Lice!!!

Nobody wants to talk about lice it UNTIL they have it. 

But I would encourage us to talk about it and think about it BEFORE your child or you get it.

My daughter's first grade class last year had a major problem with lice and multiple kids had it multiple times. Our daughter was the only child that did not get it. I literally lived in fear of her coming home itching. It was this fear that drove me to an intense daily and weekly program of prevention. 

Our daughter isn't average by any means, her hair hangs all the way down her back to the top of her bottom. She also has a rare autoimmune disease Juvenile Dermatomyositis (if you ever feel like looking it up) and was on a program of weekly chemotherapy injections for three years and prednisone. She has also started growing radiant white hair deep in her mane. But this is another issue. 

She has been in daycare environments from seven weeks of age. At first it was just the gym, and then Montessori at 18 months. Not once in seven years have we had lice, but we did help treat an adult friend. I have spent hours reading about prevention and treatment. And here's a truth, I would much rather prevent than treat.

So, in celebration of returning to school next week we are starting our annual prevention program. 

Weekly: movie time hair combing session!!! There is no way around it, you have to look for lice weekly (and daily if you find out a kid in the class has it). We do a wet combing session after washing and conditioning. 

Divide the hair into several mini buns and get to work. When it's all done we slather with coconut oil and braid.

Daily: Tea tree oil applied to wet hair. She has a ton of hair so I just start dousing the hair with pure oil as I figure all the water in her hair counts as part of the dilution. We apply the oil at the evening bath right before bed. Everyone in the house gets a little tea tree oil on the hair just in case. It makes my hair look terrible! but I feel better going to bed with a tingling scalp and knowing that we are doing everything we can to prevent lice. Again, we braid her hair.

2nd grade is a struggle as she wants to wear her very full mane of hair DOWN. It gives me a near panic attack for many reasons: LICE and the disaster that will be her hair after a day of play. 

How do you prevent lice? Do you even worry about it?