Wednesday, February 17, 2010

You.Have.Got.To.Be.Kidding.Me.

Olive has had cradle cap since she was born which I was basically ignoring because most of the time it was covered by her hair. And also because it totally grosses me out. Finally (after some gentle nudging from a friend) I decided to tackle the disgusting stuff. She (who will remain nameless) suggested that I use baby oil, giving me explicit instructions to rub it into her head and then use a brush to gently remove the cradle cap. Okay, sounds easy enough. I mean, my friend did this on both of her twin boys...that were basically bald. FORESHADOWING??

I embarked on Operation NoCradleCap Monday night and gave Olive a bath, using the baby oil and a brush. I couldn't find the baby brush (last I remember Nikos was using it as a bat) so I used a new toothbrush. (Ha!)

After it looked like I got most of it out I used the kids regular Method baby shampoo and body wash to get the oil out of her hair.

I scrubbed and scrubbed and washed it a few times and felt confident that I got it out. In hindsight, maybe I should have clued into the fact that her head still smelled, well...like baby oil. But no, apparently I chose to remain ignorant to this. I dried her off, pajamaed her up and put her to bed.

Flash forward to Tuesday morning when Taki goes into the kids room to get Olive ready for daycare. He shouts out to me "does her hair look like all wet from sweat?" Okay, WHAT? First of all, she's not sick or anything, so it's not like he should be expecting her to sweat out a fever and second of all SHE'S NOT YOU. I check her out and she is definitely covered in greasy baby oil hair. Sadly, we were already late that morning so we didn't have time to remedy the situation. Poor kid.

Olive, on the way to daycare, in all her greasy hair glory (also in her new big girl carseat for the first time!)

I frantically google "baby oil stuck in hair" to help turn Baby O back into the Baby Gap model that I know she is at heart.

Step 1
Shampoo your hair with baby shampoo. Generally made by the same manufacturers as baby oil, it is designed to remove baby oil from hair. Repeat the shampoo process multiple times, if necessary.

Hmm, I think I already did that? Guess I will move on to the next step.

Step 2 Sprinkle baby powder on your hair. It will absorb the baby oil. Comb it through your hair, allowing it to soak up all the baby oil. Shampoo your hair to remove the powder from it.

Okay, this seems reasonable. As I sprinkle Olive's head like I'm adding powdered sugar to a waffle (A LOT of powdered sugar) Taki brings up the Friends episode when Ross couldn't pull his leather pants back up and resorted to the same tactic. Great - that didn't work out so well for him.

Olive rocks the new, slightly grey powderhead.

Okay, now I revert back to Step 1, thinking that the first time I used Method shampoo and they don't actually manufacture baby oil so I better go straight to the source.

Here's the little shark - very patient during about six washings. I was planning on stopping at four but then Taki started making fun of me, saying Olive was going to have to wear the greasy do to Prom. Not cool.

Ta da...two baths and nine hairwashes later...

I did NOT break Olive. Phew.

6 comments:

Darcy said...

LOL! Funny post. And Olive is so adorable.

Linda said...

Is the "cradle crap" (as I used to call it) gone? She's still cute no matter what!

Bill and Cindy said...

I have the same question as Linda. Is it gone? And I notice, Olive doesn't look at all upset by this whole procedure. What a trouper!

Brenda B. said...

Glad your poor guinea pig was a patient one! I bet she'll smell fantastic for weeks to come now :)

The Press Family said...

Why are you throwing me under the bus!!?? Everyone knows that I'm the one with BALD twin boys! I want you to answer the question everyone wants to know...did it work?? Come on, throw me a bone here...
Here's some other helpful parenting advice:
1. Have Niko eat an entire tub of frosting before bedtime. It'll help him sleep.
2. To cure diaper rash, use equal parts of Elmer's Glue and Lawry's seasoned salt. Apply liberally to tush.
3. Allow your kids to color each other's bodies with Sharpie pens. It'll keep them occupied while you write your blog. It'll wash off by the time they go to college.
Please call me anytime for more help! ;o)

Sarah said...

Stick with boys. You're just not cut out for this. Should I remind you that you did this to YOURSELF in college? "I swear, one of my best friends, 'some girl' in my sorority puts baby powder in her hair ALL the time!"