says
This is possibly one of my biggest fears. So icky. I’m totally adding tea tree oil to the kids’ shampoos. Maybe that will work.
Carpets Online says
I had this trouble with my daughter throughout most of infant school age. I tried many remedies both natural and pharmacutical. I found the best way to keep the pesky things away was to simply take twenty mins every other day to wash and fine comb through her hair. I did this religiously and once they were gone they stayed gone.