An Unpleasant Subject
This may be an unpleasant subject to write about, but, I think writing about it might help others who might experience this in the future. It’s one of those subjects that’s a little taboo. No one wants to admit they have ever expense with it. I get it, its not something I am proud about but its not a reflection about what kind of person/ parent you are. I bet you have no idea what I am talking about…
If there is anything I dread about school it is the possibility of one of my kids getting head lice. Even though I unfortunately have experience with lice and now I know it is not the end of the world, the first time I experienced it with one of my kids I thought it was!
I have to explain first that I have a phobia from lice. When I was in elementary school in the US, I remember how our teachers used to check the class for lice using pencils. One time, when the teacher checking, she called someone else to check me, then they called me to the principal’s office where I was checked again. They called my parents and my dad came and picked me up. When I go home my mom checked me again. After all this it ended up having dandruff! But that incident stuck with me and ever since I’ve always had a fear of getting lice.
It’s been a habit to check myself and my kids for lice when I honestly wasn’t sure what to look for. Then, my kids started to go to school. For the first four years of school, we were lucky, no lice. Until my daughter tuned 5 and was in kindergarten. She came home and complained that one of the kids poured sand in her hair when they were playing in the playground at school. I was looking in her to see how much sand was in it before giving her a shower when I saw something walk in her hair!! Naturally I was terrified! I gave her a thorough shower, washed her hair with shampoo and hoped for the best. The next day I kept her home from school and took her to our pediatrician, I didn’t know what else to do. I asked him if lice could be so big! He surprised me by answering yes! I was horrified. He checked her hair and told me he didn’t see anything but to keep on the lookout and not to worry, if it was lice it was no big deal, buy the shampoo and make sure you comb out all of the eggs. I freaked out, naturally. I had no experience with lice and I was too embarrassed to ask anyone. My husband was equally embarrassed and asked that my mother in law (who we lived with) not know about the lice. This made it more stressful, how can i keep something from here that was stressing me out so much! I kept my kids upstairs when cousins came to visit and didn’t let anyone upstairs. I felt as if my house was contaminated. I researched on line for natural remedies and gave my daughter a mayonnaise hair mask. Mayonnaise is supposed to suffocate the lice, then after I thought it was long enough I washed it thoroughly and blow dried her hair. Heat is supposed to kill any remaining living lice, right? I admit when I think of what I put my daughter through, I am very embarrassed. A week later, I checked her hair only to discover she still had lice! I cut her hair to make it easier to deal with. (I should say butchered her hair, hair cuts are not one of my strong suits!) I went to the pharmacy bought lots of shampoo, washed her hair and her siblings with the shampoo and used vinegar to help comb out all the eggs. (vinegar helps dissolve the adhesive stuff on the eggs and is said to kill them.) I combed her hair thoroughly, checked my boys and shaved my youngest’s head. He was only a baby and I didn’t want to use the shampoo on him. I continued to use the lice shampoo and checked my kids heads more constantly than before. I bought tea tree oil to dab some behind their ears before they went to school. I read that lice hated the smell. As soon as I found lice in my daughter’s hair I went into super cleaning mode. I washed everything, literally everything even the clothes and bed sheets in the closet. I searched for home remedies and tried a little bit of everything. I added tea tree oil to our shampoo, I found something in my hair and thought it was lice, freaked out, broke down sobbing to my mother in law’s full-time helper. She checked my hair and reassured me that there was nothing there. I read that mouthwash was a good repellant, or it killed the eggs honestly, I forgot. This happened 9 years ago! I made a spray of mouthwash diluted in water and sprayed all the upholstery I couldn’t fit in the washer. I threw away pillows, put everything in the sun. I threw away plushies, except for anything that had sentimental value, that got washed, sunned and stored tightly in bags for months. Luckily in the middle of this my mother in law went away for a couple of weeks so I had the house to myself. I kept my daughter at home from school until I was sure she was lice free and I told her teacher as soon as I confirmed it was lice so she could let the other mothers know. Later, she told me that a couple of mothers confessed that their kids had lice too, why didn’t they say anything before?! They were embarrassed. I told my sister in law (mother of R and K) That same time one of her boys got lice too. A cousin in another city said her boy caught it too from school and she shaved all her boys’ heads! When I spoke up about it I discovered that almost everyone went through this yet no one talks about it. I get it, its embarrassing and disgusting and we feel like its our fault. But it isn’t. It’s not our fault, and lice actually clings to clean hair more easily than oily hair. I think the only reason to be embarrassed is if you are too lazy to pick out all the nits from your child’s hair, or if you send them to school knowing they have lice.
We had another case of lice right before schools shut down because of COVID, when everyone was worried about COVID I was worried about head lice. It was actually a relief that my kids didn’t have to go to school while I dealt with lice. I shaved my youngest’s hair, he was less than two years old. He stil had a little cradles cap and that was my excuse. This time I was more relaxed, I didn’t freak out as much though I may or may not have had myself a good cry in private. I managed to get the lice form the first combing because now I knew that lice shampoo and vinegar are more efficient than mayonnaise and heat.
I may seem more relaxed about the subject, and I am. Although I still worry about my kids catching it from school I’ve learned that its not the end of the world. I’m not embarrassed to talk about it and I hope this post will help mothers who might go through this.