The Head Lice Nightmare!!! **sobs**

Didn't like to think back about this nightmare so had been procrastinating lots with this one. And labelled it as "Sick"! :P Our life is certainly not all a bed of roses, ok....

Cherry got a chin-length bob, and Didi got a spiky/very short style after getting head lice treatment at home

It was a busy day as usual. 爸爸 was on business trip, and I was the one doing chauffeur duty. While helping her to bun her hair, I discovered that Cherry had head lice (hereafter referred to as "buggies" in this post)! I had a major panic and immediately phoned 爸爸 for help. Well, I didn't know what to do as it's the first time I had to face this kind of emergency alone :( I even called a hair dresser shop, they don't provide head lice "termination" service here :P After ding-dong here and there, his friend suggested going to a pharmacy to buy the special shampoo to get rid of the infestation. As the pharmacy near our place closes around 7pm, he called ahead to have the pharmacist open shop for us in case we reach there later than 7pm.

Thank goodness for the help provided by the pharmacist. The shop is still open as we reached before 7pm, and there were still some customers around. Upon enquiry, she knew we were here for help as 爸爸 is considered a regular customer. She recommended a shampoo that is safe for children, called Delice by Vitamode. This Delice shampoo is made with natural herbs and does not contain Malathion, Lindane, Benzyl Benzoate or any other pesticides according to the packaging. She even taught me how to use the shampoo.

This is the packaging of  Delice shampoo that is safe for children. Hate those buggies, even the cartoon version.
It says does not contain Malathion, Lindane, Benzyl Benzoate or any other pesticides.

A simple guide to remember just in case it's needed in the future...

Tools/ apparatus:
1. Shower cap
2. Delice shampoo
3. Metal comb that comes with Delice shampoo
4. Little brush (I use a unwanted toothbrush to be used only for this purpose)
5. Magnifying tool (optional, I saw ad in newspaper the newer pack of Delice comes with free magnifying tool but ours didn't when we bought)
6. Plastic gloves (like the ones used for hair coloring. This is optional too)
7. Conditioner

Steps:
1. Wear gloves. I wore gloves because I was so scared at that time. Glad I did because I find the buggies so yucky on my children's heads. The first time I actually couldn't find gloves so I just tie my hands inside a plastic bag :p

2. Wet the child's hair thoroughly with water. I did everything in the shower but other folks might have a better location to conduct the disinfestation like a backyard where there is ample sunlight for example.

3. Pour the Delice shampoo on your gloved palms, amount about 50 cents. Need to build up lather all over the child's hair so it's better to do it bit by bit.

4. Work up a good lather section by section, adding the Delice shampoo as necessary (depending on the child's hair, if it's long or short, and if it's thick). Concentrate on areas like the crown, behind the ears, right above the nape. Like how they shampoo our hair at the hairdresser's.

5. Once the whole head is covered with lather, cover the child's hair with a shower cap. Leave it to soak for the recommended time on the packaging (kind of like how we do hair treatment). I think head lice are killed while soaking here.

6. Once time's up, rinse out the Delice shampoo with water. For the first time we did this treatment, I saw bugs wash right out of the children's hair, my goodness. These are the dead buggies.

7. Then, apply conditioner all over the child's hair. This is to make the hair smoother for the hardest part, the combing with metal comb.

8. Comb out the child's hair. I gave their hair a overall comb-through to ensure the hair is not tangled up. Next, I comb section by section, bit by bit, from the scalp right through to the tip and outwards.

9. Every comb I check for bugs and wash the comb clean. Sometimes, I have to brush it clean with toothbrush. The first time we did the treatment, I didn't even have to use a magnifying tool. The magnifying tool is used to visually check if whatever combed out is the bug or not.

10. I comb through from top to bottom, and left to right. Hey, it took me hours the first time as I'm totally new to this.

11. Wash off the conditioner.

12. Wash your hands clean! I even cut my nails!

13. Very important step, blow dry the child's hair properly, making sure it is totally dry. This is to ensure the bugs don't have a good condition to live on.

14. Wash all the tools that come in contact with the child's hair and soak tools in water mixed with dettol!

15. Wash all the pillow cases, bed sheets, towels, clothes etc that came into contact with the child's head. I used 3 capfuls of the big Dettol bottle with each wash cycle. Somehow I found dead buggies in the filter after the wash so I think it's effective.

16. Repeat treatment until all of them are confirmed cleared.

That's the lesson I learnt after panicking. I was soooo distressed as Cherry had such thick and long hair, and I didn't know what to do. Hunt for the shower cap - missing when needed most. Hunt for gloves - found none and finally had idea to use plastic bag.

I couldn't come face-to-face with the bugs so I tried on 哥哥's hair first. I quarantined Cherry in the bathroom first :p Luckily I did as he was also infested! They are always together and there were so many occasions of close head-to-head contact. I was so inexperienced that even with his short hair, it took me 2 hours to complete his treatment **sweats!!!**

With her long and thick hair, it took me nearly 3 hours for the treatment!!! I nagged and scolded her while doing the treatment. If she had just informed us her hair felt itchy, we would have checked and stopped it from spreading. I saw her scratch her hair several times, but when I asked, she only say she felt hot. I mean, she should be able to tell the difference between feeling hot vs itchy right? Not this girl ***angry*** By the time I discovered, I'm not even sure how long it had been. There were various sizes of bugs I combed from her hair. From 哥哥's hair in comparison were M and S and the amount is much less. So I take it the one who had more was the one who caught it first.

Do you know what time is it when I finished her treatment? Almost 12am!!! That's because I discovered it while waiting for 哥哥's school dismissal. She had to miss ballet class as I had to take care of her hair first.

Then, feeling geli, itchy and panic, I did the treatment for myself. The Delice shampoo can be used for adults too. Glad I did, as the bugs transferred to me too! I suspected I caught the bugs while doing their hair treatment even though I was not that close by. That's what I like to believe, but maybe I had it earlier and didn't realize it myself. How could I scold her then, but I still did :p by the time I got Baby Orange back home, it's past 1am!

The children took a day off from school the next day. I had to get them have a hair cut, and repeat the treatment more thoroughly. The school teacher didn't think it was serious enough but I insisted. since I had known of the head lice infestation, how could I allow them to school to spread it knowingly? Sigh....

On the day before getting her haircut, I sent her to school to take a spelling test, which is a school internal competition. The principal keep telling me she is supposed to be marked as absent but oh well, since her hair is in such condition bla bla bla.... I wish I could have the wits to tell her it's the effort that counts isn't it? We waited for her at the school canteen for only a while, she finished it so fast.

This photo is my hand taken at school.
The red itchy patch on my skin is suspected to be bitten by head lice (not sure but highly suspect).
Or it could be "allergic reaction" of my fear of bugs **joke** :P

I should have the foresight to chop off her long hair myself and work on shorter hair. Even the hair stylist just tie up her hair loosely at the nape with rubber band and he cut off from the tail before snipping details. Too bad I didn't take any photo of her cut-off long hair. Later her tuition teacher had said to her she should have saved the ponytail as it could be donated to make wig for charity. I mean, how do we know about all that, right :(

So all of us got our hair cut short to make it easier applying head lice termination treatment a.k.a. the head lice shampoo process listed above. All the soft toys are "quarantined" (no place to store so I just pile them somewhere in the living room), and Papa sprayed them with Dettol spray and sun them when he is back. The children didn't get to play with soft toys until their heads are cleared. As for her hair accessories like hair bands, hair clips, hair pins and even combs, I threw them ALL out. Everything that came in contact with her hair, I threw all :P OK, the hairstylist actually told me to soak the combs in Dettol with hot water, but I just chose to throw them out. Those were in use for quite some time already. It's only the hair accessories that she is reluctant to let go as they were with her favourite cartoon characters. I wiped down everything that they possibly come in contact with Dettol (mixed water). The whole house smelt with Dettol for those 2 weeks.

Bye-bye Hello Kitty!
These are some of the Hello Kitty hair accessories that she had collected but had to be thrown out it came into contact with her hair frequently.

After chopping off our hair, it's a long process of repeating the treatment until their heads are cleared. I repeated the treatment daily for 3 days, then after that every other day, and then every 3 days. It's such a waste of time, energy and effort! Not only their heads need treatment, I had to wash and change their pillow cases, bed sheets, towels and clothes accordingly. It's non-stop daily laundry and so tiring :( By the second or third day, I really felt so tired, frustrated and unhappy that I have to face this alone while Papa get off scotch-free, happily on business trip. Was only a thin margin to just break down and cry. Luckily Por Por helped to take care of Baby Orange while we take care of the head lice treatment at home. Too bad Por Por also kena and I had to help her with the treatment **Arghhh!!**

I made 爸爸 did a treatment himself before he comes home from business trip. The cheek of him saying he isn't infected **GGRRRRR** Note ya, DO NOT use treatment meant for adults on children. He tried the one he got on Cherry, and it burnt her nape (which had the bites and broken skin). She screamed and cried only this time throughout the whole ordeal.

Poor Baby Orange, being exposed to such buggies so early in his life. He is only 2 months old! We dare not use the Delice shampoo on him. We called his paediatrician, the doctor said we cannot "prevent" head lice by using the shampoo ahead if we don't see any infestation yet. In the end, Papa thought of a method, we will just shaved off his head until we are sure the older children are cleared. I had to wash all his bed linens too.

Because of the extent of the head lice problem, I tried to trace back when she could have possibly caught it. I highly suspected the KL school trip that she went alone. Probably it was blown up after splattering her hair with hair wax for the ballet concert too, as she had hair wax in her hair for almost the whole day during the second day of performance. Anyway, she pitifully said she informed Papa that she had some sort of insect bites on her nape. But he conveniently brushed it off as heat rash. She actually had it serious enough (her hair was long) that there were bug bites on her nape. Poor girl, not sure how she had tolerated the itch and discomfort. Sigh...... she got a lecture every single time during the hair treatment to be conscious of her body and self, otherwise how would we know if she is not in the pink of health? Of course the bugs are not related to health, it is not related to cleanliness too, but if she had just been conscious of her well-being and informed me of the itch on her scalp, Papa or I would have checked thoroughly. Luckily her condition is not serious until her scalp is in bad condition. Sigh sigh sigh, let this be a lesson.

And no no no, this is not a sponsored review or even product review. No spell check either so excuse any spelling error, didn't like to be reminded of this stressful and distressing incident.