Lice happens: The truth behind my haircut

Within the past few years, I've been spending a lot of time with my sister-in-law, Nikki, and her kids, Taylor (13) and Victoria (11). Last May, Taylor picked up head-lice at school and managed to pass it on to my daughter, who was 3 at the time. We treated her for lice as meticulously as anyone else would, save for cutting her hair, but because Nikki wasn't treating Taylor for lice as well as she should have, Gracie kept getting it.

It took us nearly a year to get rid of it. My husband, lucky that he is a man, shaved his head. Problem solved for him. But for Gracie and I, we had to shampoo our hair with that vile shampoo once a week (if not more frequently!) and comb through our hair twice daily... For a year. We also tried 3 or 4 different variations of prescription medicine - including that used for scabies. (Yes, it was THAT BAD.) Oh, did I mention that I was pregnant during most of this time? 

So, we finally got rid of the headlice and I jumped for joy.  Life went on as it should, I progressed in my pregnancy, and finally, on March 26th gave birth to my second daughter. She had pretty severe jaundice and we were stuck in the hospital for 2 weeks because of it. The hospital's policy states, however, that if a child is not a patient, they are not allowed for overnight stays. So, guess where Gracie went? And guess what she came home with?

Yes, that's right. My child, yet again, has headlice. As do I. And I have a newborn baby to look after. And no car to get to Wal-Mart to buy some shampoo, nor can I find a ride. So, I am stuck here in front of my computer, completely helpless while bugs ravage my daughter's and my scalp. And I just get to wait until I find them on my newborn. FANTASTIC. 

I. HATE. MY. SISTER-IN-LAW.

In the time it took us to initially get rid of our lice, she had also gotten rid of Taylor's. However, they've recently moved into an apartment complex and the neighbors across the hall just let lice ravage their daughters' heads. Nikki is friends with these people, but she knows that because of the issues we've had with lice in the past that I ADAMANTLY refuse to let my daughter play with those little girls. I'm just finding out that Gracie spent the majority of the two weeks she stayed with Nikki not only playing with those little girls, but she actually let Gracie STAY THE NIGHT WITH THEM.

I'm sorry - I realize that this is an old post and that I'm ranting - but I am just SO upset right now. I feel absolutely helpless and completely enraged down to my very core. I am not looking forward to the HUNDREDS of dollars it is going to cost us to get rid of this - much less the time and suffering involved in it. 

I am vowing here and now to NEVER have any kind of contact with my sister-in-law again. If only this was the worst of it.

my aunt is a proud mother of 4. three boys first. ~getting out the clippers and shaving some heads~ and then along came a little blonde-haired beauty. :-/ can't exactly shave her head. my aunt was understandably distrustful of the coat closets in the schoolrooms where everyone's jackets are crammed in there together. she picked up my cousin a cute little pink jacket that, when you pulled on a string, rolled up into a cool little carrying ball/case/thing... it amused my cousin so much, she's roll up her coat and it would fit nicely in her cubby... I think it helped.

Melanie Perry
*not all who wander are lost*
my blog

Lisa, I've been admiring your haircut without realizing the reason for it. . . Eeeeeeeek!

As a child, I was a Girl Scout and a frequent guest and host of sleepovers. You know the sleepover connection, but what a lot of people don't think about is when you send your kinds to camp, they're sharing riding helmets and fencing helmets and and and. . . My Girl Scout troop used to go to a ranch called "Lazy J" that we renamed "Licey J" after 20 of us came back with lice. Yay.

I had lice ELEVEN times before high school. (I also once caught fleas from my sister, who had let our kitten sleep in her hair.) My poor mother!

Anyway, some tips on avoiding lice: Have your kids hang their jackets and backpacks on the backs of their desk chairs instead of in a common coat closet. No sleepovers unless everyone's been checked for lice. Beware tall bus and airplane seats. Check your kids' hair frequently, and act at the first sign of infestation. Request that the school nurse, if there is one, check all kids' hair regularly. When I was in elementary school, the nurse came directly to the classroom a few times a year and used a pair of tongue depressors (a fresh pair for each kid's head) to plow through our locks.

When the inevitable childhood infestation happens, use a metal pet flea comb--they're a PITA (and painful!) but the best at removing lice eggs. Be sure to wash curtains, too, especially in bedrooms. Don't forget to launder the bedskirts, any pet linens, tote bags, and backpacks. Quarantine plush and fabric toys in plastic bags in the garage for at least a month, and launder those that can be washed.

I don't know what the situation is like today, but when I was a kid, the OTC lice shampoos didn't work particularly well. We used a prescription kind called Kwell--we probably had a standing prescription at the local pharmacy.

Ah, the memories. . . As I'm about to put my son in daycare a few times a week, I guess I should stock up on supplies.

Good luck avoiding future infestations!

Leslie

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Research and Academia
Proprietor, The Clutter Museum

This was a great blog entry- your haircut looks beautiful! I remember an angry letter in the local paper from a mom whose child shared a locker with another. Apparently she was not told about the other child's lice because it was a "privacy issue" she was furious and her letter was such a ballsy move in our small town community- to say- YES OUR FAMILY HAS LICE and we got it because the school is hiding important public health information from us in the name of "privacy" What the heck!?

Kristine- Are you sure they are chiggers? Usually that's a summertime thing... and I've never heard of chiggers being catchy from person to person/ dog to person... only grass to person. A chigger seems to be a part of the local lore of the midwest- and I had never heard of them till I was preparing to move here. I was arranging to ship a horse to Kentucky to a boarding farm. I had not yet met the owner, but on the telephone she told me her horse had recently picked up some "Turkey Mites" in Missouri and it had caused his legs to swell. When I didn't know what a turkey mite was, she told me they were like Chiggers. I sure felt like a city girl to confess that I didn't know what a chigger was either.

Here is what I *think* I know about them... a chigger is a microscopic little larvae that burrows under your skin and itches like the dickens. They prefer to go to the hottest tightest places on your body- mainly- under your watch band, under your belt, under your underwear elastic. I don't know how they get into your skin- if they are live when they got on you or if they are an egg which hatches- but they say that the worst times of day to pick them up are the hours of dewey grass in the AM and PM. Hay farmers will attest to this. It seems very much linked to grass.

There is a creme called "Chigger-rid" that works all right to kill itch (I think it kills any itch. The favorite remedy though is just a thick dot of clear nail polish on the skin - allegedly to deprive the bug of air and it will die. Ugh... dead microscopic bug under your skin... that's the stuff obsessive compulsions are made of!

I think if your pup has something mysteriously itchy going on that it would be best to just go to the vet and get a skin scraping done- because it could be some sort of mange mite and that's no fun.

The Front Porch Swing