Lice Advice via Classic Sitcoms: If it's "All in the Family" take it "One Day at a Time"

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it has been a dark and stormy night; we even had tornado warnings today. It is 10:30 pm. I just put my son and middle daughter to bed. Why so late? Because I found head lice on my daughter's head. Yes, no one is immune from head lice, not even the children of The Nice Lice Lady. But I wasn't freaked out or upset(though I wish I had noticed it at 7:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm.) I was quite happy - random lice checks work!

My daughter had been scratching the back of her head earlier this evening. She noticed that I saw her scratching and said, "C'mon, Mom, you don't need to check - it's just a mosquito bite." I may have replied by saying, "But, my darling daughter, you must understand that regular assessment for the condition of pediculosis capitis, or head lice, is the most effective way of detecting the condition before a more serious problem arises." Hmm. I don't think I said that. I think I said something more along the lines of, "Get over here; you know the drill."

I looked in the itchy spot but found nothing. Because we were going to start supper, I reminded myself to do a more thorough check later. Which I did. At bedtime. Yawn.

I found one egg on her bangs. So, I knew we had to do the whole big lice thing, the crazy production, the...just kidding. Head lice are a treatable problem that you have to take seriously, but it doesn't mean that you have to go crazy. You may be surprised at what a non-issue this is in our house. Here's what we did...

First my 9 year old and I jumped in the bath together. We wet her hair and slathered it with cheap conditioner. Leaving in the conditioner, I brushed out the tangles with a brush. Then I grabbed my trusty, purple, $9 Walmart comb (click here for info on the comb) and started getting down to business. Combing from root to tip, I combed and combed through all of her hair until I could get to 100 strokes without finding an egg or bug. If I found a nit or a louse in my comb, I started counting at one again. After 30 minutes of combing in the bath, these were my findings: 1 adult bug (able to lay eggs), 4 nymphs (unable to lay eggs), and 3 eggs.

Once we finally reached 100 clean strokes, we hopped out. I quickly dried my daughter's hair with a blow dryer (just for drying it, not an extended directed blowing for killing nits and lice). Then, just for fun, we spent about 10 minutes looking at my daughter's lice under the microscope. I told my daughter that I thought her lice were cute but she was not convinced.

Ok, back to work. We then hopped on the couch for a good old-fashioned check through the hair with just my fingers and some good light. Yes, I said "the couch". I asked my son to take a picture of my daughter and me (see above) so you could see how we got comfy. I'm in a sweatshirt and jeans and she's watching one episode of "Madeline". That thing on my messy head is my $2 Dollarama head lamp - it's great for ensuring that you work in good light but still have your hands free. As you can see, my daughter is relaxed. I have not forbidden her to stay away from blankets or soft furniture. The only thing I am focused on is her head. I quickly looked through her hair using just a regular fine-toothed comb and scalp and found nothing. No more bugs or eggs. That purple lice comb is pretty darn good. I did a quick lice check on her brother, boiled some water and poured it in a cup filled with all our combs and brushes. Then we all went upstairs, said prayers, kissed goodnight and my son and middle daughter went to sleep. My youngest girl was already sleeping by this point, so I quietly went through her hair with my fingers (and my head lamp) while she slept. I found no bugs or eggs. After that, I grabbed a cup of tea and wrote this blog post.

What's my next order of business? I'm going to bed. No housecleaning. No stripping the sheets or putting away stuffed toys. Studies have shown that the only really effective action in the fight against head lice is in removing or killing the lice and nits that are actually on the head. In the morning, everyone is getting up a little bit earlier to get another lice check. And since I know that my middle daughter has had it, I'm going do an extensive blow drying of her sectioned hair (for info on what this does, click here). If either of my other children have any signs of lice, they will get a good wet combing too. And in the evening, we'll all have baths and comb again. I'll give myself another lice check (though I just gave myself an extensive one last night - I thoroughly comb my own hair every 1-2 days because of this business.) Regular checks will continue daily for the next two weeks.

Was this occurrence of head lice inconvenient? Sure. My dirty supper dishes are piled up. I didn't get to watch that Banksy movie that I took out from the library. But, somehow, I think I'll live. Head lice is manageable if you get a proper comb and keep your energy on the head. Lice happens. You can deal with it. I'll keep you posted on tomorrow's lice checks.

Update: The next morning, everyone else in the house got a thorough wet combing and check before the start of school, including myself. No one else has head lice and my daughter is still seemingly lice free. Of course, everyone will get another check this evening just because lice were in the house. But now they've left the building.

Update: Six days later, still no further signs of head lice. This makes me happy.

Update: As of July 6, still nothing. Combing and directed blowing really works.