Head lice strike fear in parents. Here are two scenarios of a household with two daughters in elementary school and one son in middle school.
Scenario A:
Day 1, 12:30 pm: Your son calls from school – he has head lice. You drop everything to come get him to find him waiting. Totally embarrassed.
1:30 pm: At the drug store you choose a pricey permethrin based product which seems popular.
2:15 pm: After washing Junior’s hair with a smelly shampoo that burns his scalp and your eyes as you apply it, your son is now sitting under the bright kitchen lights. You must now comb EVERY SINGLE STRAND of hair on his head with the tiniest comb ever trying to locate almost invisible ‘nits’ or eggs. The growing pile of egg cases is about to make you vomit.
4:30 pm: You finally finish the combing. Your back aches and now the laundry begins. Your daughters arrive home and you inspect their waist length hair. Arrgh! More lice and nits on both of them! The entire process is repeated! Now every single sheet, blanket, pillowcase, comforter, & piece of clothing worn in the past week in the entire house must be washed in the hottest setting possible.
11:30 pm: You’re on laundry load number 8. Exhausted.
Day 2: Kids return to school and you tackle the remaining laundry and vacuum every nook and cranny.
Day 7: Per the directions, you must re-treat in case nits were missed and have hatched. All kids get the burning, smelly treatment all over again.
Day 17: But wait – school policy allows kids with head lice to stay in the classroom. After ten days, one daughter says her head itches. No, please, no! You inspect and there they are! And the cycle begins again…
Day 24: Third infestation. Repeat all the above… Smelly treatment, endless combing, piles of laundry.
Day 45: The 6th infestation. You’ve spent countless hours, way too much money, and done enough research to know that these treatments are toxic and ineffective. The head lice are resistant, school is a breeding ground and you’re looking at perpetual infestation until summer!
Scenario B:
Day 1, 12:30 pm: Your son calls from school. He has head lice so you go to the drug store and get an inexpensive and safe, natural product.
5:00 pm: When the kids get home, you spray their hair and scalp with the natural product, cover with a bathing cap for four hours to overnight. You still have laundry but it isn’t an emergency. No combing, no worries.
Day 2: Knowing that kids in school have lice, you lightly spray your child’s hair, back pack and jacket with the safe, natural product to repel head lice. Continue until you know head lice are gone.
Day 45: This is merely a bad memory!
What Scenario would you choose to deal with head lice?
