Waging War on Lice
There has been an epidemic of head lice in my daughter's third grade classroom, and unfortunately she became the latest victim this weekend. She's fine now, but after all they have put me through, I find myself nurturing a deep-seeded hatred for lice.
Honestly, what possible purpose do these creatures serve? Are they food for some other animal (and if so, why doesn't that animal do a better job keeping the lice population in check?). And why won't they die? Lice seem to be virtually indestructible. Sure, they die within 24 hours if they lose their human host, but they cling to said host with the tenacity of a bulldog. First of all, it's so difficult to find them (I swear they have the disappearing powers of a ninja). They can hold their breath when immersed in water. There is so much information out there on remedies: Rit, mayonnaise, Cetaphil, olive oil, alcohol, hair dryers, flatirons. Some will swear a particular method works and the same number of people will swear they won't. The only thing that does seem to work is picking them out one by one. If a nuclear holocaust ever wipes out the planet, I'm convinced there will be more lice survivors than cockroaches. I'm really hoping that scientists come up with a way to banish lice from the face of the planet.
Think we ought to let natural selection run its course? Think I'm being cruel to animals? Read my war story and decide for yourself.
The Pea had been scratching her head for quite a while now, so the possibility of an infestation had been at the back of my mind. But I inspected her hair several times and couldn't find anything. I read on the internet that lice and nits are usually found attached to the hair shaft near the scalp, and they were about the size of half of a grain of rice. I saw nothing of the sort, just flattish flakes of dry skin at the base of her scalp. We all have pretty dry skin, so I chalked it all down to dandruff and told her to shampoo her hair with Johnson's Baby Shampoo.
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