Head Lice Home Remedies
Kill Head Lice With Amazing Home Remedies
When killing head or hair lice, the job should be taken seriously and should be carried out thoroughly and in the right manner. Most parents are not aware of what they are really putting on their child’s skin and body when they just start using commercial lice shampoo? Are you?
Even the well noted American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the Nix shampoo product as being the most effective treatment for hair lice but if you choose to use it, you are putting pesticides on you child’s skin. Because of the social repugnance often associated with head lice, many parents just want to use the strongest, fastest way they can think of to get rid of the pests. Many other parents, choose to take the healthy and safety of their children into consideration and look for more acceptable alternatives.
Certainly, you want to get rid of the lice and all their nits or eggs. If your child has allergies or even if you are just concerned about using chemicals on your child then you start looking for alternatives. Likely the simplest and most time tested home remedy to avoid the pesticides would be to use a fine lice comb and perhaps tweezers, and manually remove the lice and their eggs (called nits) from the hair. This is a time consuming process that needs to be done daily for several consecutive days. Even for those who use lice shampoo, the tedious process of carefully combing out the nits is still necessary.
There is another popular home remedy that uses something like mayonnaise, Vaseline or Olive Oil on the hair to smother the lice. When this greasy substance is left on overnight under a shower cap (to keep the mess contained and in place) the remedy works quite well. This is a messy process but many experts believe that part of the reason this works is because when going through the process of cleaning up the hair afterwards, it actually removes the bugs and the nits all at the same time. When using this method, it is often helpful to rinse the hair with Vinegar which helps dissolve the residual grease that was used and it makes it harder for any elusive eggs to stick to the hair.
Another non-pesticide treatment you might want to consider is using a medication named Ulesfia. You would need to ask your doctor about this because it does require a medical prescription. When using this product, the hair needs to be saturated and left on for ten minutes before being washed out. This product also needs to be applied again in seven days to kill any freshly hatched lice from nits that may have been left behind. It basically works by suffocating the living hatched lice.
There are other home remedies that have been reported to have worked to rid the hair of lice. These would include remedies made from herbs or spices or essential or aromatic oils. The most common of these is likely the tea tree oil remedy but these methods like other home methods are not regulated by the FDA and their effectiveness is not certain.
On the preventative side of things, do a little research and become familiar with how to identify adult lice, nymphs (young lice) and nits in the hair and do periodic inspections of young children, particularly if they have frequent interaction with other children. With knowledge and careful inspections you can avoid any unnecessary inconvenience of treating children when there is not a need to do so. Take preventative measures to avoid the problem altogether.
If girls wear their hair up and if it has gel in it, these procedures reduce the chance for lice transfer from one child to another. Teach your children about lice. Lice are only transferred by direct contact from one person to another. They have no wings and do not have the ability to jump. Teach you children to avoid activities that could cause direct transfer like climbing on and wrestling with each other, sharing combs, hair brushes, hats, hair ties, bows or any other item that might have direct contact with the hair or scalp. When your children take these preventative steps, the likelihood of another “attack” is brought to a minimum. Education, awareness and good personal interaction habits are the best prevention available.
