Salad for Your Hair!

So, those neat products I talked about in the last post sound great, but what to do if it's not near payday and you really can't/don't want to shell out $30 for a fancy comb? White vinegar and olive oil, my friends. Personally, I'd start with the olive oil treatment because picking someone' s hair while there's lots moving around just gives me the willies.

Start by working a good measure of olive oil into the hair all the way down to the scalp. While you don't want rivers of the oil running off the victim's head, you do want enough to smother any little bugs. And it needs to be all the way down to the scalp to make sure you've got maximum coverage. Now, slip on a cheap-o plastic shower cap, or swimming cap, and let it sit for at about 6 /12 hours. Lice can go into a form of hibernation that will let them survive without air for 5 to 6 hours.

You can probably try combing the hair out with a lice comb at this point. I honestly never thought to try it because I just assumed the combs wouldn't get the eggs. Both of my girls have very fine hair and the lice combs weren't getting anything out while their hair was dry. However, after dealing with the LiceMD, I'm wondering if the oil would help the combs pick up the eggs. If anyone's unfortunate enough to need to do this a) you have all my sympathy and b) let me know how well it works if you trying combing it out with the oil in.

Next you need to wash and dry the hair. Regardless of what you've probably read online about washing oil out of hair, olive oil is a component in several shampoos and lathers up really, really well. Washing it out isn't all that difficult.

Vinegar helps dissolve the cement (lice spit) that's holding the eggs attached to the hair shafts. I would saturate the girls' hair with it and then leave it on for about an hour to work it's magic. Then wash and blow dry.

Finally, you'll need to go to work picking out the eggs that might be left behind. Work in really good light and with small sections of hair at a time. A pair of magnifying, or reading, glasses really help. Also, I used clips to hold hair out of my way.

Wash the bedding and toss pillows, stuffies, etc... into the dryer on high heat for at least 15 minutes. Clothes that have been worn need to be washed as well. Anything that's been taken on and off over the head, even if they only had it on for a few minutes, needs to get washed. (Monkey Girl got really tired of hearing, "Okay, now go put it in the wash.")

Combs, brushes, and clips can go into hot, soapy water for at least 10 minutes. If there are hair scrunchies or other accessories that can't be soaked in water, bag them and toss 'em in the freeze for a couple of days.

The most important part of this process is the actual nitpicking. It's not easy, for you or your child, but it's also not something you can skimp on. Unfortunately. All of the tricks in both of these posts help make the picking easier, but it's still the main thing you'll have to do. Try to stay upbeat for your child's sake, take breaks now and then, and well, hugging each other always good.

Good luck!

%^&*# Bugs

Well, we thought the bugs were gone, until last Monday when The Drama Queen asked me to check her hair. She was absolutely crawling with the little pests. (Is your head itching yet?) It was worse than Monkey Girl's hair had been. Soooo, we tried olive oil, and we did vinegar, and while I'm sure these will work on mild cases of infestation, it didn't with Drama Queen. There was just so much to get out of her hair. Fortunately Wednesday was payday, so Thursday saw me shelling out some money for lice treatment toys. And while I'm still a proponent of the cheaper, no chemical method, this was money well spent.

First off, we bought a RobiComb. This was the pricey toy, at $29.95, but it really was money well spent. And it's kinda fun to use. It's an interesting bug zapper for your head. Run on a AAA battery, the comb emits a high-pitched buzzing sound that stops when it encounters a louse. This is because it's zapped the little bastard and is now waiting for you to clean out the comb's teeth with the stiff little brush included. I did this into a bowl of water. The comb only immobilizes the louse, although it should die in a few hours. The only catch to the RobiComb is that it doesn't zap the eggs. Apparently they don't have a central nervous system until after hatching, so there's nothing to zap.

So, she was still full of eggs. Actually, when the school nurse checked her hair it looked like it hadn't been picked AT ALL. Yeah, she was that bad. Off we went in search of something that might make it easier to comb out eggs. What we found was called LiceMD, which is a non-pesticide goop that loosens the eggs, making them easier to comb out. Yes! The big concern was that the comb included wouldn't be able to clean eggs off of Ro's extremely fine hair. So, we gooped it up and let it sit while I went and picked up her sister from school. (It needs to be on your hair for 10 minutes. Any longer and it starts to itch.) We combed out so many eggs it was kinda scary. After a hair wash and blow-dry, her father picked her hair again.

Now, the nurse did still pick a few eggs out of her hair the next morning, but not enough to keep her out of school any longer. YES!!!! We were both doing the Happy Dance. Drama Queen got dropped off and they did a routine check on Monkey Girl's hair while I was there...home she came. After a week of picking and soaking and picking and, well, you get the idea. I almost cried. Monkey Girl was even closer to crying. She did not want to come home. Long story short, we did the LiceMD on her...and the RobiComb as well. Both girls were back in school today, I've a mound of laundry, and they've a very clean room, thanks to their father. Oh, and we took out the love seat since the consensus was that it was the source of everyone getting lice. (Yeah, The Kate needed her hair treated as well.)

Cross your fingers for us. Please?

Dreaded Pest Invasion

Yep, we got's 'em. Lice that is. The first day of school was this Tuesday. Monkey Girl made it all of an hour and a half before I got the call. The Drama Queen was also waiting when I got there. Home we go, where we wait until The Kate, the housemate, gets home with some Tea Tree oil. Into the shampoo it goes. Kids get scrubbed and then nit combed. While waiting on The Kate, pillows and blankets get hot washed.
Next morning the school nurse checks them over again. Still bugs. Actually, they're pretty bad. Especially in poor Monkey Girl's hair. Home we come again. At lunch, thinking what to do, I call my sister, the PA. "Try Crisco and a vinegar rinse," she suggests.This is after I let her know that I really don't want to do the harsh chemicals if I can avoid it. She's a good sis.(So is The Kate, who's my best friend, by the way.)


So, I get out what's left of the Crisco and plop Monkey Girl down in a kitchen chair. Our friend Levi, who's stopped by to chat, is clearly amused by the process. Monkey Girl is giggling and laughing. I was going to wrap her hair in an old shirt, but she suggests a plastic grocery bag. Levi suggests duct tape to hold it on. That got big grins. We did use packing tape. And there was much more laughter at the knowledge that my cousin made her daughter wear underwear on her head to protect everything from the oils.


The Drama Queen is next, but she decided to hide. I point out that if we don't do it now, she'll have to have it in her hair ALL night. She appears pretty danged fast and into the chair she goes. The only problem is that I'm pretty much out of Crisco and she's got A LOT of hair. It's cut in a shorter bob, but there's still a ton of it. Sooooo, out comes my little squirreled away bottle of olive oil and to work we go, finishing up with the lovely shopping bag treatment.


Now, all they have to do is sit and try not to scratch and squirm the bags off of their heads. For, oh, 5 hours or so. Making the best of a funny situation, they head upstairs to play doctors with their stuffies who have suddenly developed their own annoying cases of lice. The rational, other than their own little bugs? Doctors wear caps like that on their heads. Have I said on here that I really do love my kids? Well, I do. They were great about the bags and the oily heads for pretty much the whole time.


After dinner, it's into the shower with mom, Monkey Girl getting to go first. Shampoo out the Crisco. Pour on uncut apple cider vinegar. Listen to complaints because a. it's really cold and b. it smells really strong. Rinse vinegar. Shampoo again. Send out to Daddy to get nit combed. In comes Drama Queen, where I repeat the above process with the addition of many squeals and shrieks. Loud squeals and shrieks. One of these days, I really am going to need that hearing aid.


Anyway, out she goes to wait for Daddy's attention with the comb. I'm out the door for some very needed alone time, even if it is spent running errands. (I'm sorry for the extra work, Mandi. If I'd only known!) I get back about an hour and a half later and Mr. Incredible has just finished up with their hair. They can't get over how soft it is, thanks to the oil treatments and the vinegar. Many smiles occur. Pillows are found for the night, as I'd put the character pillows that they normally sleep with in the freezer.


Today's head check STILL found nits on Monkey Girl, but a teeny-tiny hatchling. *sigh* The Drama Queen got the all clear though. I came home, hit the internet for what oils might help and discovered this page: http://tiny.cc/lice . It's got me thinking that the olive oil was what really did the trick for Drama Queen. Right now, Monkey Girl and I are sitting around with plastic shower caps on our heads - the olive oil sinking in and doing it's trick. Why am I doing this? Because my head has itched like crazy since last night, it needs washed, and I'm going to be paranoid otherwise. And it makes Monkey Girl feel better.


Hopefully this will take care of the problem. I'll post back tomorrow and let ya'll know. (Yeah, I like pretending there's an audience out there! :)