Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Mayonnaise, Vinegar and a Few More Twist Ties


I planned to get back here sooner, but I got held up by bugs.

My daughter, Katherine, was complaining about her head itching, and asked me to check her head. I have bad eyes, and couldn't see anything. Then she hit up the school nurse, who also did not see anything. Three days later, she went back to the nurse, with bug in hand. Yep, head lice!

The mere mention of head lice makes my head itch. Unfortunately, my daughter is a adept at bringing it home every couple years. She's twelve and I think we've had it three separate times. That's not counting the times we thought we were done and weren't . She and I both have thick, long hair so treatments are always a nuisance, not to mention expensive. Needless to say, I was on the lookout for a “home remedy” that would really work. I found one: Mayonnaise! Slather it on your child's (or your) head, wrap it up in some plastic wrap or a tight fitting shower cap and leave it on for at least four hours. The idea is to smother the little suckers.

You want to use something like Dawn dish soap to wash it out, because its going to be greasy. Then rinse the hair with Apple Cider Vinegar. Vinegar is not only a great de-tangler, it will help loosen the nits, so pulling them out will be easier.

Once you've done all that, you still need to visually check the head for nits and remove any that are still attached. Nit combs can help, but don't rely on them to get them all. This can be a tedious process, but if you leave one and it hatches, you're going to have to start all over.

From what I've been told, olive and coconut oil work well for this too, but as much hair as Kat and I have, the cost would be prohibitive, I think.

Our weather has taken a turn toward Autumn, so we've been building a fire in the wood stove in the evenings. The other night, I had a nice one going and went to close the stove. My mind must have been elsewhere, but it came back in a hurry when I realized I had attempted to close it bare handed! OUCH!

By the time I got to the kitchen, my index finger was starting to blister. I remembered something my oldest son James, told me. James has worked various kitchen jobs and is well acquainted with burns.
He discovered vinegar would take the heat out fast. He was right. By the next day, I couldn't even tell I had been burned.

So there's two for vinegar.

Back on the twist tie front: I like twist ties for everything but what they were designed for. I hate them on bread wrappers, probably because I am left-handed and the whole thing is backward for me. I also hate them for trash bags because they slip off. So when I open a new loaf of bread or a new package of trash bags, I take the twist ties and put them in a plastic container in a kitchen cabinet. That way, I have them when I need them for something for which they will actually work...like attaching cords to the ceiling. Btw, here is a pic of that.


Katherine likes to make animals out of them. She says this is a dragon...but everything is either a dragon or dinosaur for her.



One more thing that is kind of cool about saving twist ties, is that it will take a very long time for them to take over the house, unlike plastic bags, milk jugs and coffee can!
 
 
Oh, btw, its election day. Please get out and vote!

No comments:

Post a Comment