Now my head is itching. I’ll just quit washing the kids and my hair. That’ll show those dirty little ukus!
Yuck. Got them in India from playing with the kids at the school in the hospital campus. Thank goodness it was just a couple, and I’d thought ahead and brought a nit comb, was already combing my hair every night, on the assumption I’d get them at some point. Pretty sure I found out the same day I picked them up.
I used something Ayurvedic that they gave me, I think it was coconut oil with some essential oils in it. It wasn’t tea tree or eucalyptus, but it smelt nice and worked, so I can’t complain. I combed my hair for an hour, put the oil on, combed it through, left it overnight, washed my hair and combed it again twice a day for the next two weeks (call me paranoid, but there you go). After that first night I never saw another beastie, so it obviously worked.
I got them at summer camp when I was 15. My stepmother did the OTC shampoo and fine tooth comb thing about nine or ten times before it finally took. I’d gotten a perm just before camp and all of the shampooing and combing completely ruined my hair. If you saw me walking down the street, it looked like a great big triangle on top of a skinny little body. I wound up having to cut it all off. The worst part though was how (for almost a year after) my stepmother would just stop what she was doing every so often and run over and check my head for lice. It was completely humiliating!!! I’m over it now, although I suddenly feel a compelling need to scratch my head.
Should not have opened thread, should not have openend thread, should not have opened thread… :eek:
The Arthur character created by Marc Brown has an episode on head lice: The Lousy Week. Our school nurse shows it at the beginning of the year to help kids feel less self conscious. It’s an upbeat episode with the message that anyone can get them because it’s not about being “dirty” The video also lets kids know how lice are spread.
If you have a little one at home who was upset about having lice, the episode is available on VHS. Arthur Goes to the Doctor
My daughter had them this year. The nits weren’t so bad, but the first time I saw a live one, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Ick.
We had to treat her a few times to really get rid of them. And we did lice checks almost every night until they were completely gone. She was pretty patient while I combed through every square centimeter of her hair while hubby held the flashlight.
The sympathetic itching is unbearable!
We just got a notice that someone in my daughter’s camp group has them. I’m a big fan of regular checking and the occasional use of the nit comb since my daughter brought home a (fortunately mild) case last Christmas. I couldn’t believe how small they are.
Killing the lice is easy. It’s getting rid of the eggs that a bear.
Pop in a DVD, sit the kidlet down, and comb comb comb with a nit comb dipped regularly in vinegar. The vinegar loosens the egg glue from the hair.
Also, there’s no need to go on a cleaning frenzy of laundry, bed sheets, and stuffed animals. Lice die quickly once they’re off the head, so there’s no need to sterilize the house, except of course, to get rid of the corpses. :eek:
My mother taught third grade for almost 35 years.
I got dosed with the OTC shampoo a minimum of once every six weeks, regardless of whether or not I had any lice or any symptoms.
I may have had lice at some point. I really couldn’t tell you.
It would go like this. My mother would come home and announce, apropos of nothing, that her head itched. At which point, every living creature in the house at that moment (including neighbor kids and any friends-of-her-children physically present at the time) would be deloused. Stripped, shampooed with the shampoo, combed to within an inch of their lives, clothing washed with the above mentioned shampoo, and then given a lecture on How Not To Get Lice. The pets would get the same treatment (minus the lecture). My dad got the same treatment as well - much to his everlasting aggravation.
To this day, my mother (who has been retired for several years) announcing that her head itches will clear the house in less than two minutes flat.
We think she does it just to get some private time.
Aaah, I’m getting that little itchy tinyfeet prickling on my scalp now…
We used to have seasonal epidemics of them at my junior school (30 little girls, most with long hair, many of whom liked to share headbands and braid each other’s hair)… from what I can remember, a fine-tooth comb, an anti-lice shampoo, and maybe a comb-though with a comb dipped in cider vinegar, can usually clear it up. The problem is, the next day your daughter might re-catch them from another kid. :smack:
Do adults ever get them?
Yep, a Guidance Counselor at my former school got them from a student.
I have a microscope video clip that I took of a live head louse last time we had an outbreak in my household; anyone wanna see it?
You’re one of those people who show home movies at parties, aren’t you?
Mangetout, meet Ever Hopeful.
You two should get together, you’d get along like a house on fire.
I do, I do!!
Just wanted to chime in with this helpful tidbit:
If you ever need an excuse to play hooky from work, there is no more effective “don’t-you-even-fricking-well-think-of-coming-in-to-this-office-today-Bub” excuse than “I’ve got lice”.
…except for maybe, “I’ve got scabies”.
Whatever you do, do not use petreloum jelly (Vaseline). It does NOT work and is unbearably difficult to get out of hair.
:smack:
And, yes, I speak from experiece, why do you ask?
Durn it, I can’t find the file - I think I might have deleted it to make space for something else. It was pretty cool - the louse was almost completely transparent and you could see the gut (which was red, full of blood) pulsing inside.