She has some nits to pick
Ever wonder where that phrase came from? Karen can explain - and give you the number for the woman who's made a full-time job of it:
... I washed her hair with the Horrible Toxic Shampoo and then started in with the little purple comb. It soon became clear that there was absolutely no way I could do this. It wasn't the ick factor; I just can't see anything. The nurse had scotch-taped the single nit she found to a sheet of white paper, and I could barely see it without my reading glasses. These things are tiny, and you can barely even see Steph's scalp for all that thick, luscious hair.
I started freaking out and pretty soon ended up calling the Nit-Picker (after taking out a second mortgage). She's coming tomorrow afternoon. She would have come today if I hadn't used the Horrible Toxic Shampoo. She doesn't like to be inhaling the stuff all day, and I can't blame her, so she will only come 24 hours afterward, and you have to rewash the kid's hair with normal shampoo in the meantime. ...
- Add new comment |
- Send to friend |
| 
| 
| 
Fine Tooth Comb
We went through the ringer with the lice last year - no thanks to proven-useless no-nit policies that the rest of the country has abandoned because they cause much harm and no good! See also American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses.
The best way I found to get rid of the buggers is from the British Medical Journal - Combing with conditioner wins 53% to 13% over pesticide treatment!. It is also more pleasant to wet comb goopy hair as the eggs and lice swell up enough to see. Perhaps that is why it was more effective?
Oh yeah - avoid permatrhin. Massive resistance of Mass lice since the 90s. Go for the pyrethrin!
This year, determined not to let it happen again, I bought metal nit combs for my boys and made it clear that I expected them to comb through at least once a day. The idea being that if something wandered on to their heads, it would be evicted before it had a chance to get busy. I can thank grandpa for the idea! So far ... so good. Lice ripped through younger son's class and missed him. Tore through older son's home room and missed him - no mean feat as he has thick, curly ringlets and hates to comb.
The Nit Picker?
Professional Head Lice Remover is one of those jobs that seems so horrible, and at the same time makes you think "Damn, why didn't someone think of that before?"