Head Lice Happens: My Story
Ok, so I admit that I am one of those parents who felt like head lice were something that happened to other people, not to me. I always made sure my children had clean clothing, washed their hair often and I deep clean my home regularly. It never occurred to me that this could be a problem in my house.
I know that makes me naive and frankly quite snobby. But don’t worry, I totally regret it. I have learned my lesson.
My oldest daughter is 15 and she plays soccer for her JV soccer team. My oldest son is 13 and he plays seventh-grade football for his school. Between the two of them and the two other smaller children I care for every day I feel like a taxi cab on most days. Would I trade it? No, never. Participating in sports helps my children learn responsibility in ways I never thought possible. They try hard, they learn and grow and they make great friends. It’s totally worth it.
My son is the average Jr. High school boy who hates to shower and avoids it for as long as possible. He throws his dirty socks anywhere around the house, doesn’t quite care about keeping his football equipment clean and just typically doesn’t worry about cleanliness. Despite my best efforts with this, I get it – he is a kid.
Ultimately though, it was him who first contracted head lice. I know now it wasn’t due to uncleanliness…just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He shares a bathroom with my oldest daughter.
I honestly didn’t have a clue until I was helping her braid her hair one day for a soccer game and noticed some white specks in her hair. I brushed them off and mistook them for hairspray residue or dry scalp. After a few days, the thought popped into my head just to check again. I am so glad that I did. She had head lice.
Not only did she have head lice, I decided to check all my kids. That’s when I discovered my oldest son had a worse case of head lice. Ugh. How did I allow this to happen? How did I not know? It was bad enough that one child had head lice…now I realized that because I didn’t catch it in time my daughter had head lice also. I took a lot of deep breaths and made a plan of action. I could handle this, not a big deal.
So I thought.
After two separate hair washing sessions and applying head lice shampoos from the drugstore, I literally spent hours picking nits out of their hair. It was not a fun process, although we got through a few Netflix shows we’d been wanting to see. So, silver lining.
I deep cleaned. Then I cleaned again. I honestly thought that the problem was solved. Yay me! We survived.
Wrong again.
A few weeks later my son complained about itchiness again. I checked his head. Yep. I found a few adult lice and some nits. My daughter, too. This time I was at a complete loss. I had no idea what to do. So, I did what all rational mother’s do when they have a problem. I called my friend.
Much to my surprise their family, my son plays football with hers, had also been dealing with head lice. That’s when I realized the source of the infection…the football team. She gave me the best advice I had received so far, call Lice Clinics of America for help.
The professional team at the clinic understood how to actually get rid of the lice and the eggs. I was so relieved and couldn’t believe that I hadn’t just called them in the first place. Now I know that head lice can happen to anyone. Head lice is not an easy fix. Professional help is the best approach to avoiding weeks of stress and feelings of overwhelming panic. Thank you Lice Clinics of America!