Hair Lice and Man Bun

Hi Friends, Hi Mamas, Hi Parents,

It's that time of the year, where hair lice is giving me headache and anxiety, like seriously.

This all started when my oldest (who is 9 now) started preschool.

Growing up, I remember there were always problem of hair lice at schools of mine as well, be it when I was in kiddy school or junior high school. There were always students with hair lice. But nope, I do not think there was hair lice problem when I was in high school, and certainly not in my uni days.

But, this was like in stone age for me, right. Did not cross my mind I would deal with those damn lice anymore. My mama always had to give us hair oil called urang-aring. Smelled good for sure, but god damn, so oily. To avoid catching lice. For sure I cannot find this oil here in Canada, and again, even when I liked the smell, I did not like the feeling of oily head! lol

Anyhoo. When my oldest started preschool, BOOM. We got email after email, of head lice notification. Say whaaaa....???!!!!! Fudge. I thought. Yep. Only then memories of my classmates with hair lice, strangers in public transportation with head lice. All creeped back to my mind.

What that gave me????? A suggestion to my head that I have itchiness on my scalp. A scared feeling that I have head lice. Scratch, scratch, scratch. I hardly trim my long hair!! Aaarrggggh. The thought of contracting head lice from those preschoolers. AAARRRGGHHHHH.

Lucky those preschool days, my oldest had very short and thin hair. Checking his hair every day was a breeze. No problem. We then also befriended with tea tree oil, which really annoyed my babe at that time. The strong smell, I guess.

Fast forward today.

Holy shit Batman, them head lice made an appearance in my son's CLASSROOM!

From grade 2 to grade 3, only this year we got a notification of head lice! NOOOOO!!!! I screamed. The year is almost over, why the hell do these lice have to make an appearance!

Lost my breath for a sec there. Panic mode creeping back on me. Why, you asked? It's just hair lice.

It's my brain, ladies and gents. Suggesting I have itchiness! The itchy feeling is back. Scratch, scratch, scratch. I cannot sleep due to it.

But most importantly, since I have 2 boys with long curly hair. If they contracted the lice, it won't be easy to treat but to shave them beautiful long lock :(

And lately I have been seeing his classmates with shaved, totally shaved heads :-/ This morning when I dropped him to school, a girl with shaved head! God damn you, freaking lice!

So yeah, we are back friending the tea tree oil, which luckily the boys now like the smell. It's like black pepper, they said.

Man Bun

My boys been growing their nice curly hair for forever, especially my youngest. They like it when we put their hair up in man bun. They never had problem with that.

Putting hair in bun is perfect as one of precautions to not get hair lice. However, although my youngest still likes it when we put his hair up, not so much for my oldest, starting a couple of months ago!

My oldest used to be proud of his man bun. Like a soccer player, like a musician, like one of his male teachers, and especially when the idea of going home to Australia came up. He wanted to show his long lock to his nana and pop.

A couple of months ago though, one of his classmates, a girl, started performing ballet where the whole class would attend the performance to support her. She had hair buns. My son started saying no to man bun.

Fast forward to head lice days. Most of girls now have hair buns.

No to trimming, hopeful of no shaving, yet he does not want to do main bun but tea tree oil only :-/ So yeah, I worried much and I SCRATCH much....le sigh lol

How do you protect your kids hair from hair lice, parents? Is there a natural medicine to avoid hair lice and to battle hair lice?

I read around and some say these following are the best for battling, but I have not found a natural medicine to apply so one can avoid hair lice (except the tea tree oil, which his friends sometime would tease him as his hair would smell like black pepper lol)

All I mentioned above requires to be applied over night and rinse next day. I mean, oil and mayo, and garlic? Yikes hahaha

If you have any suggestions, share away parents :D I am going crazy here, trying to protect my kids hair and also, am tired of scratching lol

Maybe I should send him to school with bee or anti-mosquito mask, so I can sleep soundly at night :P

Thanks for reading!

Vote Witnesses!