Lice!

I remember as a little girl having lice in Israel, twice. We would often come for the summers and go to school, so my mom would have to deal with these pesky little insects. One case was so bad that upon getting back to the USA, the pediatrician ordered a special shampoo. The amount of dead lice that came out in the tub was a sight. The second time I had lice in Israel, my mom picked out nits while we were waiting for a bus at the station. Suddenly there were siren sounds for a chafetz chashud. She was so calm during it all and just kept checking and picking them out. Even as the bag was popped and ended up being just clothing scattered around the road, she seemed indifferent. 

Our daughter hasn't had lice since she was 2 years old, so we have been lucky not to use combs and do weekly checks. Imagine the surprise to find that after two weeks, her head was infested. We learned about the importance of not just going to school in a ponytail (which she did every day) but rather braids. And the power of Hedrin Once, which I believe killed the nits but there was some after care needed and loads of combing.

But with this, we feel officially inaugurated as Israelis! Most friends and family were impressed that it took a full year. And we were able to put to good use a comb that was given to us at the airport when we arrived last July. 

Upon warning other parents out of courtesy, we learned how it's very accepted here and how often to do comb outs. It simply never occurred to us. The ganenet sent a reminder out, but otherwise, it's much less of a stigma here and taken with a grain of salt.

Schools here allow children to continue coming, even if they have it. I've heard this, but going through the motions, as a parent now living here, was just different. 

When she was two years old we spent $500 and a uv heat fan FDA approved to get them out. We also received a certificate that she was cleaned and could go back to school. It was stressful, we both had jobs out of the house. This time around, I was incredibly grateful that we both have jobs working from home (yay to being at my place now 7 months - -!), though the lice care fell in my court (but, I'll accept that over stitches and dealing with hospitals). 

I suppose in some ways we are culturally still very American but mindset does change. In conversations, we began to understand more how and why. 

On the plus side, this attitude definately creates less of embarrassment, and that's much appreciated. In the USA parents often note this in disgust as one of the aliyah adventures. But mindset is so important. Our girls here just get some extra extra lovin'. 

In returning to school the next day, there were no tears from being called out rather "Ima, my friend X now has lice, and I think I got it from X who got it from Y. And X had lice 3 weeks ago, but she's ok. They all got treated and are ok." While sharing this and checking our son, he insisted that I need to CHILL out. Haha. 

By Wednesday night, exhausted from excessive combing, work, back and forth changes due to Corona, lockdown here, there, masks, heat, our pending move Aug 2 to another rental in the same project (around the corner, bh. Wonderful stability for the kids till bzh we hope to find permanent housing here - - we are pre approved if you hear of anything in Beit Shemesh - - a story for another time, how moving within the country is like aliyah/starting over all over again - - the kids have amazing friends, we have great comforts, an awesome pediatrician and amazing neighbors, friendships blossoming and chevrutot, despite the limited movements) I closed the lights early and went to bed.

אח! איפה, איפה הן,
הבחורות ההן,
עם ה"קוקו" והסרפן

Thank you Ima, for teaching me this song and for taking care of our hair. I was able to tell Temima about these memories and what you did for us - - מדור לדור. I really miss you. Especially in celebrating this 1-year milestone and being told not to go to the cemetery just yet.

Disclaimer: Yes, I gasped. Yes, it's gross. Yes, I checked her two weeks before. And Yes, we will comb out and continue our anti lice routine with scootie cootie spray.

Shout out to Srulik my hair designer by Super Hatzlacha who washed oils out of my hair and recommended products to help comb her out with more ease. Srulik has 4 girls of his own, was a hair dresser in the Israeli army, extremely professional, calm and was just there for me the very next day to figure out how to maintain TLC for our strands. He has an open door policy and real honest customer service.

Ladies, make sure to get yourselves an awesome salonist who can help calm your nerves and make you feel beautiful >> https://www.instagram.com/srulik_hairdesigner/