All of it

In the quest of a louseless home, I took my children to the hair salon. These are women who understand what it entails to rid a house of lice. They have dealt with it themselves. They felt my pain and probably smelled the sweat from my labors of removing all the bed linens for washing /drying/replacing and vacuuming every inch of the carpet upstairs.

Inwe and Larien knew why I was bringing them. Inwe had noticed that the time I took on her long hair was much longer than the time I took on Larien's hair. Yesterday, she was crying with thought of having shorter hair. Today, she was eager to jump into the chair.

As soon as Ms. Sabrina had finished, Inwe exclaimed, "I look good." We all agreed. Every woman in the salon agreed. Inwe does look good with shorter hair. Her eyes really get your attention now. She flipped it and twirled. She couldn't keep her hands off of it.

Then it was Finwe's turn. "Are you sure?" Sabrina asked me for the third time.

"Yes, " I assured her. "I know he has nits. I've seen them, but I can't get him to sit still long enough to get them with the comb. If he doesn't have hair, he won't have lice. I'm serious."

"Okay," she sighed. Sabrina suited me up with a cape (I brought an extra shirt for Finwe after the cut) and sat me in the chair with Finwe on my lap. I gripped his arms firmly in mine and held tightly. The clippers started.

Sabrina was quick and careful. We worked silently, her shaving and me struggling to keep Finwe still. We were silent because any words we would have uttered would have been drowned by Finwe's wails. He was angry at being held. Tears streamed down his cheeks. His head glowed red.

In my peripheral vision I saw Inwe in distress. I shot a look to Sheri who stopped the haircut she was doing to make sure Inwe understood that Finwe was just angry and not in pain. He wasn't in pain. Sabrina made no nicks. She was good.

As Sheri comforted Inwe, Larien stepped closer to the chair. "Mommy, why are you letting her take all of Finwe's hair?"

"It's got to go, Larien. You know why. What was in your head?"

"Lice. Little bugs that are sucking my blood. I don't want them to suck my blood. We have to kill them."

"That's right. You stay still when I comb your hair." I shifted Finwe to allow Sabrina access to the other side of his head. "Finwe doesn't."

Larien interrupted me. "If he doesn't have hair, the lice won't suck his blood?"

"Yep, " I grunted as Finwe flailed at me with a newly released arm.

Not long after that conversation, Sabrina was finished. Finwe had no hair. He quieted his wail to a slow moan and flopped onto my shoulder. We got him changed and brushed clean of hair. He touched his head. A look of interest popped onto his face. He felt his head again.

That was the theme of the night. He likes the stubble of his hair. He touches it often.

Go ahead--scream at me for shearing my son's head. I can tell you that there are no nits or nymphs or adult lice on that scalp. And, he's cute enough that he looks good.