It was a Sunday. I was sitting on the couch, playing with my daughter’s hair when I saw it. Well, I didn’t know what “it” was. We had been playing outside for most of the day, so I just figured it was a gnat or some other kind of creepy crawly that comes with the territory of the great outdoors. I didn’t think anything of it, pulled it out, killed it, and moved along. And then I saw another. And this time, it registered. I bolted from the couch and sped to the computer and Googled, “What does lice look like?” Even before the 0.00001 second it took for Google to show me, I already knew: my daughter had lice.
All of a sudden, my entire body itched. Phantom itching is definitely a side effect of lice. Trust me. That feeling didn’t go away for a week.
I spent a good hour on the computer, reading about lice, how to get rid of it, the different stages of it (gross), HOW THE HELL SHE GOT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE (note: not due to uncleanliness. Lice actually like squeaky clean vs. dirty.), and on and on. And then, Google spoon fed me a blessing. Thank the SEO gods above, I discovered Lice Doctors.
I called the 1-800 number and spoke to a wonderful customer service rep who calmed me down, and set me up with a technician to come to my house and get rid of the lice. Our tech was supposed to come that evening, but due to “one of the worst cases she’d ever seen in Double Diamond,” she couldn’t make it until the next morning. In the meantime, the angel on the phone said we were to douse our little lady’s hair with olive oil, put it up in a high bun and not touch it. That was to suffocate the little bastards who, I found out, can hold their breath for up to eight hours.
We did just that. I probably put a little more oil that suggested, but I didn’t want one creepy crawly to be able to travel to anyone else in the family. (Fun Fact! Lice cannot jump or fly, they can only crawl. Just wanted to give you one saving grace.) Poor kid smelled like butter pasta. That night, she slept in a towel-lined beach chair in the middle of our family room. The chair squeaked, and every time she moved, everyone woke up.
It was a long night, but the next morning, our knight in shining armor knocked on our door. She was efficient, and quickly covered our kitchen table with plastic and got to work. She loaded olive oil in my daughter’s hair and did the “4-way” method to get any nits or other nastiness out. It took about 30 minutes. Afterward, my daughter washed her hair, I dried it, and the angel went through it again to make sure she got all of them. We opted to have the entire family checked, and thankfully none of us had it. We totally dodged a bullet, especially because my daughter sleeps with me most nights. The lice fairy asked me if I wear my hair up when I sleep (I do), and she said that’s probably why I didn’t get it. Interesting!
As the lice fairy wrapped her things up, she gave us very important instructions. For the next week, we are to do what she just did with the olive oil. Every single night. Then, for the two weeks following, we are to do it again, only every other night. To tell that to a mom who makes hot dogs for dinner most nights of the week due to its convenience, that was NOT good news. Not only did we have to do the comb through thing with oil, but we had to wash it out every morning before school, which tacked on a good 45 minutes to our normal routine. But, we did it, and it seems as though the lice has left the building. Hopefully forever.
Lice Doctors saved me that day. It wasn’t the cheapest option, but I wanted them gone and gone forever (and chemical-less, which made me extra happy), and I feel very satisfied with the experience. To give you a rough estimate, it was $125 for the first hour, and then prorated $99 for each additional hour. Ours in total took a little over 2 hours, so the whole deal was around 200 bucks. Plus, it’s guaranteed. If you find anything up to 30 days after the technician leaves, they will come back at no cost.
I really hope you never have to deal with this, but if you want them gone forever (crossing fingers), and don’t mind ponying up a bit, Lice Doctors is totally worth it for the peace of mind. And! If she ever gets it again (Lord, please no), I have all the tools I need to deal with it on my own.
