I can’t believe that I am going to share this with all of you. This is a topic that most moms shy away from in an attempt to spare themselves and their children from any shame. Of course, some will probably disagree with this assertion that head lice is an embarrassment, but then again, maybe that is because they never had to sit with a shower cap on their head in an attempt to kill a head full of lice. So for the sake of those of you that will ever have this experience in the future, I have decided to throw my kids under the bus and share my story after all.
The other day when brushing my 5 year old daughter’s tangled hair, I decided to pull it back into a pony tail to fix it for the day. As I brushed the hair back, I noticed a black dot on her scalp. As I looked again--even closer this time--I saw another black dot. This one however was moving! Could it be? Could it really be? I shuddered at the thought. I had heard the horror stories of nit picking and sheet bleaching. Right then, as I sat there scratching my own head, I decided it was war against the little critters. A war that I was determined to win.
I immediately text messaged my husband at work to tell him the exciting news of the day. He was completely appalled by the fact that his precious little girl had an infestation of bugs in her head. My first phone call was to our pediatrician’s office where Lauren, our all-knowing doctor’s assistant, got on the phone and listened to my story. She told me to get some mayonnaise and coat my daughter’s head in it and then cover it with a shower cap. I had heard of using mayonnaise in the hair as a conditioner, but now I was told it could also kill head lice? I asked Lauren, “How does mayonnaise kill head lice”? To which she replied, “It smothers them”.
That evening, after picking out all of the live bugs that I could get my fingers on, I took out a jar of Hellman’s Mayonnaise and proceeded to coat my daughter’s head with the greasy sludge. My daughter began to cry because the odor from the mayonnaise was too much for her to handle. I quickly put the plastic shower cap on her head and put her in her bed. It was awful!
Early the next morning I went into her room to find her without the shower cap on her head and mayonnaise dried and caked all over her pillow case. It was a smelly and disgusting sight. I quickly ushered her into the shower where I began to rinse out the stinky mess. I immediately noticed that the bugs had turned a reddish color. And to my relief, they all appeared to be dead! The mayonnaise had indeed worked in killing the head lice. Halleluiah! I am happy to report that we are now completely bug free at our home. So if you ever find yourself with a head full of lice, remember to get out the mayonnaise because it does work!
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