This week in the Musings house, we’ve had those annoying creatures known as head lice.  As much of a pain in the but it all was, we did manage to learn a few things along the way!

1. You know that itching feeling you get when someone starts talking about lice (like right now), that is nothing compared to the itching when you do actually have head lice.  It’s been nearly ten years since I last had them (touches ALL the wood) and I still remember the excruciating itching feeling.  You know how, as a kid you would roll down a grassy hill and your whole body itched with the fire of a 1000 suns?  That is what having head lice feels like.
2. The eggs of head lice aren’t actually white.  In all of the pamphlets that they used to send home every time there was an outbreak when I was at school, it told the parents to look for small white eggs.  My hair is naturally quite dark, and it’s thick, plus there is a hell of a lot of it.  All of this means that I get really bad dandruff, so my hair is constantly filled with small white things.  What I learned from Mr 4 having head lice is that the eggs are actually more transparent.  They looked like water drops on his hair and when I was able to peel one off a strand of hair I could see the louse inside it.
3. There is a ton of head lice removal products.  Seriously.  I stood in the chemist for ten minutes just staring at the shelves, while telling Mr 4 out of the corner of my mouth to stop bloody itching.  All of them claimed to be able to kill lice dead in their tracks, and be the best product available.  All of them are bloody expensive..I found the more natural a product is, the more expensive it is..
4. Banshee like screaming while I washed Mr 4’s hair is nothing…especially when the smoke alarm is then set off from the steam of the shower (seriously why are the smoke alarms always outside the bathroom!?).  The hair that I love because it is beautiful and thick just like mine, will be a pain in the arse to comb through, even if I set him up in front of cartoons to do it.
5. If the packet of head lice solution says that it includes a comb, buy another just in case.  Buy the metal tooth comb, because without a doubt the packet will contain a shitty plastic comb that doesn’t really work.  It gets the surface head lice and eggs off, but once you take a closer look there will be more eggs mocking you.  If you think you have gotten all of the eggs..comb through for another ten minutes just to be sure.

We’ve been pretty lucky that despite Mr 4 being in childcare regularly for years, this is the first time he has gotten the dreaded head lice.  We’re chalking it up to experience at this stage and hoping the little buggers don’t decide to make his head a regular feasting spot! read more