Ah, Halloween. A time to trade the very real horrors of the world for infinitely more fun fake horrors, like a ghoulish pumpkin display or head lice waiting in store-bought costumes! Oops, I screwed that up; the bit about the head lice is actually real. Trick or treat!
WTOL News 11 is here to confirm what you, in your heart of hearts, already knew: That all those gummy masks and tangled wigs retailing for $150 at Halloween megastores stand a pretty good chance of being infected with lice. It just makes sense!
“We have a lot of people going into stores right now, trying on masks, trying on costumes and trying on wigs. And a lot of people don’t give much thought into the fact that several people could’ve tried it on before them,” Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Cherie Sexton told the station. She adds that the risk of infection can last up to a week after coming into contact with an infected someone—or something. (Like a mask, wig, or goblin that tried on a lice-infested mask or wig).
If you want to avoid this whole scene, Sexton recommends sealing any wigs or masks in a plastic bag for 48 hours, thus suffocating any potential lice, or throwing them in a dryer on high for 45 minutes. If that’s too much work, just wear a swim cap to separate your scalp from the bugs and hope that they can’t chew through.
Then again, if you’ve taken any group selfies lately, it’s probably already too late.