για τους ψείρες

So in Greek schools, lice (οι ψείρες) are pretty common.  I started to worry when one of the freebies Z brought home from the first day of school advertised a lice shampoo.  Then I saw the commercials on television and began to have palpitations.

Lice occupy the number one slot on my list of "Things I Don't Want My Children Bringing Home From School," closely followed by the stomach flu.  Just ask my brother about the Great Lice Infestation of 1990.  When he brought lice home from school, I walked around our house for weeks with a towel around my head.  I applied Nix at least twice.  I avoided my brother like, well, like he had the plague (of lice).  And I never got lice.

Thankfully one of our friends from the US went through the Greek school system experience a few years ago.  She highly recommended that we invest in a lice repellant.  The ones pictures above were the "natural" option.  I am thinking about getting a second brand to use.  Just to cover my bases, you know.

Have your kids ever had lice?  What did you use to get rid of them?

Updated 10/2/2011

I realized after I re-read this post I may have given a bad impression of Greek schools, or worse, Greeks in general.  Heaven forbid!  Several of our friends’ children, who attend American public schools, have had lice in recent years; clearly the problem of lice is not unique to Greece.  Lice happen.