The vaseline story

In my last post I mentioned that shampoo was much easier to remove than vaseline, and here is the documented proof that I know what I am talking about. H. was about 4 and L. was about 2 and I had gone to work leaving them with our usual babysitter. Jeff called me and was very upset, did I know the kids had gotten into the vaseline while I was gone? (how would I have known that? No, I replied) He tried to wash their hair and cleaned up the mess as well as he could. The next morning this is what I found:

No, her hair is not wet, it is completely dry, just coated in vaseline. I happened to have a Dr. appointment for L. that day so I asked the nurse at the office if she had any suggestions. She didn't, she replied (when she was finally able to control her laughter enough to reply) and she asked if she could touch it, which I allowed.

Not having another resort, I consulted the internet, where I found that vaseline is a home remedy often employed to control lice, although one site said "often people find that the cure is worse than the disease!"

Finally I stumbled upon a helpful hairdresser's site where she suggested washing the hair with cornstarch. This is what I tried and what, ultimately, worked. It took about 3 washes making cornstarch gravy with shampoo on the greasy hair, but finally it came clean.

Not to leave L. out, he endured a cornstarch shampoo too, but because he had relatively little hair, the experience wasn't so traumatic.

So, this is my story of the vaseline. I am most proud that I actually stopped to take pictures knowing even then, facing vaseline coated stuffed animals, walls and carpet- that one day this would be funny. And it is. Don't you think H.'s face looks like she KNOWS she is in BIG TROUBLE? priceless.