5 Safe Ways To Cure Head Lice

In early 2006, my oldest daughter came home from school with head lice. Now, we’d been homeschoolers until 2 months prior, so this was a rude awakening into mass education for us. Within days my younger daughter and my son had lice, and within a week I was also battling these little creepy crawlies.

I found out after trial and error that none of the drug store remedies were going to work for us. Maybe I wasn’t doing it right… I have no idea, but it took us a full month of constant work to realize that this junk just wasn’t killing the lice. And, after I read what I had been pouring on mine and my children’s heads, I knew I’d rather have lice than open them up to brain damage (read the labels of Kwell, Lindane, etc. which are also linked to Leukemia). We finally found a rather expensive product online that did the trick, and I know now that I would never endanger my kids again with over-the-counter pesticides.

KILL HEAD LICE NOW!

To help you make an educated decision about what to do about your own child’s head lice, I’ve listed some of the more common head lice remedies that are chemical free and are often touted as ‘head lice cures’.

1. Mayonnaise

This condiment was once a delicacy of the 18th century, but widespread manufacturing during the 19th century made mayonnaise the spread of the common people. While this treatment is seen often, and touted as a quick cure-all, I was unable to gain success with the slimy mess. However, you may find it effective.

The suggested use is to coat the head completely with mayonnaise and cover with a shower cap, or a plastic bag (think grocery store bag) fitted tightly to the head using knots or rubber bands. Of course, I think it should be obvious that the bag does not cover the face, but I’d feel uncomfortable not saying that out loud on the bare chance that a moron would actually cover their child’s face with the bag. Don’t, I repeat, don’t cover any person’s face with a plastic bag.

KILL HEAD LICE NOW!

Leave the yucky mess on for 3 hours, and hopefully you’ll find dead louse when you return. Comb with a nit comb while still covered in mayo. Wash with warm, soapy water and repeat every 7 days until you no longer find live bugs.

2. Tea Tree Oil

Another safe way to treat head lice is to douse the head with tea tree oil and leave on for 30 minutes. Some people have sensitive skin, so if your child complains of burning, remove the oil and try another way to remove the lice.

The treatment we used had tea tree oil in it and we saw success with this. However, raw tea tree oil is expensive, so it was just cheaper for us to buy a product that was made for lice and that contained tea tree oil.

3. Heat

Some experts maintain that hairdryers will kill head lice. Of course, most kids aren’t going to let you use heat from a blow dryer on their head for a half-hour at a time, so we never tried this one. In any case, the hair would need to be nit combed afterwards and this treatment, like the mayo, will have to be repeated every 7 days until lice are not longer seen.

4. Washing Your Bedding and Fabrics

This is not a treatment that I am comfortable suggesting by itself. Now, we did this along with other methods, and vacuumed daily, and I think it is smart to do when you are battling lice, but alone I think it’s nuts to think that just killing the lice that are not on your head is going to work. Use this in combination with other methods to kill eggs that are on furnishings.

5. Electric Combs

Some friends of mine had success with the electric combs. If you are interested in this method, you can find the combs anywhere online, and even in some local drug stores. We didn’t try this, but as I said, it came highly recommended.

I hope you find success in clearing up your child’s head lice problem. Just remember, head lice doesn’t last forever, and you’ll soon look back on this awful time as an shudder-inducing memory. Good luck and God bless!

KILL HEAD LICE NOW!

21 Tried and True Ways to Kill Head Lice

The following methods use home remedies for killing head lice that actually work:

1- Mix tea tree oil, diluted with a little water so that it mists easily from a spray bottle, and apply thoroughly to the hair and scalp, being sure you actually get down to the scalp to ferret out the nits. Follow with a thorough nit combing, and repeat this routine daily until the problem is solved.

2 – To a quarter of a cup of vinegar, add two cups of real mayo (NOT Miracle Whip!) and work this thoroughly into the hair, paying special attention to the scalp. Cover all with a plastic cap and leave it on the hair for at least two hours-more is better. Afterwards, use Dawn dishwashing liquid to cut the mayonnaise. Then mix two cups or more of apple cider vinegar into a full gallon of water, and rinse the hair, using all the vinegar water, then rinse hair again in plain water.

Do a thorough comb through with the fine-toothed nit comb. Then add about four drops of tea tree oil (which lice hate) to plain water and rinse again. Do another water/vinegar rinse and do the nit combing every two days for at least ten days. Finish the last time by rinsing with a full gallon of water to which you’ve added half a cup of vinegar. Doing this a couple of times a week should act as a preventive measure.

3 – A really easy approach is to apply an over the counter product called “Nutrogena TGel Extra Strength with Coal Tar Extract Shampoo” (that’s quite a mouthful!) two times every day, allowing this shampoo to stay on the hair for about ten minutes each time. Combing is not called for, but I still think it’s a good idea.

4 – Another really simple treatment is peppermint oil. Into one gallon of water, put 5 drops of peppermint oil. Rinse the entire gallon through the hair. Finish off with peppermint soap and a thorough nit combing.

5 – It is well known in “lice circles” that head lice abhor tea tree oil. And so, if you will mix 12-14 drops of it in a carrier oil like olive, mineral, or baby, and slather it onto the hair, the oils will cover the lice’s breathing apparatus and smother them. Leave the oil on the hair for at least eight hours to be sure the lice are really dead, as they can hide in a dormant stage for a long time and then resurrect! Then use Dawn dish liquid to cut the oils. Follow that with regular shampoo or a coconut shampoo and rinse, which lice absolutely hate as much as they do tea tree oil.

6 – Or you can use mineral oil on the hair and scalp overnight before rinsing with Dawn liquid in the morning. After rinsing, apply regular Listerine mouthwash and let it stay on the hair and scalp for an hour before following with a rinse of coconut shampoo/condition or Denorex shampoo.

7 – Another simple, cheap remedy is lime juice, but you have to do it two or three times (like so many other approaches), but you have to be sure to get any nits that have hatched in the interim. For each application, cover the head with snug plastic wrap or cap, followed by regular shampooing twice. Finish by rinsing with apple cider vinegar, which should loosen any remaining nits, with a final comb-through to be sure.

8 – Because we know that lice detest both tea tree oil and peppermint, add ten drops of each oil to Dawn dishwashing soap (use about a half bottle) and then add three tbs. of salt before applying. You have to leave this on for only five minutes then before using a coconut shampoo/conditioning rinse.

9 – Apply a potent alcohol to the head. We’re talking whiskey, run, vodka, etc. Let the alcohol dry, killing the nits in the process. Then wash with a dandruff shampoo. Follow the shampoo with an application of raw eggs, Vaseline, or mayo, which is going to suffocate the lice and keep new nits from sticking to the hair, because you will leave it on all night, shampooing again in the morning, again with Denorex or a shampoo/conditioner made with coconut oil.

10 – In case you’ve been wondering, yes, you can use Dawn dishwashing liquid by itself for killing head lice. But it must be applied to dry hair and left on for at least ten minutes. Then just rinse out and follow with your favorite shampoo and rinse well.

11 – Another great combination that works is to use half a cup of vinegar with about three tbs. of real mayo. Saturate head and scalp with this mix, which should be left to sit for at hour at least before rinsing and nit combing.

12 – Another similar-but slightly different-way is to combine equal measures of mayo with vinegar and saturate the head thickly before covering with a shower cap. And yes, you have to leave it on all night before rinsing it all out with Dawn dishwashing liquid next morning, as the Dawn is really good for cutting the oily mayo. Use a good cream rinse then before it’s nit combing time.

13 – This is another of those I haven’t tried but am told that it is most effective: Get some Extra Strength Denorex Dandruff Shampoo. It is said to kill the adult lice as you wash it through the hair. The salicylic acid in the Denorex is what does the trick. Shampoo with Denorex every day for the next 2 weeks to be sure all the nits have been decimated. If you can find another shampoo that is made with salicylic acid, you can substitute that if you like it better. One that I know of it Island Breeze Selsun Blue Naturals. Again, you need to finish with a good head lice comb.

14 – For under $2, you can saturate the head and scalp with an entire bottle of Suave Orange Mango shampoo. Leave it on for an hour before combing with a metal fine-toothed comb and then apply a shampoo made with coconut oil, which will cut the nit glue that the female louse has used to cement her eggs onto the hair. Doing so will cause all the nits to slide off as you comb.

15 – Again, here we go with Dawn. But this time, add some alternative powdered bleach-just enough to make a paste. (Do NOT use Clorox.) After you work it down to the scalp, allow this to remain for an hour or so before wiping through the hair with a towel, and you’ll be surprised to see lice on the towel, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you got them all. You’ll still have to do the combing. And you need to do this all over again in 10 days to be sure all the eggs are gone.

16 – Look in your health food store for sulfur soap that contains lanolin, as this agent not only will kill head lice, but it also prevents them from crawling onto your scalp again, in case any are left crawling on your furniture or clothing. If your health food store doesn’t have it, you can locate some at most Mexican groceries, and it’s cheap-about a dollar a bar. As a bonus, this soap also attacks ringworm and scabies!

17 – Wash the hair with Suave Tropical Coconut Shampoo (really cheap at around a dollar). Work it well into the scalp, as coconut oil works to suffocate the lice. Then rinse with coconut conditioner, but don’t rinse the conditioner out until you’ve done a thorough combing.

18 – There are two over the counter products that dissolve lice eggs so well that they can be combed right out. Get either GooGone Citrus or De-Solv-It. If you opt for GooGone, be sure to rinse it out within ten minutes or so after combing out the eggs; otherwise it can be a little irritating. Then do a final rinse with coconut shampoo and conditioner.

19 – Who would have thought of this one? Avon’s Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil. Just saturate the head and scalp, leaving it on until morning and then washing it out with-are you ready for this? Dawn! The oil actually dries up the nits. The Dawn makes it easy to comb them all out.

20 – Baby lotion? Yes! Just glop it into the hair and scalp and comb through completely with a fine-toothed metal comb. Then just shampoo it all out. To be sure no nits escape, do it again in 10 days.

21 – Look for an over the counter product called Blue-Magic. Apply generously throughout hair and scalp, cover with plastic, and follow with a thorough nit combing next morning before washing the hair with your regular shampoo. Lice are gone as if by magic!

Read More Post!