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Posts Tagged ‘head louse’

All About Head Lice Nits
In understanding the problem of head lice it is necessary to dispel a few myths and misconceptions; one is that head lice cannot fly – they are wingless creatures as evidenced by the many head lice pictures available on the internet – and perhaps more important is to understand that head lice and head lice nits are two different things.
This is vital in treatment terms as getting rid of either requires a different approach; the lice themselves, the adult walking creatures, are relatively easy to get rid of by using either one of the many insecticide lotions or shampoos, Malathion or Permethrin for instance, available in well known brand such as Ovide, or by using a natural method or lotion, many of which are rather bizarre and somewhat questionable. Nits, however, are absolutely microscopic and may avoid being eliminated by even the strongest of insecticide treatments, meaning that while the lice have all been killed there are living, soon to hatch eggs remaining, and ready to start off a new colony in a matter of days.
One problem with head lice nits is that they are attached to our hair by what amounts to a very strong glue, and they are laid very close to the scalp making them difficult to find; wet combing the hair with a nit comb over a white sheet of paper may help to identify those that you do manage to dislodge – they will appear as tiny white specks – but this does not mean they have all been successfully removed.
A seemingly odd process may help to dislodge the nits from their strong holding, as bathing the head in vinegar has been shown to loosen the attachment to the hair, thanks to the acids present. Once done, and rinsed thoroughly, a further combing with a nit comb may result in a full clear out of all attendant nits.
As some may remain we need to keep a close eye on the patient over the next few days; nits hatch approximately one week after they are laid, and in as little as a further week the young head lice nymphs become breeding adults. This means you have a space of two weeks from the initial treatment over which close attention, and regular inspection, must be kept up in order to clear the head of any future or possible infestation. Nits are the biggest part of the problem, and the most difficult to spot, so such examinations are an integral part of any treatment regime.

Head Lice Scalp Treatment
Irritation of the scalp is a common indication of the presence of head lice, but it is not the only one. The irritation comes from an allergic reaction to the creatures biting into our scalp and injecting a fluid that prevents the blood from clotting; as not everyone has this same allergic reaction it is not a definitive signifier of the presence of lice, although it is one of the most common.
As the head louse lays its eggs close to the scalp it makes it the place to look for the creatures, and all instructions of how to get rid of head lice will instruct you to carry out regular inspections of the scalp for crawling lice and for nits, tiny white eggs, at the base of the hairs very close to the scalp.
Head lice scalp treatment ranges from the logical to the seemingly absurd, but the main routines involve thoroughly washing the hair and scalp using one of the many special head lice shampoos that populate the market these days. There are two main types of these – the medicinal and the natural – and it is worth considering the benefits of both, and the downsides, too.
In favor of the medicinal, prescription insecticide shampoos and lotions is the fact that they are scientifically tested and proven; they do, however, contain chemicals which are known to have possible side effects that cause irritation to the scalp, and in some cases an increase in dandruff, and many people are put off using them by this. Some lotions with smaller dosed of the insecticide are available over the counter, yet the effectiveness of these is disputed in many quarters.
Kinder to the scalp are the shampoos and lotions that come with natural addictives, particularly the widely used Tea Tree oil versions; this essential oil comes from an Australian plant that has been used for many hundreds of years by the Aborigines for a variety of medicinal routines, and many people swear by its effectiveness. Although harmless, it is not a certified method of deterrent or cure, and as such must be taken at face value by those who use it.
Examining the scalp for head lice is very important in preventing and treating the problem, and a head lice comb is very useful in this respect, too; keep up with regular inspections, particularly if a case is known in the vicinity, and make sure you catch any outbreaks very quickly.

Once and for all get Rid of Rid Head Lice Treatment!
Head lice – annoying and irritating creatures that are almost guaranteed to play a part in our lives at some point, and that have evolved over millions of years to become extremely resilient creatures that are unwanted visitors in homes across the world.
The argument over which is the best get rid head lice treatment rages in internet websites, books and magazines every day, for what is successful in one case is not guaranteed to be so in others. For instance, in the case of the often prescribed insecticide shampoos many people are insistent that they work, while others report that the chemicals involved – among them Permethrin and Malathion – were once successful but no longer seem to be. This is likely to be because the head lice have become immune to such insecticides, and is one reason why many people choose not to use these prescribed shampoos and to rely on natural alternatives.
In the case of shampoo these tend to be those that contain the ubiquitous Tea Tree oil, an essential oil whose use appears to be widespread and varied; again, the jury is out on Tea Tree shampoo as where many people report its success and effectiveness others, in equal numbers, declare it of no use at all. Therefore, what is right for one is not right for the other, which is why more unusual remedies have become widespread, too.
Chief among these is the practice of smothering the head lice, and this comes about thanks to an unusual biological feature of these tiny creatures: the louse breathes through a series of miniscule holes and, rather cleverly, these can be shut for limited periods of time which explains why lice do not drown when we wash out hair. However, this is a limited period, hence smothering the hair for a length of a few hours with thick substances such as, believe it or not, mayonnaise and olive oil can lead to the breathing apparatus becoming blocked, and the lice suffocating.
This method of getting rid of head lice is not foolproof – none are – and will still need the routine wet combing with a special nit comb in order to draw out the remaining lice and nits; remember that the nits can hatch in one week after laying, and only take a further week to become breeding adults, at which point the process begins all over again. Whichever method you use, keep an eye on the patient with regular inspections and examinations for at least a couple weeks after the initial treatment.

Head Louse Treatment – A World of Choice
Head lice present an annoying problem to many of us over our lifetime, and those that have children will undoubtedly be affected by the creatures at some point. They are very small insects and, therefore, very difficult to detect, yet when diagnosed there are many different, and wildly varied, methods of dealing with them – some which border on the downright odd!
The first method of treatment we have to talk about is the most important – the head lice comb. This is a specially designed comb that is intended to help to remove the lice, and their nits, from the hair: it does so by way of very closely coupled teeth, much closer than a standard comb and tight enough to snag lice, and by having extra depth that can reach right to the root of the hair, where the eggs, the nits, are habitually laid.
The comb must be used with whatever other treatments are chosen, as it is essential in removing any stragglers that may have been left behind; when one considers that an adult female lives for thirty days and lays up to eight nits each day you can see how many eggs there may be and how easy it would be to miss some.
Further to the comb is the use of head lice shampoo, and this comes in two forms – insecticide and natural; the former involves the use of chemicals, such as the Ovide head lice treatment that included the insecticide Malathion, and while these are scientifically proven concoctions it remains so that many people shy away from using them for fear of side effects.
The alternative is shampoos that include natural ingredients, sometimes herbal remedies that are believed to provide relief from the louse problem. Among the most popular is the use of the essential oil from the Tea Tree plant, whose leaves have been distilled for many centuries by the Aborigines to provide the oil, which is regarded as having very strong medicinal properties.
When any of these are used it is essential that the shampoo is followed up by a rinse and a comb through with the nit comb in order to check for any remaining lice.
The final method involves smothering the creatures, and is perhaps the most bizarre: the use of mayonnaise, smeared on the head, or olive oil may sound slightly ridiculous, but these substances at to fill the holes through which the lice breathe, leaving them suffocated and dead. Again, a comb through with the nit comb follows, and whichever method proves successful for you will become apparent.

Using Vinegar for Head Lice Treatment
The treatment of head lice, and the remedies that are often suggested, is a hotly contested area: on the one hand we have the readily available medicinal shampoos, complete with insecticides that are designed to kill the head louse at source, and on the other we have a wealth of homemade remedies for head lice of varying styles and methods, many of which are based on ancient herbal treatments and use natural and harmless ingredients.
The methods of using vinegar for head lice treatment fall into the latter category, and if you are thinking it may seem a little odd to put vinegar on the hair, it is far from as bizarre as coating the head with mayonnaise as one alternative method suggests!
Nor, in the eyes of many, is using vinegar as disconcerting as using insecticide shampoos: these contain often dangerous chemicals, and the manner in which head lice have evolved means the creatures appear to have become immune to many such treatments. Vinegar, however, is something that is used for many different purposes, but how is it a home remedy for head lice?
One of the problems with head lice is that the nits – tiny eggs – are attached to the hair follicles by very strong ‘glue’; this makes them extremely difficult to remove. A specially designed head lice comb may remove some, but not all, meaning that further regular combing must be carried out in order to catch the hatching young before they become breeding adults.
What vinegar does is loosen this strong attachment to the hair, as the acetic acid acts on the adhesive and renders it useless; this means that when a nit comb is run through the hair – carefully and repeatedly – there is a much greater likelihood of the nits being dislodged and removed, and therefore less chance of new nits hatching and reaching maturity.
Vinegar is not to be used on its own, however, but like many head lice home remedies it works best in conjunction with other methods; treatment needs to include thorough and regular washing of the hair, followed by combing with the head lice comb, after which the vinegar should be applied and the hair rinsed, and the combing process begun again. It is essential that the routine is adhered to if success is to be achieved.
The head louse is an annoying rather than a threatening creature, and its presence does not necessarily indicate an unwashed head, but the use of vinegar can be a very successful method of removing both the adult lice and their eggs.

Tea Tree Oil for Head Lice
Home remedies for head lice take many forms, and some are more likely to work than others, but the problem of eradicating head lice, and the hard to move nits, remains one that is tackled in many different ways by different people. Indeed, the use of special insecticide shampoos is recommended by many, yet others do not wish to use these chemically formulated lotions, and there are alternative natural substances that have been shown to achieve very impressive results when tackling the head louse problem
The use of Tea Tree Oil for head lice treatment and remedy is very popular indeed, as this is a natural product that is proving very versatile and is used in many different herbal and natural remedies. Tea Tree Oil is one of the ‘essential oils’ and comes from the Australian Tea Tree plant; its real name is Melaleuca alternifolia, and it obtained its popular name as for many years the leaves of the plant have been used as an alternative for real tea.
Indeed, it is the leaves that provide the oil, and it is extracted by an age old method of steaming that has been used by the Aborigines – who are enthusiasts of its many medicinal properties – for many years; this oil is then sold across the world in health food suppliers and on internet websites, and it is frequently found in some shampoos that may well be viable alternatives to the insecticide versions.
So how does it help to treat head lice? It seems that the oil contains substances that are known to cleanse and also have anti fungal properties, and it has been discovered that it helps drive the head louse away, and also deters it from choosing your head as a hiding place, hence its presence in some shampoos.
Many people use tea tree oil with the traditional regular combing with a head lice comb, and with some of the related techniques whereby the head lice are smothered by such as olive or oil or, rather more bizarrely, mayonnaise, but whichever method you choose you will find that the oil has a great effect.
Finding out how to use it as a home remedy for head lice is simple in these days of the internet, and a simple search for ‘head lice and tea tree oil’ will undoubtedly provide you with a myriad of suggestions; make sure you use it regularly and with care, and you may eradicate the head lice forever.

About the Head Louse
The proliferation of head lice infestations, particularly spreading among young children in schools, shows no signs of abating, and a great part of that is down to the way these irritating creatures live their lives.
Put simply, head lice live on our scalp and feed off our blood – it is this that causes the irritation and itching that are prime head lice symptoms – and lay eggs which, in just a matter of days become adult lice and begin the process again, but it is the way they move around that gives us the clue as to why they spread in the situation they do.
A head louse has no wings and does not jump, so therefore the only way it can move from person to person is by walking from hair to hair; this means close contact must happen, and children are prime candidates for such.
It pays to be able to recognize head lice, and the nits – or eggs – that they lay, and this is why it is advisable to look at some of the head lice pictures that are commonplace on the internet. Many of these websites can also offer advice on prevention and treatment, and give more details on the head lice and its life cycle.
Head lice prevention is perhaps the best place to start: if you are aware there is a head lice infestation in your child’s – or your – close circle then you need to do all you can to keep contact with the infected to a minimum. Furthermore, a regular inspection routine is essential in order to keep an eye out for the creatures, and regular washing of the hair, perhaps with one of the herbal or natural shampoos that are supplied as home remedies for head lice, is also advisable. Do not be fooled into thinking, however, that head lice will stay away from clean hair as they are not confined to the unwashed, despite common belief.
Using one of the specially made head lice combs – designed to remove the nits and therefore reduce the population explosion – is a recommended course of action and will also help identify if lice are present: combing over a white sheet of paper will highlight any fallen creatures or nits.
Head lice are creatures that appear only too often, and the methods used to treat them are many and varied – some use vinegar for head lice treatment, others olive oil – and if you prefer home remedies then there is much in the way of advice, but it is also worthwhile looking at those lice pictures and familiarizing yourself with their appearance.

Homemade Remedies for Head Lice
The problem with head lice is that they are a surprisingly common phenomenon, and many people are averse to using the many chemically formulated, insecticide based shampoos that are prescribed for the condition. It is often the case that parents search for homemade remedies for head lice, and a quick internet search will show you just how many of these there are.
They range from the logical – regular attention with a nit comb and the application of natural herbal remedies that are known to have combative properties – to the absurd – coating the head in mayonnaise to smother the head lice! The question is, however, do these home remedies work? Will they kill the head louse population?
It is so that the methods all have their basis in actual fact, so let’s have a closer look at the different sorts of home remedy for head lice, how they work, and whether they should be considered valid.
First, the combing: as head lice live and lay their eggs – nits – close to the scalp a conventional comb is unlikely to be effective against them, hence the invention of the head lice comb. This device is smaller than a standard comb but has very closely ranged, and longer, teeth and is specifically designed to remove the lice and the eggs, too. Regular combing after washing can be very successful indeed, and is recommended in conjunction with all other home based remedies.
Next, the natural remedies: many different substances are used to combat head lice – Tea Tree oil is popular, an essential oil distilled from the leaves of the Tea Tree plant native to Australia, and used by the Aborigines as a remedy for many things – and it can be added to shampoos for extra effect. There are special shampoos available that already contain the substance, specially formulated for head lice treatment.
The smothering method is perhaps the most bizarre, but it does have claims based on fact: the head louse breathes through holes in its side, and coating the head in substances such as Olive Oil, Vinegar or the aforementioned Mayonnaise can serve to block the breathing holes of the louse, effectively suffocating it in a couple of hours.
Finding and choosing a home remedy for head lice is something that involves trial and error – what works for you may not work for others – but the sheer amount of information available on the internet, and in publications, should enable you to find a successful method.

The Head Lice Comb and why it is Vital
Before we go on it is important that we understand the reason why the head lice is so hard to remove using a conventional comb: a head louse will lay her eggs very close to the base of the hair, almost on the scalp, and lives on the scalp herself, hence a conventional comb will not reach the tiny creatures, and its teeth are likely to be too widely separated to do so, too.
A head lice comb is designed to be smaller yet deeper, and also to have very fine teeth and tiny gaps between them, thus enabling the user to remove both lice and nits – the troublesome and difficult to eradicate eggs of the lice – from the hair with greater success.
A cheap and simple item, generally made from plastic and metal and available from many shops on the high street plus internet suppliers, using the comb regularly is a must if one is to b certain of eliminating lice. In fact, there is a routine to be followed that is based around the life cycle of the head louse. A female adult louse will live for thirty days, and lay each day a handful of eggs. The first step, then, is to use the nit comb to remove all living creatures – statistics have shown there are likely to be less the twenty adults on the head at one time – and as many eggs as possible. As we know the eggs hatch in a week, and newborns do not begin breeding for another week, we know that if we comb regularly all new lice that are removed will not be layers, and one week later the head should be completely clear.
As in many walks of life, however, technology has seen an advance on the conventional head lice comb, and it is now possible to buy electronic versions that, using a standard battery and a very small charge, electrocute the lice as they find them. This method is favoured by many as it has proved efficient and simple to use in a number of trials, yet many people still prefer to refer to the older and less technologically advanced nit comb.
Whatever route is chosen it is vital to remember that a nit comb should be used in conjunction with other methods, including washing the hair with special shampoos, as this is the best way to make sure that homemade remedies for head lice are successful.

Head Lice Treatment – the available options
It is an oft-held misconception that head lice are only suffered by those with dirty hair; the fact that head lice can infest anyone’s hair – no matter how clean – is one that needs to be reiterated often in order that prevention of the creatures can be successfully maintained. There are some important factors of the head lice life cycle that need to be understood before discussing head lice treatment, as the way it lives is part and parcel of how it manages to be such as a common pest.
Head lice, for a start, cannot fly: to move between hosts they walk – moving from hair to hair – and thus need close personal contact in order to spread. Once settled on a host the female adult louse, who lives for 30 days, can lay between six and eight eggs each day – the eggs being the famous ‘nits’ – and each egg will hatch in about one week. Just another week later the lice are adults, and begin the cycle again.
This population explosion is difficult to control if left untreated, which is why we need to look at the various head lice treatment options available. A medical practitioner will most likely prescribe a medicinal shampoo, yet the chemical makeup of these is something that many people are unsure about. The alternative is to treat head lice with home remedies, and these vary from the wacky to the proven.
While covering the infected child’s hair with mayonnaise or vinegar may or may not smother the lice, it does make a mess, and while many people still use this method it is preferable to look at one of the many herbal or natural treatments on the market. Also essential, both as prevention and as a treatment, is regular combing with a specially designed nit comb.
The purpose of these combs is to remove the very difficult to shift nits – and a quick look at one of the many head lice pictures you can find on the web sill show you how ably they are attached to the hair – preventing them from hatching and, as a result, reducing the population increase
Head lice symptoms are typified by incessant itching, yet it is necessary – particularly if a child is known to be in contact with a sufferer – to carry out regular inspections as itching may not occur instantly, but days after being bitten.
Head lice infestations are a sadly very common occurrence as the creatures are amazingly adaptable, and keeping an eye open for tell tale signs is a good way of being on guard.