This experience upset me so much I went home and drew this in ink, then shoved it in a folder for 25 years. I guess I've calmed down now. So here's what happened.

NOTES

Maybe I blamed my housemates unfairly. Universities like Stanford where I worked are a great place to catch lice: coats, hats, and rainhoods crammed together on racks and hooks spread lice beautifully. The people shunning me as lousy may have been the source!

If you get lice, use the traditional methods

• Wash hair frequently; they don't like soap or hot water
• After washing, oil your scalp (oil smothers the eggs)
• Seek the eggs (glued onto the base of hair, within the first half-inch (1.5 cm or so) with a fine comb or with your fingers.
• Vacuum the seams of your clothes, then wash and dry them as hot as you can to kill any overlooked eggs. Or plastic-bag clothes and bedding for six weeks or so; lice can't live on nothing!
• Don't bother cutting your hair unless you shave your head bald--lice stay close to the scalp.
• Putting pesticide on your scalp is a bad, bad, BAD idea. It isn't even effective; the eggs are pretty resistant to it, and you're not! If you MUST, use a copper-based formula; less toxic than organic-based pesticides, though it stings. But it stings less than having your workmates all gossip about what an unclean slob you are. Courtesy of your boss.

--Chris Wayan

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