Shower Caps and Bunk Beds

**UPDATE**
The oil worked like a charm!! I washed every ones hair yesterday morning and apparently most of the bugs just washed out (what could be easier than that?) and the rest (just 2 or 3 ber head) combed out. Best of all, they were dead. All but one who was hiding out in a tiny un-oiled spot in the middle of Josie's head.

By the way, if you ever have this problem, do not waste money on other combs. Just go online to buy the NitFree Terminator. It is, by far, the best comb for the job. It actually does get all the nits, which other combs do not. We tried several different brands, including Rid, with no success.

A side benefit to the oil: Smooth, soft and shiny hair. Our heads have never sported silkier locks than they do right now, though I don't think I'll be doing this again any time soon.

For your reference, here's what to do to get rid of lice:
1)Obtain a NitFree Terminator comb. It is worth the price and the two day wait to get it from Amazon.com.

2) Before bed, put olive oil in hair until it oozes out when you squeeze the hair. Make sure to get every hair, from scalp to tip, especially around ears and the nape of the neck. Put on a shower cap to protect bedding and go to sleep.

2)Shower. Wash hair very well to get oil out (it takes 2 or 3 washings at least). Use conditioner, and rinse. (This makes the fine combing go much better).

3)Brush your hair to get all the tangles out, then run the nit comb through your hair from scalp to tip and rinse comb out after each pass. You'll want to look close at the comb each time too, to feel the satisfaction of spotting those few dead little bugs that remain. You'll also see, if you look carefully, any nits that were in your hair.

4)Continue to comb your hair with the nit comb every day for 7 to 10 days. This will insure that if any nits were left behind, for some reason, you'll get them soon after they hatch and before they can lay more eggs.

5)Comb through hair one more time about 7 days after your last combing from step 4, just to make sure there has been no re-infestation. If there has been, you'll have caught it before it gets bad and can just comb daily to get rid of them.

There. That's about it for this gross lesson. Hope you never have to use the information.

I was itchy for weeks before I realized what was happening. I figured it out completely by accident, too. Sarah walked by me, after playing hard in the leaf pile for about an hour, and I saw a bug crawling through a poof of her hair, so I reached out and grabbed it out before she could notice it. Then I took a look at it. It wasn't a little flying outdoor bug from the leaves like I thought. This bug was different.

I looked it up online and discovered that this bug doesn't enjoy flying, or jumping or even really doing much walking, for that matter. This bug was only happy in hair, human hair, to be specific. And it was the reason we were so itchy lately. It was a louse!

After freaking out for a few minutes and trying to get over the gross factor involved in this situation, I went out a bought lice shampoo, because that's what you do, right? We came home, washed everyone with special shampoo that really stings if you get it in your eyes, and then I started brushing and combing all that hair with those tiny little lice combs. Ugh.

I was under the impression that the shampoo would kill the lice. The reason I was under that impression was because the package said it would. Except it didn't. I was pulling live lice from every head. So what was the point of that shampoo? I have no idea, other than the fact that it cost us a LOT of money per bottle.

So I was able to comb the live lice out and I was very confident that the combing got to every one of them. However, there were eggs on our hair. Lots of them. I spent days picking nits out of our hair and I knew that I wouldn't be able to get them all out. Sure enough, we've got more lice this week. So I did a little more research and learned a new trick. These bugs breath through holes in their sides, tiny, tiny holes. And they have to be at least 7 days old to lay more eggs, so we have a small window here to kill them before they can cause more damage.

So tonight, my children went to bed with their hair soaked in olive oil (which will plug the breathing holes of the little crawlies on their heads and kill them overnight) and some lovely shower caps to keep it all contained.



Don't they just look adorable? Aside from the bugs in their hair? I'll be sporting a pink cap tonight, too. And Daddy, if he elects to join the fun just to be safe, will get to pick white or blue. Then, in the morning, we'll all shower, leave some conditioner in our hair and comb everything out with a super lice comb, which I'm confident will allow us to get all the lice and any left over nits, too. Cross your fingers for me, please. This is such a gross issue and I'm looking forward to it being over!

Notice the boxes in the background of this picture? Those are the new bunk-beds for the kids. I'll tell you that fun roller coaster ride next time. The kids are so excited with their surprise and we'll be having fun putting these up tomorrow.

I really hope this oil thing works.