Homemade Remedies for Head Lice
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.
Dealing with a Head Lice Infestation
Dealing with a Head Lice Infestation
The problems with head lice are many and one of the main ones is the speed at which they spread. It is a common misconception that head lice fly – they are, in fact, wingless – but they can only move between hosts by walking from hair to hair; this is why they spread very fast among young children – think of the playground and the physical contact.
It is also a myth that a head lice infestation can only occur where the child suffers from less than satisfactory hygiene; a head louse is not choosy about who it lives on, and all it seeks is head from which it can feed upon its staple diet – our blood.
Head lice multiply at an alarming rate: the female adult louse lays up to eight eggs – the famous nits – every day of her thirty day life, and a quick calculation gives you easily over 200 eggs. Each nit stays attached to a hair follicle for approximately one week then hatches as a nymph or young louse. In just a week to two weeks time it becomes a breeding adult, and begins the cycle once more. From that description it is simple to see just how quickly an infestation can spread, and how important it is that it is treated correctly.
Treating head lice is a subject that raises many arguments: there are many insecticide lotions – using Malathion, Permethrin or Lindane in the main – that are available by prescription, and these are widely proven to be successful in many cases, and there are natural shampoos such as those including Tea Tree oil, and essential oil that is used in many herbal medicines, and the choice is a very personal one that is left to the individual.
There also exist some more unusual ways of tackling head lice and nits – including the odd practice of smothering the hair, and the lice, in mayonnaise – that are known to be successful if somewhat messy, and the tried and tested head lice comb is an essential tool in all of this, whether in traditional close toothed form or in the shape of the new style of electric combs that shock the lice to death.
What is important to understand is that the first treatment will almost certainly not rid the head completely of nits, and the patient will need to be closely observed over the next two weeks in order that any emerging head lice nymphs are caught before they can begin to breed.
Lice Pictures
All About Lice
Where to find them and why you need them
Head lice – a perennial problem especially among young children, spreading like wildfire among schools and communities as they are difficult to diagnose in the early days and are sometimes mistaken for such as dandruff and other scalp conditions. This is why, when diagnosing a possible head louse infestation, the use of pictures is very important, and we are very fortunate that modern technology has allowed photography to advance to such a degree that we can now see very detailed lice pictures, and video clips, displayed for us in high resolution on a computer screen, an aid to identification that surpasses all others.
There are several ways of creating these miniature marvels – one is to take a standard picture of the louse in real size and enlarge using computer technology, another to actually phonograph the louse using an attachment on a microscope – but there can be no doubt that having life like photographs of head lice, both in actual size and enlarged for detail, has led to easier diagnosis and a better understanding of the different methods of head lice treatment.
Lice Symptoms
Head lice symptoms are also pictured in this way, with examples of the site of a bite and the following infection, and also depictions of what a nit looks like and how to tell if the scalp is infested, and this type of head lice information has led to a much greater understanding of the problem. It is absolutely essential that if a case of head lice is identified, it is treated straight away, and this can be done in a number of ways.
Many people choose to use medicinal shampoos – Ovide, using the Malathion insecticide, is a popular one- yet many choose to steer away from such chemically formulated lotions and treat the head lice problem with home remedies. Indeed, there are many instances of picture guides to these methods, with pictorial instruction on using tea tree oil for head lice, olive oil for head lice and more, and as always the important, rather essential, nit comb is also depicted, with an illustration of how to correctly wet comb the bugs out of the hair.
Indeed, the ability to place high resolution head lice pictures on internet websites has led to easier treatment of the problem, and as public understanding of the phenomenon grows these pictures will no doubt prove their worth beyond all doubt. Modern technology has a lot to answer for, so it would seem.
Lice Treatment
Liceadex Lice & Nit Removal Gel
Great for an Individual Case of Lice! 2 Products in 1 – Kills the Lice & Helps to Remove The Nits!!
Liceadex One Step Lice & Nit Removal Gel is a special, one of a kind, natural formula that provides a safe effective way to kill lice and their eggs, without traditional and potentially harmful pesticide ingredients like permethrin or pyrethrum found in many over the counter solutions or expensive, multiple-step, essential oil-based solutions. Our formulation is one of the fastest-acting and most effective products you will find today.
All About Lice.
