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Parental truths number four

17th June 2007 by Helena 8 Comments  

Unwelcome visitorsIf you don’t have children you have probably never had to deal with head-lice. They are more irritating than unwanted house-guests and seem to stay longer. My step-daughter first got them aged five and is only now (aged 13) finally getting rid of them.

But now my children have them. And of course I have caught them too. I thought they would be put off by Rodolfo Valentin’s exquisite infusions, but no, they love them.

As any head-lice enemy will know the most effective way to get them out is by pouring conditioner on your hair and combing them out. Of course with hair extensions this is no longer an option. So I will have to find someone willing to pick them out, which could be tricky. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase nit-picking.

I have become a woman possessed. I can’t see one of my children’s heads without pouncing on them and picking out lice. Yesterday Leonardo and I spent a happy hour on the terrace while I picked out his head-lice and he ran them over with his yellow toy Mercedes.

But that is the only upside to them and frankly it’s just not enough. I have heard that there is an electric gun you buy that zaps them. If anyone knows where you can get it from; please advise. Electrocuting them could be even more fun than running them over.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007


Filed Under: Children, Parental truths, blog --> Tagged With: number, parental, truths

8 thoughts on Parental truths number four

  • LizzieBG says:
    17th June 2007 at 11:31 am

    Hi Helena – how about this: http://www.expresschemist.co.uk/product_1732_oris-robi-comb-head-lice-comb.html

    Hope they disappear soon – just what a cool babe like you could do without.

    Lizziex

  • helena says:
    17th June 2007 at 4:51 pm

    Thanks Lizzie, looks great, am going to order one – look out nits….Hx

  • Claire says:
    17th June 2007 at 11:50 pm

    Try tea tree oil based hair products. After the very tedious conditioning and combing of my daughter’s very long hair, a friend suggested ongoing use of tea tree shampoo as apparently the lice can’t cope with it and reinfestation would be unlikely. It seems to have worked. There are some very nice ones blended with mint that make for very refreshing showers. Perhaps it might also work on already present lice.

  • sam says:
    18th June 2007 at 3:43 am

    there r now professional nitpickers in many large cities. u can get them to do the job if u live hear ny, la, sf, miami, boston, baltimore, houston. also visit http://www.licesolutions.org and go under section- ‘go local’. good luck!

  • debio says:
    18th June 2007 at 8:53 am

    We took my daughter’s head lice all the way to Florida and back – would they qualify as being ‘Most Travelled Parasite’ or shall we keep that title for the politicians?

    I was never more hysterical than when I realised our household was infested – but the electronic gadget works – and is very satisfying cos it zzz’s as it hits a louse. I was tempted to up the voltage but was afraid it might knock my daughter out!

  • Godfather says:
    18th June 2007 at 8:17 pm

    And you expect me to come to dinner tomorrow!

  • lady macleod says:
    19th June 2007 at 12:35 am

    have you tried a laser gun? perhaps Captain Pikard can loan one out.

  • Lloyd says:
    7th September 2007 at 6:52 pm

    Just experienced this. Yesterday at the acqurpuncturist, she noticed that Julianna had some eggs. Toni being Toni handled everything the BOCA way.
    1. Hair Clinique for toni and julianna,strand by strand, brushing, moisterizing and washing. Almost Spa-like. Movies on demand, snacks, and cocktails. 5 hours and $900.

    2. The Louse Doctor for the house all bedclothes, clothes, and
    Teddies Steamed and sanitized, closets completly emptied , old toys and stuffed animals discarded. Bare surfaces sprayed with all natural disenfectant. The house smells like an aromatherapy factory. 3 hours and $1500

    3. Oliver and Lloyd told to go foe a hair check-up.
    We declined such pampering and made a pact……………..
    We shall shave all the hair on our body out by the pool and be safe forever… We did and now have $2400 to blow any way we want……….Honestly believe that if i was still single, would have paid the $2400 to avoid the Q-ball look

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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