My daughter was visited by the Lice fairy yesterday... I just have to get this off my chest.

I HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE LICE.

I hate the smells associated with the treatments. I hate picking the bugs, eggs and nits out of the hair. I hate washing and washing clothing, stuffed animals, sheets, pillows, etc.. with hot water.

And I really hate having to treat myself. I certainly cannot see if I have lice or have combed them out. And my head starts itching the moment the school nurse tells me about the lice on my daughter's head.

Normally I have to ask my daughter's school nurse to check me for lice.

My darling daughter came home from Ukraine lice free. It is only in this country that she has experienced lice issues. Actually once she started attending school she had the lice problem. It seems like we don't go 3 months without a phone call from the school nurse about the little bugs.

Someone once suggested that the lice love my daughter's head because she is "foreign" to this area. In other words they suggested that everyone builds up an immunity that makes us unattractive to the local bugs. Anyone else have major lice issues?

I had used every treatment (RID, Nix, etc..) off the shelves. I have used the prescription shampoo, Ovide (malathion). And we have used a suffocating agent (mayonnaise).

I have given up on RID and Nix because I don't want to put those chemicals on my daughter's head anymore. The lice seem to get a whiff of the chemicals and start laughing at me. They don't impact the bugs at all. Actually they seem to move faster after the treatment. But that could just be my imagination.

Ovide scares me just a bit. Using Ovide makes your head very flammable. You must avoid open flames or items like hair dryers. The odor (mainly Pine Needle Oil) is unpleasant. Here is a link to more information on it.

http://www.drugs.com/pdr/Ovide_Lotion.html

I have used Ovide once and might do it again. I used it because everything had failed to get rid of the bugs. And my darling daughter had missed 3 days of school because of the lice.

Now a days, I use oily hair as my daughter's first defense. Lice love clean head. They cannot hold onto oily hair. So I wash my daughter's hair least frequently (stopped daily washing). Her hair does get washed sooner if it is really dirty.

The second line of defense is mayonnaise, vinegar, blow dryer, nit comb and lots of time to comb out hair. I have found that mayonnaise doesn't kill the lice. But it seems to slow the lice down and are much easier to catch.

I will sometimes also use Rid's Egg & Nit Comb-Out Gel instead of vinegar. Both items are to remove the glue that keeps the eggs attached to the hair.

I need to start checking for lice once a week. Maybe I find them before the school nurse.

My daughter had really oily hair when nurse called yesterday about lice eggs. The nurse didn't find any bugs. So maybe the oily hair kept them away. Who knows... there isn't any research on the topic.. At least I cannot find any research.

I took my darling daughter home from school yesterday and put mayonnaise on her head. Shower cap goes over the mayonnaise. I did the same thing for me.

Then I cleaned a space for Natasha (my daughter) in front of the TV. I vacuumed the carpet and sprayed her chair with lice bug spray. The chair had to dry before she could sit down.

Once Natasha was watching TV, I stripped bed sheets, toys, clothing from various rooms and started laundry with HOT water.

Then I microwaved water for the hair brushes and combs. They soaked in the hot water. I threw away an older hair brush.

About 4 hours later I washed out the mayonnaise. Sometimes I just do it for 2 hours. I hate sleeping overnight with it. And everyone (if you google the topic of mayonnaise and lice) gives different numbers.. keep on the mayonnaise for 2 hours or 4 hours or 8 hours. So there isn't a right answer.

Then I fixed dinner and make up beds. And we went to sleep. Yes, I did a bad thing. I was just too tired to comb out her hair last night. This means I have wash the sheets and pillow cases again.

This morning, I combed their her medium length hair with an nit comb. I hand picked many eggs off and looked again for bugs. It takes about 45 minutes to go through her head (strand by strand).

Then I used Rid's Egg & Nit Comb-Out Gel. Then I combed through her hair. This is another 45 minutes.

While I am combing her hair, I keep a baggie with me. The baggie has a paper towel. If I found anything, I wipe my fingers or the comb off on the paper towel.

Then I took Natasha to school where the school nurse inspected her hair. Yeah! Her hair was free of lice, nits and eggs.

My poor daughter has so many split ends from the lice/lice treatment. I need to get her hair cut again.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Harvard School of Public Health has a good page on Lice.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html

And they have some pictures on the bugs "up close".

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice/photos.html