I noticed that she’d been scratching at her head recently, so I started looking for anything unusual whenever I combed and or/washed her hair. I didn’t. Then again, I’ve never dealt with lice before. I’ve never had them, nor did my brother, when we were growing up. I noticed a few flakes, like dandruff, but I didn’t think much of that, because the weather here has been pretty weird, and I just attributed flakes to dry skin (I’m dealing with that myself).
Then the day care called me this afternoon, and told me it was lice. Darn it.
So, I went to the drugstore to get some lice killer. Thought I’d faint. That stuff is expensive. I got the house brand (CVS) after comparing the ingredients. It’s a kit, with shampoo, a comb, and stuff to spray on bedding.
I’m looking forward to a lovely evening, trying to kill nits on my naturally spazzy three-year-old. She runs screaming from me whenever she sees me with a comb as it is (it’s just a “mom” thing–she’ll let anyone else in the world comb her hair). What a joy it’s going to be to try & get her to sit for this.
At least my husband apologized for having to go to work this evening. I don’t think he really meant it, though. Grrrrrrrrr…
AGHHHHH!!! You paint such a pretty picture Opal. Yick.
Back to the OP:
I would just wash her bedding in very hot water and high heat dry. I think you should be okay if you high heat dry her pillow for awhile, too. I’d be leery of spraying her bedding with that crap and having her sleep (and breathe) on it.
Make sure you put any stuffed animals or toys she may sleep with in a closed plastic bag for awhile. That should kill the little suckers! Oh, and vacuum well.
It goes around the schools here periodically. One of the ways to check is just see if that dandruff brushes away. If it is glued to the hair, it ain’t dandruff.
And definitely DON’T spray her pillow and bedding with that spray, that junk is POISONOUS as all heck. I don’t have the reference handy, but seems to me I’ve read of small household pets dying due to pyrethrin poisoning.
Wash and dry in high heat does the trick - if there is a Favored Bear or other stuffed toy that your daughter can’t do without for a couple days, half an hour in the dryer on high will kill any potential lice on it. I did it for an hour to make sure.
And yep, plastic bags for all the rest. Three days will do it, apparently these critters don’t live long unless they’re on us.
This is more than I ever wanted to know about these. Oh well, my sons don’t play with other people’s hats anymore…
Tisiphone
PS. Might wanna check everyone else in the house too. Especially if you have a Family Hairbrush. It is possible to pass them around and around the family, and that pyrethrin crap is apparently a cumulative poison. Stomp it out quick.
Last year, I got a call at work. My son had picked up head lice from a classmate.
Through trial and error, we learned that nits show up best in direct sunlight, or by shining a flashlight on the hair.
I hate to say it, but the comb really doesn’t get the nits out very well; they have to be picked off by hand, or you won’t get them all. Maybe you could rent her a special movie, to help her keep still?
After you get rid of them, put mousse or detangler in her hair after each time you wash it. Lice prefer clean hair that is free of dressings of any kind. They don’t like to lay their eggs on top of conditioners, sprays, etc. You don’t want her to get re-infested when she goes back. Not fun.
I use detangler on her hair every time I wash & comb it. I have to, for my darling, sweet little girl is just not happy unless she’s got oatmeal/juice/mud/fingerpaints in her hair. She’s Pigpen, I’m tellin’ ya. It’s astonishing.
After I read the spray bottle, I definitely decided against spraying her stuff. I’ve already got her sleeping bag (she has a Blue’s Clues sleeping bag that she cannot live without) and her blankie in the washer, and I’ve got extra pillows that she can use tonight. She’s not going to be sleeping with her Blue’s Clues pillow. I’ll wash that tomorrow. We’ve got a dog, a cat, and a one-year-old son, and I think that stuff might be too dangerous to use with them around.
I’ve checked my son over pretty good, too, and I don’t see anything at all. :::crossing fingers:::
You know, tomorrow just so happens to be our fifth wedding anniversary. This sounds like a delightful way to wrap up an evening of dinner and dancing.
My child pulled one of those freaky kid tricks on me while I was combing her hair. She sat quietly.
She did ask what the comb was for, though. I told her it was a “very special comb, that will help make your head stop itching.” She was okay with that. Go figure.
Reasons to slaugther my small sisters. They brought this home from school a few years ago. I have long, thick hair that manages to be just about the same color as a nit. Hours upon hours of tweezing little things out of my hair…just about shaved it all off just to be rid of them.
Ew! At that TCS place, the whole family had lice, and one kid didn’t want to be combed-some people said-let him be, how bad can lice get? (Oh, that’s just great!)
I would suggest you wash your hair with the special stuff too…that is contageous as all hell. It went around my neighborhood when I was 12-my mom got that RID stuff. Ick!
My husband and I were discussing this very thing, and decided that both of us will. My daughter is three, and since we’re the ones that take care of her hair, her clothes, etc., the odds are pretty high that we’ll get them too.
