Taboo or not taboo that is the question?

Hello lovely people, reading today might make you feel a little squeamish, off or downright itchy mcitchyson! (currently sat scratting at my head as I type- she shudders). So, the subject of this blog post is Pediculosis capitis or headlice, nits, bugs or in my house ‘unwanted visitors!!’ (URRRGHHH!) this is the type of subject which understandably, every parent wants to brush (no pun intended) under the carpet, however it is just one of those things that happens in life especially if your child goes to school and mixes with others. There are so many facts and myths regarding this subject and as a mummy I just learnt as I went along, let me explain…

…so the first time the ninja was ‘visited’ by these ugly (and I mean URRRGLY!) little creatures, I panicked uncontrollably and just thought which scruffy (my small mindedness creeps in here) offspring has passed these to my adorable little girl? I later realised through my own research that any child can accrue these little blighters but it just so happens that my child has the type of hair that they seemed to absolutely lurrrrrve with all of their being #typical!!! LOL. So, what did I do? Well like I said the first time I panicked as I just had no idea how to approach it. I remember ringing my mum and crying down the phone as the first time the ninja was completely riddled with the creeping, crawling unsightly beasts and at the time she was only 4. My hubby ran to the chemist to buy the most medicated shampoo he could find, a metal comb and a skip full of conditioner. We must have been in the bathroom for 3 hours, washing and medicating and combing and all the while pulling out my own hair still panicking that these nasty little buggers were going to eat the ninjas brain. It even got to the point where hubby was sat on the loo (seat down of course) with the ninja on his knee and me picking out the left-over eggs one at a time with my nails just to get rid of them and this poor little girl was so tired she fell asleep in daddy’s arms. So, the question is, who was most stressed? Very clear, yes very clear indeed.

I soon got into a routine (less stressed every time) where, when the ninja was in the bath and I would wash her hair using tea tree shampoo (I decided to ditch the expensive medicated stuff as it just wasn’t needed) and condition it with tea tree conditioner leaving in a huge chunk because apparently, the bugs stick to it when combed. So, with the hair lathered I would comb it through in layers from the bottom, wipe the excess on a baby wipe on the side of the bath then rinse the comb in a sink full of water and just repeat the process until I could see no more crawlies (I would even crunch the big ones under my thumb nail just to make sure 1: it was a bug and 2: they would not be visiting again which was extremely satisfying!). This is then repeated every three days as this is when the new eggs hatch and begin their reign of mummy stress.

Even now the ninja is 8 I will still comb her hair through once every few weeks just to be sure however we have not had ‘visitors’ for quite a while now which could also be due to school hair consisting of a make shift face lift it is pulled so tight, and now we spray, spray and spray again with the magic of Insette hair spray which was always known when I was a child to make your hair feel like cardboard…ITS AMAZING!!!!!!!

I hope this has been helpful in some way even if expresses the fact that this is absolutely nothing to be worried about as a mummy and remember that the majority of kids will have them at some point and operation headlice is actually very easy.

Thank you for reading my lovelies.

Bug hugs oops I mean big! xxxxx