The Little Guys Vs Big Guys

The early part of this week can be summed up in one tiny little word.

Lice.

Yuk.  I have a deep seated fear of bugs, crawlies, spiders - anything really getting into my hair.  I don't like going to the hairdressers because I really don't like people touching my hair.  It's weird, I know.  So lice have always been a big fear of mine.  I've never suffered from them myself, to which I owe a great debt to whomever it is that controls these things.

One of my daycare kids came home from school on Tuesday, scratching his head.  I duly inspected his hair, and found nothing.  The next morning he was scratching again, and I found the telltale sticky white specks.

Nits.

I phoned his Mum, who advised - "shave his hair off, now!".  So I got out my clippers, and shaved his hair down to a #1 and a slightly longer #2 on the top.  Carefully I stored the clippers and attachments in a ziploc, then we all went out for a little excursion to the chemist.

Who knew Lice were such a prevalent thing?  Certainly not me.  It turns out that they're big business, and there are 101 types of treatments attesting this fact.  So I had two little boys - one with a head of "little guys", the other as yet unaffected, with me, in the "Chemist Superstore" trying to find the best lice treatment around.

So I chose the ones that looked the most dangerous to lice, and we left.

Of course my head was itching now.  Not just itching, crawling.  However as my hair is quite long, I despaired of my treatment options.

Anyhoo, we got home, and the treatment began.

The initial treatment of choice was a spray on thing, that involved only a 10 minute wait time.  With wriggly, impatient children - the average wait time of 30mins just wasn't going to cut it.  So we sprayed on the "insecticide" and waited.  Then we rinsed, then we shampooed and combed.  Thankfully the shaved nature of his head made for super easy "little guy" eradication.

Whilst he was bathing in fresh water, I sprayed down the clippers and attachments, and left them to get clean.

Once Lice Boy got out of the bath it was my turn.  As I had three children in my care, I couldn't just hop in the shower, I had to wash my hair over the basin.

So Lice Boy had the honour of wetting my hair with the hand shower.  Then I shampooed.  Then we rinsed again.  Somewhere during the process my clothes, shoes, and surrounding bathroom area became saturated as well.

While the 'insecticide' processed, we dried the bathroom.  Then rinsed my hair.  No use trying to use the fine 'nit' comb on my mop.  Too much hair.

Then we all got into dry clothes, and settled down for a 'little guy' free afternoon.

posted by: blytheswideshut at May 28, 2006 13:31 | link | comments (2) |

Comments:

#1  29 May 2006 - 12:19

 

yikes! i've never had lice (knock on wood) but it's also one of my big fears. i have such long, thick hair that i think it would be a total nightmare to deal with. and i'm sure i wouldn't look good with a shaved head...

Anonymous

#2  29 May 2006 - 17:25

 

Ugh, the whole thing is so gross.

I didn't have any lice or nits in my hair, but the power of suggestion was such that as soon as we discovered the 'little guys', my head started to itch uncontrollably.

My hair is medium length and very thick, so there was no way the 'nit' comb was getting through my hair, and OMG no way was I shaving my hair off...eeuuwww I would look soo bad.

The whole bugs in hair thing is one of my complete mortal fears.

Glad you too have never had them.

blytheswideshut

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