Lousy

[Hadass]

First time I got lice, I was maybe 4 or 5. I remember lying on my mom's lap as she combed my hair with a fine-toothed comb. I never actually saw the lice. Frankly at that age, I probably didn't care.

The second time I got lice I was 18. It was my birthday and I freaked out at the unexpected birthday gift I probably picked up from a stranger on the metro duing rush hour. Again, my mom went through my hair, exterminating every little creature that inhabited my already messed up "follicul forest." I then picked my hair up in a bun and covered it with my hoodie. When my cousins came by to wish me happy birthday, they told me to let my hair down. I told them (for their sake) that I have a bad hair day.
Then they said: "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad."
"Oh, yes it is," I retorted. "Worse than you can ever imagine."
I am now 25, going on 26, and am struggling with my third case of head lice.
WHAT THE FUCK?
Now I know that Israelis lack in their concept of personal space, but it's not like I'm on the bus on a daily basis, and it's not like I go to the grocery store on a Friday during rush hour when the lines to the counters are packed. But somehow I still managed to serve as a new house for those little asshole critters.
And I've been frantically scratching my head for at least three weeks before I realized I have lice. I suspected maybe the weather conditions are making my scalp dry, or maybe I used a shampoo that irritates my scalp. I thought I might have lice but whenever I checked, I found none... until today.
I saw a little black thingy fall out of my head. I picked it up and examined it up close to realize it has legs. What was weird is that I didn't freak out like I did back when I was 18. I calmly collected my money and headed to the pharmacy to get an anti-lice shampoo and a comb, went back home, washed my hair like a crazy woman and combed it for a good 30 minutes.
I figured, lice are good in a place like Israel because if you have them and you're in line at the grocery store or in a cluster of people going on the bus, you can yell "I got lice!" and people would fuck the hell off of you. But dude, I wasn't gonna stay with a culture of critters in my head. Lord knows they could migrate to more... ahem... complicated places. And scratching your snatch in public is not like scratching your head.
In five days, I need to wash my hair again. And five days after that, I need to do my final wash. In between, I need to use that comb on a daily basis. Hopefully I won't come across any more of these Nazi invaders. I think that if I don't manage to get rid of them by the end of these 10 days, I will shave my head and get me a nice wig instead :-D

[Hadass]

Daaaamn!

[Sharada]

I've never had lices but when I was a kid my whole family caught scab (from a fucking public swimming pool). It was so awful to spread the lotion every morning and every evening and then trying not to scratch your hands and pretty much all over your body in public because the itch was SO bad :((( So I can say that I totally understand how you felt as a kid.

[martha your cherrybomb]

got one too at age 5 to 10...haha
i just shampooed everyday, and trimmed my hair on a regular basis. it made my lice go away;)

[Hadass]

Well, dying my hair is not going to happen. I very much like my premature grays ;-)

[Christy]

Oh same here. Primary schools are breeding grounds for lice.
I haven't had them since I've dyed my hair. Lice really, really hate hair dye.

[Suzy]

I had lice sooo often on primary school. The combing was part of my morning ritual.. I must have had it more than 10 or 15 times. Never had it again afterwards though.

I would get up half an hour earlier in the morning and my mum would go "lice hunting" with a comb and she'd also kill every single one she came across.. and do that for a week or two, and then I'd be clean for a couple of months. I remember those shampoos being really really smelly..do they still taste that bad?

Shaving your head won't be an option, I'm quite sure you can have them in wigs too!