Well, we're still alive. Problem is so is our lice. I honestly had no idea what having lice entailed before this ordeal. I always wondered what was the big deal? Buy some lice-busting shampoo, wash your hair, comb it out and be done with it, right?
Oh, so very wrong.
You see, they lay these little white eggs all over your head. So, even though the actual bugs comb out easily, the only way we have been able to get rid of the eggs is to hand-pick them out because they stick to the individual strands of hair. I just spent two hours doing this on Haddie's hair and feel like I didn't even put a dent in them. Sadly, she doesn't even have it as bad as yours truly.
The average person has 120,000 strands of hair on their head.
My mop has an estimated 1 billion.
Feel yourself itching just by reading this post? Welcome to our world!
And so our exile continues, at least for several more days. Thank you for the well-wishes and to my friend Lisa who sent her two children to drop off some delicious cookies.
Though refusing to come to the door and sending your children instead is kind of like sending the lambs to the slaughter, isn't it?
We hope to reemerge with a full head of healthy hair by 2010. In the meantime, I would love to hear any advice you may have on surviving this.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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54 Comments:
I hope you don't have super lice, the ones that are resistant to the insecticide in the shampoo. We went through H E double hockey sticks with lice a couple of years ago.
OH MY! Itching and scratching over here...
I know, I know! You can SHAVE your head! TA DA! : )
Sorry you and the fam are suffering thru this.
Put your hair in pony tails, cut it all off, clean the heck out of it where it's easier to reach (i.e. in your bathroom sink rather than on your head), and then donate it. What? There's something gross about donating lice-hair? *sigh* And you don't want a crew cut? *double-sigh* I'm so sorry I have no real tips. But I am very very sympathetic.
Oh no for you! My head is really itching now. I say go all crazy and shave your head. Okay. Maybe not.
Oh, man. Man, man, man. The only thing I can think of is the cutting of the hair, too. I mean, hair DOES grow back, but it sounds like these lice buggies don't die. I wish I could help!
Instead I'll send you all kinds of prayers, karma, and wishes that the lice will spontaneously disappear...
I wish I had some advice but I was lucky enough to escape my second grade class getting it. You know I did hear bald is beautiful...right not helping.
OH that REALLY stinks! I have no advice. Sorry girl.
I will tell you, on top of my other comment on the other post, that we shampooed extra- there was no way I was taking a chance. I even shampooed those in my family that didn't get it- covered ALL the bases- and I sprayed the beds and carpet and couches twice. We believe it came to us from visitors in the Church nursery- since at that time, that was the only place we went :)
The phrase that popped into my head immediately was "bald is beautiful, baby." And, then I read some of the other comments, and I see that I'm not alone!
I wish I had good advice for you! On the other hand, I'm kinda selfishly happy to not know anything about lice. Ick!!
GOOD LUCK!!
I am not sorry I don't have advice for you. We all have a healthy head of hair and I can only imagine the time you have spent working on it all.
When my youngest was in kindergarten, lice went through the class and we were spared. I was so greatful, but I think about it every time I put my head against a chair at the movie theater. Scary.
Good luck.
I think there is prescription stronger shampoo you can get (but you probably already checked into that) I have seen your beautiful hair on the blog and I can't stand thinking about what you are going through.
We had it for over two months. TWO! They are near impossible to kill. Here is a link to a site i found and the treatment worked. Good luck. And it is much cheaper than the 20-30 bottles if bug buster you keep having to buy.
http://nuvoforheadlice.com/method_explained.htm
You have my complete sympathy. And you with all that gorgeous hair. At least they don't shave it as the treatment nowadays, right? :)
I'm looking for that silver lining or something.
I think you need to get some compensation from the lice infested spa you went to.
Oh...oh my. Strike my last comment. I would absolutely rather climb mountains and sweat over biathlons than go to a lice spa. I am so, so very sorry.
I'm going to go scratch my head for a few hours now.
You poor things!!! Sending healthy thoughts your way!
Oh you poor thing. It's a shame its been such an ordeal. I had no idea.
I have no ideas, Amber. I am so sorry you are dealing with this nastiness.
I've seen your GORGEOUS hair in person and can't imagine...the lice must think they are in heaven.
It's time to send them to that other place.
Seriously, I would call and raise heck with the spa that infected you. Sick. And what Lisa said totally made me cringe... movie theatre seats... icky. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.
Awful. Sorry, I have no experience on this one. I think the cleaning and washing everything in hot water is important too.
As a liscensed professional in the hair industry for coming on 12 years now.. here is my advice:
You have to use the medicated shampoo stuff...
You have to disinfect EVERYTHING>>.. pillow cases, stuffed animals, hair ties, I mean EVERYTHING!!
Consider it an oppertunity to get a hair make over.. and cut everyone short.. shave the boys.... cut you girls as short as you dare yourself... to help get rid of it all... and then you can go in and make it pretty....
Good luck to you.... other than that... I think your stuck unless you all go bald.... =)
And yucko on the donate the lice hair comment..roflmbo,..
Amber. Considering I am still finding blond hair amidst my belongings (from 8 years ago??), blond hair that has "Amber" written all over it's genetic code, I assert that the seemingly liberal estimate of Amber hair, one billion, is a rather puny and highly conservative estimate.
I learned in my hair school that cutting/ shaving really doesn't make a difference.
Not sure if that's true. But don't go cutting hair if you don't really want to.
Super clean everything.
If it's still cold there you can throw all the bedding/ pillows etc outside. Freezing kills them.
Or put things in a bag and in the freezer.
Tea tree shampoo helps keep them away (once they are gone).
Good luck. What a huge pain.
Oh no! We have luckily only dealt with this issue once in the past (and that was enough!). I hope you figure out a way to get rid of this issue soon.
Sprayed my computer with bug stuff and DDT after reading this.
Put a cheapie disposable shower cap on your head with the lice shampoo or gel slathered all over your head. Wear it around for as long as you can stand it. Then after a long time wearing your lice killing helmet rinse your hair and flip your head upside down and blow dry your hair starting at the base of your hair as hot as you can handle it. The hot air kills the bugs and the eggs. If you heat the eggs long enough they will slide out much easier.
I am so sorry. Seriously though, you blog with such fantastic humor.
Oh...and wash all of your bedding in hot water...and change your pillows out if you have extra and bag up the pillows that you have been using. The lice will die after several weeks.
Spray all the furniture and car seats with that lice killing spray, too.
Not that I have ever had lice before ;)
Oh No~~~~~~
spray it , wash it with hot hot water?
I am so sorry you're going through this. I hope it goes away soon!
Everytime I get the dreaded note home from school that a case of head lice was found, I shudder. I have never personally gone through it, but I have heard, and now read, that it is SO hard to get rid of them, and it's frustrating, and time consuming. Here's hoping you knock them off soon :)
I hope that you all are done with the itchies. It sounds awful. I dread the day that lice hits our house because there is NO. WAY. I would be able to come through my daughters hair finely enough. Good luck!
Hang in there! We've come close a few times but luckily never gotten the little buggers. I do know that lice are attracted to clean hair so I think my hair is just greasy enough that they don't like me.
Ack! Just reading this gave me the creepy-crawlies!
Have you tried the Fairy Tales hair care lice shampoo? It's great stuff. When we had a lice scare here, I used it on Dawson just in case. It's non-toxic and smells like "real" shampoo and not a medicine chest.
Hang in there!
this is why I won't even lay my head back on the chairs at the movie theater (not that I go much with 3 kids....) I'm so paranoid about lice. Now I see I have good reason to be. ak! good luck! hope this is the first and last time you ever have to experience this!
Glad you liked the cookies. We would have come in but it was late. Sorry you are still an outcast. I search my kids daily for signs of an outbreak. I will take you to lunch when this is all over.
I wish I had some advice--having been through it a couple of times when my kids were little, I totally sympathize. It is the worst. And, why am I sitting here scratching my head now???????????
Ugh. I feel for you. They can be tough to get rid of. I have a friend who even de-loused all the bedding and everything. It took several hair applications too.
I remembered that I also bathed my kids every single day and we would comb out the nits forEVER it seemed like. We didn't really go anywhere for three weeks- and washing all the bedding on hot water and hot dryer is a must! plus any towels you use on your head, pajamas, etc.
If you used any hats of any kind,- I would seriously just throw them away- not worth a reinfestation. Also wash or trash hoodies, or anything that possibly came in contact. My son has super thick hair- they seem to like that the best. I can't even imagine trying to comb nits out of your super thick and curly hair!
We had this problem earlier this year actually. My daughter picked it up from school from someone who was taught to share - everything. Anyway, we got the shampoo's, the bedding sprays, etc, etc, etc. It seemed like nothing I did would get rid of these little suckers. Finally I went looking online and found that if you smother your head in olive oil, put a plastic bag (around your hair, not your head) on for about an hour or so, then wash it a few times (to remove the excess oil), it completely suffocates the adult bugs. The oil also makes it easier to pluck out the little eggs. They don't stick as much while smothered in oil.
Since then I've been putting about 5 drops of 'tea tree oil' in our shampoo bottles (a tip from my hair stylist) and haven't had any repeats yet.
Good luck!
I'm just dropping by to let you know I have another give-away contest running on my LDS blog this week
at Not Entirely British.
THREE prizes this time - books and a CD from LDS author/speaker Sarah Hinze. Here's a snippet from her
website: "Sarah's own healing experience prompted her and her husband, Brent Hinze, Ph.D., to embark
on their search nearly twenty years ago. For two decades, she interviewed individuals and chronicled what she calls "prebirth experiences," or communication from children before they are born. Her work has provided solid evidence that unborn children can warn, protect, and enlighten us from another plane of existence."
Ugh, you poor things. Sadly, I don't have any very useful advice (or, maybe not so sadly) besides, wash, rinse, a healthy dose of cookies and repeat.
Good luck!
We haven't gone through this yet, but I'm sure once we do I'll never be heard from again...too busy fighting the straight jacket and whatnot. Ugh! You poor girl!
Super lice? Martin, let's keep this uplifting shall we? Lol.
"Go Amber, get your freak on, you can do it, you can fight those darn bugs, Just do it, Only the Strong Survive!"
... any cliches I missed?
;) (((hugs)))
I have the heebie jeebies now! I am not even going to say that we have never had to go through this at our house....yet. Ugh.. I shouldn't send this I know!
Seriously, I'm still waiting for the "Shaved heads" post. I have no patients and so would probably just go bald and wear hats than try to fight it.
Good luck, sweetie. If it didn't melt I would mail you lots of ice cream. Or I'd mail it to Jamie and hope someone would mail you some chocolate. =)
Now I think I have lice just from reading this.
It is something I've never experienced and hope that I don't ever!!!
Yikes! So sorry! I hope it goes away soon!
I thought it might make you feel better if I told you that I have nausea, stomach cramps, and stinging, painful diarrhea. They don't call it "the runs" for nothing. So I'm hoping these last seven hours won't get worse. And, get this, I'd been wondering what it was like to have a colon cleanse (too much late-night t.v.). No, I cannot believe that La Petite is putting this out in public, but....on a lighter note, at least I don't have to buy anything to get "cleansed." HAHA. Seriously, I need to get this Montezuma crap finished (the Vietnamese food tasted good, but I won't go there again!ack!) so I can start fasting & praying tomorrow for a lady who's suffering from cancer. I think you need to research the Ute prof. who invented the lice-killer. I'd bet you could get your hands on one this week (you've got connections better than the mafia). Love ya lots, and good luck.
Please ignore my insanity. I'm so talented at embarassing myself. But at least we can both feel sorry for ourselves "together"! I want to suggest you lock yourself and family outside a hotel room (at the hot tub, naturally) because if you're freezing, the lice will be too! But I know you've maxed out murphy's law so I'm only kidding about this "suggestion." Love ya Amber. I'll be rooting for you.
Oh, wow. What an awful experience. Hope it's all over soon!
We all feel for you. Of course, we'll be scratching our heads when we think of you.
It is the pits and it takes forever to feel free and clear of the little lepers. I still get itchy just thinking of our infestation many years ago.
Hmm...buzz cuts all around?
So, this totally happened to me about a year and a half ago too. I still have no idea how I got it - my son and husband didn't. I was 6 months pregnant at the time so did not want to use the medicated shampoo. I was living in Australia and found a website there that advised using white conditioner (any brand) all over your head. It would temporarily stun the lice and make it easier to see them and comb them out. My husband had to comb it for me as I have heaps of hair, but after 2 or 3 days, they were all gone and no one else got them. Oh, I so hope they're gone by now and you won't need this advice. Good luck!
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