This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Lice Lady: Here Come The Campers

The campers are returning and may be bringing you a "present."

Hello there! First of all, I apologize that it has been so long since my last blog.  Time does have a way of flying by.  Also, to my critic from my last blog:  You are right, it was not Brigitte Bardot, it was Greta Garbo who said “I just want to be let alone.”  My point in writing that was the girls I was working with were doing everything they could to hide underneath their hoodies and not be recognized even though there were no friends around.

Now on to the next….

The reason why I haven’t written in my blog lately is because I have been extremely busy helping people with their lice outbreaks.  In all my years of dealing with this little bugger, I have never been so busy. Mostly I think it has to do with the fact lice was so rampant in the schools this past year that it never went away.  Ok so lice never really go away, but you get my point.  I also have been told by many a client that the camps again have many campers with lice.  This year I have to say that some of the sleep away camps tried to be proactive in that they had their incoming campers checked, but I guess some of them missed either checking their counselors or didn’t do weekly head checks of their long term campers. 

Find out what's happening in Birminghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

So here’s a little advice from the Lice Lady.  First, make sure if your child has been away at camp, you should check their head at least every other day for the next couple of weeks.  What you are looking for is any kind of rounded dot that is attached to the hair and does NOT slide down easily when placed between the pads of your thumb and forefinger.  Nits can be brown, black or white.  Obviously if there is any kind of bug in the head, this too is the sign of lice.  However, whenever I check a head, I look for the nits.  You find them much easier than the lice bug.

Since kids are about to return to school, I would suggest that if they are girls, their hair should be up in either a squishy bun, high ponytail or a tight braid.  If they want to wear their hair down, have them put some gel, mousse or hair spray in their hair.  It is true that lice don’t like “dirty heads.”  I acquaint it with the greased pig contest at the old county fair.  Take a pig, grease it up, put it in a ring and set a 2 minute timer.  No one catches that greased pig easily in 2 minutes.  Take the same pig, give it a bath and put it back in the ring.  You can catch it much easier.  See?

Find out what's happening in Birminghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If your child shares a cubby or locker, I would suggest sending in a nylon laundry bag.  This way, they can place all their belongings in them on a daily basis and lower the risk of contracting lice through backpacks, coats and hats being squished together on hooks. 

 

I would also suggest that you perform weekly head checks on your children at least through the last 2 weeks of school.  This way, if there is an outbreak, you can shut it down early before a major infestation can begin. 

The other thing to do is that if your child has contracted lice, please notify your child’s school.  Don’t just rely on that though. Send a BCC email to anyone your child has come in contact with in the last two weeks.  Knowledge is power.  The more you talk about it, the more people become aware and learn how to stop it.  It’s the “it takes a village” philosophy. 

When I became the Lice Lady over 4 years ago, I found my true path in life.  I am one of the few people who really love what they do.  I love going to work every day.  I love meeting people from all walks of life.  Every day I learn something new.  Who can really say that about their job?  What I am really saying is that this is NOT just a job to me – it’s my passion.

I promise next time to write more stories.....

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Birmingham