So the plan for today was to take MyFavoriteKid in for a haircut. A minimal haircut apparently, because he doesn't want anything more than a teensy trim now that he believes it is the long hair that is causing the girls to chase him around. After the haircut we were to go to what we refer to as the CrazyCrazyDogPark (crazy in the best way), since it is near the hair place. Then after that we head home, so that I can wash those 120 tuxedo shirts belonging to the middle school band department. See, I have had them for over a week, but haven't been able to wash them yet because I keep having to wash all of my linens over and over again, thanks to dear kitten.
SO.
We get to the hair cutting joint and our favorite lady there calls me over to point out that MyFK has head lice.
YAY.
(I sort of find it ironic,yet sadly disgusting, that a gaggle of goofy girls were chasing down MyFK last week to play with his hair. I bet the school officials are going to loooove hearing from ME on Monday morning, eh??).
So we did go to the dog park, but then instead of coming home and washing the damn dress shirts (failing again), I now get to wash bedding (again), de-louse everything, and then maybe have a little cry due to all the exhaustion this last week has caused me (oh, I forgot to mention that to DogDog and TheKitteh were playing Tom & Jerry on my head at 5:30am, and I couldn't get back to sleep after that.....and I also forgot to mention the trouble MyFK got stuck in the middle of on the bus ride home from school bus on Thursday--drama).
I shall overcome. Surely, I shall.
Alright. So I have a question for you knitterly folk out there.
I am not showing any signs of infestation myself, but I'm probably going to dose myself with shampoo goo anyhow, just to be safe. But do you think I need to worry about my knitting?? Like, do like like wool?? Or do they need a warm blooded host? Do I need to be concerned?? What do you all think?
Saturday, September 13, 2008
feeling louse-y
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9 comments:
I think your yarn should be safe. http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/hlice/hlinfo1.htm Scroll down to the bottom. If you really want to be super super safe you could bag it and set it in the sun for however long you're supposed to.
here. clickable link
What bad luck! You know they prefer the cleanest heads, don't you?
Don't worry, they can't live in wool. If you put a few drops of tea tree oil into your regular shampoo it'll help protect you from them. Good luck!
Nope, they cannot live in wool, alpaca, silk, on dogs, cats etc.
I feel for you. My daughter brought it home from kindergarten last year, the daughter who has never had a hair cut and her hair is past her bum...It took three solid days of stripping her hair with my fingernails to get her hair nit free so that we could take her back to school. I shaved the two boys and left it at that.
Another non-pesticide thing you can do is saturate his hair with olive oil, put him in a shower cap and let that marinate over night, washing out in the morning. I did that every three days or so as it will smother anything that hatches after the chemical treatment before it gets the chance to lay more eggs.
I found a leave in conditioner at Sally's that had tea tree oil in it and put it in her hair every morning to help ward them off. They LOVE long hair (easier to hide in) but they HATE scalps with product on them, especially tea tree oil.
OH bummer! Good news for your stash, though, it won't be bothered, nor will the pets. My seven year-old brought it home last year, also near the beginning of the school year. Her five year-old sister and I both found a couple on us by the time it was all over. Honestly, I tried the mayonaisse thing and the olive oil thing, but those only slowed them down. The only thing that really works is removing all the eggs and nits. (Oh, and bathing all our heads in pesticide, ugh.) And it is SO much easier to do with short hair. Of course,we couldn't get cuts at a salon with a recent lice infestation. Interesting note: both my girls had just had haircuts days earlier and it wasn't noticed there. I discovered this on my own, after she complained of an itchy scalp. Here's my favorite online resource: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html
Best of luck, what a timesuck!
There's also the "hot hairdryer" method, used daily after school or playtime (the usual repeat source) and just before bed, to prevent sheet reinfestation.
(Just thinking - I wonder whether the freeze-microwave moth-killing treatment would get the eggs out of clothing seams.)
I got head lice when I was 19 - how embarassing! I was dating a guy whose mom had a daycare, and we all got it. It took 3 "nuke-ings" (applications of Rid) to really be done with it. Very time intensive. I'm sorry to hear lice have graced your household. We had good luck with the upholstery spray for the car headrests, couches, etc. But really, the best thing is to comb through the hair again and again until they're all gone.
Good luck!
I feel your itch!! Literally. I have 2 girls and myself currently have the little buggers!! I've done a combination of olive oil tea tree oil and lavender after the rid. We all have a combination of THICK or LOTS OF CURLS....Laundry everyday, checking the hair everyday, Bagging the head of hair every night....I'm with ya sista ir is "LOUSE-Y". I like the hair dryer, will try that too.
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