Nit Picking

Nit picking. Literally.

Not nagging or carping or finding fault with your kids. But actually picking nits out of their hair.

I never expected to find myself in this situation since I have always homeschooled, and my younger kids are never in Sunday School or co-ops or other regular group activities. But, alas, it happened.

The 4 year old had a bug in her hair one day after a full day of playing outside in the warm sun. I flicked it out of her hair, and didn't give it another thought. Days later, she said her head itched, so I took a look. Another one of those bugs. And another. And another.

Thankfully, a friend was over; a woman who spent years as a school teacher and who recognized immediately what I was dealing with. And thankfully, she was calm and reassuring.

So, what follows is a result of research, trial and error, and my approach to the problem.

And I must note, the problem spread to me.

My 4 yr old is a girl, so shaving her head was not really an option. But if you find your son's head infested with lice, shave his head as short as you can, and that's about all you need to do other than inspect his head daily. But you'll likely not find anymore lice. I saw one on my 7 yr old, and promptly shaved his head. That was that. (But you do need to check everyone in the house!)

So, I dutifully washed her head with a commercial pesticide treatment. It smelled pretty awful, and it didn't kill all the lice. Turns out, a lot of lice are resistant to pesticides. However, the handy comb included in the kit was invaluable. I recommend getting 2 different kinds of combs. You may find one works better than another. Plus, if you have more than one person infested, you can use a different comb on each child. Boil the combs for 3 minutes after each use. 

So, after I could see the pesticide would not work, I looked around and found a few more options that actually work, and are more natural.  

First, I tried mayonnaise. Simply smother all of the hair and scalp with it- be generous! Then wrap it all up in plastic wrap, and pop on a shower cap. Leave on for 2 hours.Go about your day as much as you can, ignoring the fact that you smell like potato salad. You are effectively smothering and killing the larvae and adult lice! Wash out with shampoo a couple of times. You will still faintly smell the mayo, but it's a small price to pay.

Second, was a mixture of 10 teaspoons of coconut oil, a squeeze of any shampoo, and 10 drops each of tea tree, lavender, rosemary, peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils. I had all of these on hand, I am happy to say. This is a bit harder to get through your hair than the mayo, but it smells much better. Wrap your head in plastic wrap and cover with a shower cap, just as with the mayo treatment. The coconut oil disintegrates the exoskeleton of the adult lice, which, I suppose is the same as killing them. This is easier to wash out of your hair, and leaves it pretty nice looking and smelling wonderful. My child and I did the mayo two times and the coconut mix twice. (For a child, half of the coconut mix will do, unless she has very long hair).

But killing larvae and adults is only half the battle. Adult lice lay eggs, called nits, on the shaft of the hair. They won't wash off, and are pretty hard to kill or smother since they are a very protective place for a baby nit. So, that's where the nit comb comes into play. You have to set aside a good block of time to thoroughly search for and comb out the nits. Have a flashlight handy and a magnifying glass too. I combed through my 4 year old's head 2 times a day. I also had to comb through my own hair, which was tricky because I couldn't see what I was doing. I used a tissue to wipe off the comb every few swipes, and used a second tissue to place all the hair that the comb pulled out. It's easier to see the nits on a white tissue. 

Once you have eliminated the adults and the larvae, you have to go after the nits like a crazy woman. Because once you get rid of them, they won't hatch and grow into adult egg laying lice. It took a week of vigilant hair combing and inspections and hair treatments to finally have a day that was nit-free. But since the nits are small, and easy to miss, another week of combing and inspections is warranted, because nits take about 7-10 days to mature into an adult. Keep in mind that some of the nits you find later on, have already hatched and are just empty eggs, still attached to your hair, and that you likely have already killed the larvae or adult with your mayo or coconut hair treatment. But another round of the mayo or coconut treatment can't hurt at this point!

You do have some other work to do. In addition to the hair and scalp treatment, it's a good idea to wash the sheets and clothing (even pajamas) of the affected person(s) daily until you are nit free, and to give the rugs a couple of good vacuums too. You can spray the furniture and carpet with a pesticide (it comes in the lice kit) as well. But all this is secondary to treating the scalp and hair, and there is no need to panic about it. Lice must be on a human head to survive. Once they fall off, they die within 12-24 hours. 

Give this a good two weeks. It will be pretty intense for the first week, and I admit, I was sorely tempted to sport a shorn look. The second week will be more maintenance and inspections, and less laundry or hair treatments.

Don't worry about the pets; only humans get lice. You can only get it from head to head contact with an infested person, or, more unlikely, by sharing hair accessories and combs and brushes or hats or clothing.

But most importantly, mom, and here is the key: YOU ARE NOT A HORRIBLE MOTHER. Your child is not a victim of your neglect (indeed, lice actually like really clean hair instead of dirty, oily hair because it's easier to stick to). You have not failed in any way. Millions of kids are affected by lice every year, and the lice care not what race, social class, or political persuasion the person's head belongs to. YOU ARE A GOOD MOM!