1. Many thanks to JeCaThRe for the Cetaphil suggestion. I treated all five kids on Saturday; haven't spotted any lice, either alive or dead, since Friday. I am girding my loins to repeat the treatment tomorrow. It takes a l-o-n-g time to get all five heads coated and combed out and blown dry.
2. I am continuing my efforts to smother any lice with the temerity to transgress upon my head. Every other night I saturate my scalp with olive oil. I use almost a cup, which is a whole lot of olive oil but I have a whole lot of hair. Then I cover my hair in plastic wrap and cover the plastic wrap with a towel, and head to bed. I had been thinking that I smelled like salad, and then my MIL brought me 30 pages of home remedies for lice -- one of which was a vinegar rinse. That could almost go on a restaurant menu: this salad features delicate tendrils lightly coated with olive oil. You'll enjoy the subtle vinegary tang and the faint crunch of exotic phthiraptera eggs.
3. ICK ICK ICK. Sorry. If I don't laugh I might cry, so I keep looking for the funny. I have been musing that I would probably rather have lice in my house than mice in my house. Lordy, do I hate mice. Isn't it weird that in this country we have two giant theme parks dedicated to animals that sneak into our homes and defecate in our food and run across our feet while we sit peacefully reading our email? (Not that I've been scarred for life or anything.) Imagine if Walt Disney had sketched a Rickey Louse instead of a Mickey Mouse. Annette Funicello could have had a cute little beanie with a pair of giant lice jutting out in lieu of ears. Am I a marketing genius or what?
4. It's interesting to me that lice have such a high ick factor when we don't lose our minds about, say, mosquitoes, which also suck our blood and make us itch. Or even fleas or ticks. I am grateful that I read the Aubrey-Maturin series this summer because I am certain I would have been more freaked out about the lice otherwise. At least I don't have any weevils in my biscuit. If you could pick your parasites, how would you rank them?
5. This post is making me itch.
6. Silver lining #1: Last Friday I was not laughing about any of this. I was hugely upset at the prospect of having things CRAWLING on my SCALP and I shuddered my way through my shower feeling grateful that I am too nearsighted to see anything that might or might not be falling off my head as I scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed some more. I combed and combed and combed under the water, tugging out fistfuls of hair. I was feeling decidedly sorry for myself until I remembered St. Clare, cutting off all of her beautiful curls to embrace Lady Poverty. I resolved to get a grip but do you know what? All of these hot oil treatments have been good for my hair. It's all shiny and curly, and my hair is thick enough that you'd never miss the odd fistful. Go figure.
7. Silver lining #2: my friend around the corner offered to help me go through my hair with a nit comb. In the moment I was so busy wringing my hands that it didn't really register: she offered of her own free will to go strand by strand through my potentially lousy hair. I said no thank you, opting for the ignorance-is-bliss salad-head approach instead, but wow. That's a true friend.
Eek, this is more than anyone really wants to know about my hair. More quick takes here.
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