Oh, the joys

My daughter attended what was only her third day of school today. At the end of the day she came home with a notice that vaguely mentioned a child or several children in her environment have lice/nits and that we should check her hair periodically over the next several days.

AWESOME. I checked and found no traces at all, but the letter alone made my scalp itch. What fun.

In light of that I thought I’d share some tips on how to rid yourselves of lice and nits if your own child comes home with a similar letter.

1. Use your fingers or a nit comb to search for lice. You can find special nit combs at a pharmacy.
2. Search under good lighting to make sure they’re easier to spot, outdoors in sunlight if you can.
3. Use clips to divide your child’s hair into sections to make sure you get through all of it.
4. If you find nits and lice on the comb, rinse it off in a tub of hot soapy water in between combing.
5. Check with your pharmacist or doctor to find out which shampoo is best for the age of the child and make sure you mention if you happen to be pregnant since some lice shampoos are hazardous to pregnant women.

Find out more from my source, Parent Center.

Also, be sure you’re aware that you should wash all bedding, pillows, hats, etc, in hot water to kill any lice or nits that have been transferred.

Luckily, they’re only transferred by fairly direct contact, such as hugging or sharing brushes/hats/etc. They can’t jump from one child to the other. Also, the article I referenced makes what I feel is a very important point – many people link lice to people who are poor or unhygienic and it’s completely untrue. Even wealthy people who wash their hair daily can get lice.

In the meantime, I’m hoping that my continued inspections will keep showing NO lice. Sheesh, what a start to the school year!