Head Lice!? ICK!!

You know, as a child, I remember endures lice checks at school. I never had them. I am certain that if I did, my mother would have be just as grossed out as I was, if not more so. (Does anyone know how freaked out Asians get about being dirty, associated with being dirty, and how they will do just about anything to be clean?) School started in Las Cruces in August. I had heard in the news about several states having problems with pesticide resistance head lice. Like any other person, I thought that THAT wouldn't happen to me.

The schools here had a major outbreak. But I homeschool, so I wasn't worried about it. The laugh was on me. My children have been enjoying playing with their cousins who, of course, go to school. One thing lead to another and yes, they did get lice. I had lice, Cowboy Preacher had a few lice. ACK!

Here is what I did. Due to a little Facebook poster all of Las Cruces had a tea tree oil shortage, but since I keep a bottle of the stuff in my purse I had some around. I put some in the shampoo and conditioner. Since Cowboy Preacher is allergic to tea tree oil, I bought some homeopathic lice spray and shampoo. By the way, Lice Freee is some awesome stuff. One application to Cowboy Preacher and the lice never came back. Being very sensitive, he said the stuff did sting a little. Then I used a lice comb and combed everyone's hair. That is nasty to do, if I have to say so myself.

I spent even more money going to a laundromat to get all the bedding washed. Then I had Cowboy Preacher buy some diatomaceous earth which I sprinkle everywhere we slept. On one boy, I had to dust his hair with the DE since he was finding it a little difficult to rid himself of the ugly little pests.

After a few days, I added some tea tree oil to my hair coconut oil. I learned later from a friend that lice don't like oily hair. Which confounds me since both Cowboy Preacher and I have really oily hair. But I was happy that my intuition lead me to start oiling up everyone's hair (except Cowboy Preacher, of course). I had only used the coconut hair oil on my daughter and myself before. I also left a lot of conditioner on my hair. 

We were completely lice free that first week, but I kept up the oil for a few weeks after that. I have to say these lice were a bit difficult to get rid of being pesticide resistant. I knew a few people who tried to use the pesticide stuff to handle these ugly pests, but they didn't work well at all. The homeopathic stuff worked great, but I wanted to try to save what little money we had and work with what we had. I do have 5 children after all. The bottle of spray wouldn't have lasted long. The spray smelled like a cross between anise and Chloraseptic. 

I pray that this never happens again, but if it did, I am going straight for the tea tree hair oil again. That seemed to have worked the best. Notice I didn't give any amounts? I did that purposefully. I did my research and I know how much to use for my family. I don't know who reads my blog but I am sure that everyone is different. What I use for my family will most likely not work for yours. I did my research, you do yours. I know for a fact that Cowboy Preacher is allergic to tea tree oil. I know my children are not. I also know how to use this essential oil properly on my family due to my extensive research. Please do your own research. Use of essential oils is serious business.