Posts Tagged ‘headlice’

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.

Ovide head Lice Treatment
Where head lice are concerned there are several different methods of treating them, among these being the very odd methods of smothering the creatures with substances that are found in the average kitchen through washing the hair regularly in a natural herbal shampoo, right down the basic and essential practice of combing the hair with a special head lice comb, something that should be carried out in conjunction with any other chosen method.
However, despite the availability of prescription insecticide shampoos, designed to kill the creatures and reportedly very effective, many people are wary of using these items, and choose not to do so. They fear the consequences of smothering their child’s head in what is effectively a poison, and of the apparent possible side effects these substances can have.
Ovide head lice treatment is one of these popular prescription only lotions, so let’s have a closer look at what it is, what it does, and whether or not there is anything to be concerned about.
The first thing to understand is the Ovide is a trade mark, a brand name for a particular head lice treatment, and it contains an insecticide called Malathion. Malathion is present in only minute quantities in the product – one half of a percent, in fact – yet this is said to be enough to kill the head lice while being harmless to the patient. However, it is not for use on those under six years of age, and does come with some possible side effects.
Side effects are minor, and include an increase in dandruff and irritation to the scalp; furthermore, the substance can be dangerous to the eyes, and as Ovide is an alcohol based product it is flammable.
The plus side is that it is thoroughly tested and is safe when used in conjunction with the directions given, and as it is available only on prescription cannot be given for anything other than serious head lice infestations.
There are many reports that some insecticides have become useless as the head lice have developed immunity to them, although this is not a reported problem with Malathion based lotions such as Ovide. It remains popular and widely prescribed, and is certified safe.
The choice as to whether to use an insecticide or a natural product remains with the individual, with the advantages of scientific testing and known success being for the former, and the knowledge of complete safety for the latter; it’s a choice only you can make.

Head Lice Shampoo – a personal choice
Head louse treatment comes in many shapes and forms – from shampooing to removal, from smothering to combing – that it can be difficult for a patient to make a choice. So much information is available that it can be confusing trying to understand the merits of one method above another, so let us concentrate here on head lice shampoo, as it is very likely that one will be used in conjunction with any method of treatment you choose to use.
One popular form of lotion that is used for washing the scalp is known as Ovide; this shampoo type lotion contains the insecticide Malathion, and is said to be very effective against the head lice. As Malathion is an insecticide it does have certain properties that some people may be put off by – it is, after all, a poison – and although possible side effects are minor, added dandruff and irritation of the scalp for instance, the appeal of natural alternatives means many people steer away from the insecticide option.
Other brands such as Rid and Nix – both very popular for head lice treatment – include different insecticides, and although they can also make claims for success they do contain poisons and can induce similar side effects. Furthermore, it has been reported of late that lice in some cases are developing immunity to these insecticides to the point where it would not be safe to increase the dosage in order to be successful, so it may be worth investigating alternative methods.
One popular alternative head lice and nits treatment is to use Tea Tree oil in a shampoo. Tea Tree oil is what is known as an essential oil, and is distilled from the leaves of the Tea Tree plant, native to Australia; it has, in fact, been used for medicinal purposes by the Aborigine people for many centuries, and is known to have anti-fungal properties.
There are two schools of thought with regard to Tea Tree oil and other natural remedies: the first is that they are perfectly safe and do not carry the possible side effects of the insecticide alternative, and the second is that they are essentially untested and unproven methods that do not work.
The latter may be so in some cases, yet there are many reports that washing with Tea Tree oil is successful in getting rid of head lice. It is a matter of personal choice whether the individual wishes to pursue a harmless method at first, before opting for the insecticide version should it not be successful.

How to get rid of Head Lice
The head lice problem is one that affects many millions of people across the world, as these irritating creatures are prevalent across the globe and have been for millions of years. The head louse is a very hardy creature that can be difficult to deal with, although once a routine has been found that appears to be successful the patient can look forward to a louse free existence.
The methods of treatment available differ greatly, but one thing that is always needed is the classic head lice comb: this is a small comb, deeper and shorter than a standard one, that has very closely packed teeth and is designed specifically to drag the lice, and the nits – tiny eggs that are attached to our hairs – from the hair, and whatever alternative method you use there is always the need for a nit comb to play a part.
Further methods involve the use of special medicinal shampoos, and among these one very popular prescription only insecticide shampoo is that known as Ovide; containing the insecticide Malathion in very small quantities, this is a preferred method by many, yet there are those who opt not to coat their children’s hair in chemicals that can have side effects.
The alternative is to use a shampoo that contains a natural substance, and among these Tea Tree oil – an essential oil taken from the tea tree plant native to Australia – is very popular indeed, and many claim it has excellent effect and brings about results.
There are more unusual methods of getting rid of head lice, for a popular head louse treatment method involves smothering them with household products. The head louse breathes through a series of holes on either side of the body, and these can be closed for periods of time to prevent drowning when we wash our hair. However, the louse has to open them at some time, and if we can smother them and prevent them from breathing then they will die.
To do this people use products that may at first seem rather odd – mayonnaise and olive oil are preferred – as these congeal on the lice and prevent it from breathing when it opens the breathing holes. Messy but reportedly successful, a thorough comb through with a nit comb, after a wash of course, is also needed to finalize this effective if unusual treatment regime. Following any treatment, regular inspection is also recommended in order to keep the population from reappearing.

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.

Head Lice Nits Treatment – What You Should Know
One of the most difficult parts of treating a head lice infestation is getting rid of the nits – the tiny eggs of the adult louse – as the cleverest part of the head louse life is how, and where, these absolutely microscopic eggs are laid.
To get rid of head lice nits’ treatment needs to be taken as very much its own thing, removed from the treatment of the lice themselves as they require a different approach.
The problems come from many sides, with the miniature size of the nits – small enough to be missed by a nit comb in some cases – being one and the fact that they are laid very close to the scalp and attached to the hair by a strong adhesive are others; combined these make removing nits very difficult indeed, yet there are interesting routines that can be carried out to help in the process.
Vinegar is a substance that has many surprising uses, and one of them is in the treatment of head lice nits; the reason is that vinegar is an acid, and the acidic qualities dissolve the glue that attaches the nit to the hair, so washing the hair in vinegar loosens the eggs up and makes them easier to remove.
Once washed, and rinsed, a wet combing with the nit comb should find more than usual, as they will not be attached as firmly to the hair follicles as they once were.
Understanding the head louse life cycle is useful in nit removal, too, and while there are many websites giving detailed information that are worth a visit, we can summarize it here: the adult louse lives for around one month, and in this time lays around six nits every day. The nits remain as such for around one week before they hatch into young nymphs, and in between one and two weeks are fully functioning breeding adults, beginning the cycle once more.
This is why the first routine for treating head lice nits needs to be repeated over the next fortnight, as any nits left behind will still get the chance to hatch. Once hatched, they then have a week before they may begin laying again – and that is the time you have to make sure you have cleared the head entirely of lice and nits.
In this process attention to detail is essential, for regular inspection of the hair and scalp is the best way to make sure that there is no louse activity.

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.

Home Remedy for Head Lice
Incidences of head lice infestation are far from uncommon and it is often a result of finding these irritating creatures in the hair of our children, or ourselves, that leads us to seek remedies. The medical profession will undoubtedly point you in the direction of one of the many medicinal shampoos available, but these invariably contain insecticides that we do not necessarily want to introduce to our children’s heads, and furthermore some of these are now ineffective as the head louse has become immune to them.
Finding a home remedy for head lice is therefore a common pursuit, and one that can throw up some interesting, and often bizarre, suggestions. Using vinegar for head lice treatment, for instance, is a popular method of treatment, and one that comes among the more often used homemade remedies for head lice. What vinegar does is eradicate the very strong ‘glue’ that holds the nits – head louse eggs – to the hair, making them much easier to remove. Removal is done using an essential home remedy tool, the head lice comb; this specially constructed device is aimed at getting the at the lice and the nits, which live at the foot of the hair and on the scalp, effectively and successfully, and one of these is absolutely vital to successful treatment, whichever home remedy you use.
Many people swear by the use of Tea Tree Oil for head lice treatment, and this essential oil of the Australian Tea Tree, so named as the leaves were traditionally used as a substitute for tea, is known to have certain anti-fungal and medicinal properties, and is still widely used by the indigenous Aborigine people for many treatments. Widely available and harmless, this is one of the more favorable methods of treating head lice as it is known to drive them away. Tea Tree Oil is also found in some shampoos, so reading ingredients carefully, may pay dividends.
Getting into bizarre territory now we come across the suffocation methods; as the head louse breathes via small holes in its side it is believed that smothering the patients hair and scalp with certain substances – olive oil and mayonnaise are favoured – for a set time, and at repeated intervals, suffocates the insects and leaves the head lice free and clean!
All of these methods have some substance to them, and whichever one you choose there is plenty information on the internet to help you on your way to lice eradication.