Strawberry Wood
Natural Lice and Insect Repellent, Nit Free Mint Spray, Natural Peppermint Oil Spray, All Organic Enzyme Formula - 8oz
A micro-managing boss, an overprotective mother, that friend who fancies him/herself a movie critic, always first to find the ‘hole’ in the plot, all have something in common … the nickname “Nitpicker”. Ever wondered why?
1. Pediculus humanus capitis or the head louse is a tiny, sesame seed-sized insect parasite that feasts on human blood using its needle-like mouthparts to pierce the scalp or skin. Think of it as a ‘wingless mosquito’, except that head lice, in particular, are not known to be disease carriers (or vectors).
2. Head lice infestations cause an annoying, itchy scalp and leave behind welt-like bite marks that are often visible on the skin at the nape of the neck.
3. Infestations are diagnosed by simply visualizing the dark-hued lice in a white background. That is, a foaming hair conditioner is first lathered into the scalp and a special ‘lice comb’ is carefully passed through the hair.
4. To rid the world of this scourge that is actually endemic (always around) even here in North America, the proverbial question must be asked … Which came first? … the louse or the nit?
5. “Nits” are the almost microscopically small eggs of head lice that are found in the scalp of infested persons, especially children. Remarkable and annoying, nits fuse to – almost ‘becoming one’ with – individual strands of hair. According to the hair, the nits can actually become ‘camouflaged’, laying dormant and unseen even though adult lice have long since gone.
6. “Nitpickers” … well … pick nits. It’s a job description that necessitates the picker be meticulous to point of obsessive, carefully searching through each thread of hair, always on the lookout for eggs that are easy to miss. Since no egg must be left behind … nitpickers must always be “looking a-head” to the next nit (get it? ... sorry … siiigh).
7. Since nits are almost impossible to comb away, and since chemical interventions to basically ‘burn’ nits off of the hair shafts have their own obvious flaws, and since adult head lice have the remarkable ability to become resistant to insecticides ... *whew* ... without nitpickers around, the only real ‘cure’ for head lice is … well … to go bald!
8. In lieu of a society of bald children, concentrated rosemary oil is often effective in preventing the cementing of new nits to the hair. You can think of rosemary oil as “Hair Teflon®” thus preventing the spread of infestations. But this preventive treatment is only effective if the child or person is first free of nits … so folks …
Love your local nitpickers (and they are around) and be glad your boss, mother, and friend are not ‘bugging’ you about something else!
Sheldon M. Joseph, Hons. B.S., Ph.D.
