I was 15 when I first discovered that I had lice in my hair. Even though I was a boy, the thought still grossed me out. I had caught it from school. My mom was overwhelmed to find tons of eggs on every strand of my hair. She combed my hair every day after she had shampooed and conditioned it. The school authorities found out about my problem and sent letters suggesting that I should be clean. But, I was clean! No amount of combing or shampooing seemed to help. So my mother suggested the ‘Lex Luthor’ look. My head was shaven clean. The lice were finally gone with my hair. It’s been 5 years and I have not had a single lice in my hair ever since.

Never use pesticide to get rid of lice. It’s a myth and is supposed to stay that way. To combat a lice problem effectively, all you need is a fine toothed metal comb and a spray bottle with a mixture of 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon conditioner. Wet your hair with this mixture and get a rat tail comb (commonly available) to untangle your hair. Now use the metal comb to comb your hair from root to tip. This action literally pulls out all bugs, eggs and nits out. Repeat for 2 weeks on a daily basis. Trust me, it works, it did for me.

A few days ago, I realized that I had head lice. I woke with a start late in the night and started scratching my scalp like crazy. My mom was like, “Do you have lice now?” My mom took a look at my scalp and found hundreds of nits and three big bugs. She called my grandma to come help her to get those nits out with a comb. We followed whatever she said, but I was still left with a few nits on my head. That night I thoroughly applied olive oil on my head and slept with a shower cap on. The next day I washed my hair and combed it to find a few dead baby lice. The same day, I doused my hair in vinegar. That got rid of the nits. I’m clean now.

This was a long time ago. My son was 6 years old at that time. He had beautiful golden hair. Once he was in the shower and called for me from the bathroom. He was alarmed as he felt something in his hair. I tried to soothe him by saying that it was probably just sand. But he kept on saying, “But mommy, I can feel them moving!” So I took a closer look, all the while in denial that my baby could have lice. But my fears were confirmed. I had heard about this special anti-lice oil which I immediately went and purchased from a nearby pharmacy. I also washed all the bed sheets, his clothes, his rug and his stuffed toys. Then I started with the regimen of copiously combing his hair. The comb was not suited to the purpose, so I got one of those closely toothed combs. After hours of rigorous combing, I had gotten all the lice out.

My daughter started having the lice problem when she started at daycare about 3 years ago. She is 6 now. Her best friend was the one with lice initially. My daughter got it when her friend slept over at our place. Every time the lice would go away, my daughter would get it again from this friend of hers. The teachers at the day care told me that her friend was not to be blamed as she gets it from her brothers and sister who get it every few months. It was cruel of me but I stopped my daughter from playing with her. My daughter has thick black hair. Once I spent a total of 8 hours nitpicking while she slept. But within two days the nits were back, however, no bugs. Then I learnt about this medical shampoo designed specifically to eradicate the head lice problem. Four washes and my daughter was finally free from both the nits and bugs. I also recommended the shampoo to her friend’s family.