I'm a Desperate Louse-Wife!!

Noooo!!!!

Can you hear my screams of anger and frustration echoing around the world??

And let me tell you why:

I have head lice.

Okay, you can stop recoiling in disgust now.

We're not a dirty family...we bathe regularly...but these things just happen sometimes....

In fact, ironically, in my research, I have discovered that had I been a dirtier person, my chances of getting lice would be smaller. Turns out that dirty and oily hair makes for a poor environment for the mother louse to lay and attach her eggs on the hair follicles.

I had lice when I was little. My mom used to babysit and one of the families had lice. My mom was piiiisssssed. My hair was down to my butt and was super thick. She had to go over every inch with a flea comb. It was NOT fun. I remember her sitting behind me, combing my hair and..ugh...popping the lice with her fingernails, killing them.

Not a happy memory, lemme tell you.

I had to end up getting all of my hair cut off above my shoulders because it was just destroyed by the chemicals/pesticides that are in the lice shampoos and then running the flea comb through it.

It was such a traumatic event in my life, that now, anytime I get nervous, my head starts itching.

So....fast forward 20-something years...and here I am.

My head has been itching a lot...and so was my neck and behind my ears.

It was bad.

I kept mentioning it to my husband, who brushed off my concerns (sorry, babe, if you're reading this! but you totally did and you know it). He told me that I was imagining things and just liked to complain. Well, alrighty then.

I tried my hardest not to scratch...but that is an impossible task. I want to rub a wire-bristled brush all over my head and neck!!

So, today, after a couple of days of intense itching, I asked my husband once again to check my head. He refused. So my daughter checked.

Sure enough, there were the nits (eggs) stuck like dandruff to my hair follicles. When she tried to pull them off (she had on black rubber gloves), they didn't want to come off.

Then we saw a louse.

Yep. I've got head lice.

Sigh.

Immediately, we began racking our brains, trying to think of where would I have gotten them?! The boys and myself have been sick with an upper respiratory-type illness, so we've been home for, like, 2 weeks. A lot of the websites have said that you'll know you have it within a week or less. Upon further research, I found that this is simply not true. It can be closer to a month before knowing!! Maybe more!! Woah!!

I'm pretty sure that I know where I got them from...but I guess that's not important. No sense in upsetting the person, in case she's reading this... (for those of you who read this before, yep, I did sort of mention who it was, but I've reconsidered that and just took it down)

So, anyways....

Now, you know me....I was NOT eager about buying a traditional lice treatment. I have absolutely no desire to pour pesticides all over my head...and possibly my babies' heads. Especially since I've heard that all of those lice shampoos are becoming pretty useless anymore. Apparently, the lice is evolving and becoming stronger than the shampoo. grrrr

So I began researching crunchy/natural remedies. I found A LOT. A very promising one is a type of hot air treatment that is guaranteed to work the very first time! It's called Air Alle. (click HERE to visit their website) It's basically using a very high powered blow dryer for a 30-90 minute session while they have your hair divided up into about 20 sections. It kills waaaaaay more than the lice shampoos and is completely effective. However...it is pricey. The process is that they have to check ALL family members/people you live with for lice. That is $25/per person. Then, whoever has lice, has to be treated...that is $149 (at the location nearest me) per peson.

With 6 family members, I just can't afford that.

Oh, don't think that I didn't try to convince Antonio that we could, though...but he held firm and said "absolutely not...find something else."

Sigh.

So I kept looking.

Peppermint oil seemed promising. Neem oil came highly recommended. But another product kept popping up in my Amazon suggestions as I was searching for peppermint and neem oils...

Fairy Tales Repel products

They are a mix of natural herbs and plants...and completely toxin-free and pesticide-free!

They came with soooo many great reviews!!!

When I tried buying some off Amazon, they were COMPLETELY sold out!!

Luckily, my local Ulta was in stock!! So Antonio and MJ ran there and are picking up the emergency Survival kit (which contains a treatment mousse, a Terminator lice comb, a Repel spray conditioner and a hair clip), a large 32-oz bottle of the Rosemary Repel Shampoo and a large 32-oz Rosemary Repel Creme Conditioner. They just texted me and told me that they bought it all and will be home soon!

This is also a great shampoo and conditioner, they say, to use as lice prevention. So you just wash your kid's hair and condition, as usual, with these every day (especially during lice season!!...which it is now) and it will keep their heads completely lice free!!

This stuff is supposed to work amazingly well and really fast, so I'll keep you guys updated! So far, I'm the only one who seems to have it. Mahri uses a tea tree oil shampoo, which is said to repel lice, so that may be what has saved her...and the boys and Antonio seem to be lice-free too, so far. But I'm going to have them use this shampoo and conditioner, just to be on the safe side.

I am just ever so grateful that I had so much of my hair cut off a couple of weeks ago...I cannot imagine going through this process with long thick hair.

Stay tuned to my blog for a new series, detailing my "adventure" of trying to get rid of lice naturally!

Have you or your kids gotten lice lately? What did you use to clear it up?