Nit-picking

Sadly, this is what has been going on at our house. Yes, head lice entered our home a few weeks ago and are finally gone. At least we think so, they are REALLY hard to get rid of. I mostly wanted to share a few things about our experience with these pesky things. I noticed Chloe scratching her head and as I looked closer I saw some little bugs in the wisps of her hair. I wasn't sure at first if it was lice or not, Brent knew right off. We started by buying the typical lice removal kit at the pharmacy and tried to wrangle a VERY active 3 yr old to comb out live lice and nits. It was challenging and didn't seem to work very well. Brent did most of this as I just couldn't see all the little nits. A few days later I discovered some lice in my head (oh no!). My hair is SO thick I thought I might have to shave my head. Also, since I am feeding Phoebe breast milk, I couldn't use prescription strength lice remover b/c it can be absorbed through the skin. I had to come up with alternate remedies for myself, which ended up being better for all of us. Here is what we found to work and it is all natural.

The Robi Comb (tiny bug zapper)

This little thing works, it really does detect and kill the lice. It buzzes really loud and when it makes contact with a live lice it stops you keep combing it out and then you see the little dead lice on the comb. Very satisfying to see them dying. Brent really liked this product. It was easy to use. 

Cetaphil lice removal (Nuvo treatment)

This method seems strange, but worked awesome for us! You can read more about it by following the link. The short version is you put Cetaphil (we used generic walgreens brand) on dry hair, down to the scalp. A lot of it, enough to make you hair dripping. You let it sit 2 min, comb excess out and them blow dry your hair. It took me an hour to blow dry my hair. It smothers the lice. You let it be in your hair 8-12 hrs before washing with normal shampoo. Gentle on the scalp and no harsh chemicals. Those lice get smothered!

The real bummer about head lice is the nits. Nothing kills them, they stick to hair, and they hide in thick hair. We used plastic combs, metal combs, but bottom line is that you just have to nit pick. It was HARD with Chloe. She watched a lot of T.V.. In the end, we cut her hair. She has a cute bob, that makes her look so grown up. I also got a hair cut, though most of mine were taken care of with the cetaphil. 

We hate lice around here. We also washed stuff like crazy and thankfully Chloe doesn't sleep with but one stuffed toy. Thank God we are finished with lice around here, it was an exhausting 2 weeks! Brent was the main nit picker and did an AMAZING job, thanks honey.