My head itches just thinking about it. My girlfriend just called to cancel coffee. Her little one was sent home from school with lice. It is the one thing that makes all moms shiver with fear. It is bad enough that there are little critters living on our kid’s scalp. That is the initial shiver. Then the weight of the situation settles in: the war now begins. On the front lines of battle are those little bugs, their eggs and hatchlings. Will they ever go away?
While my friend was off to the pharmacy, I decided to explore any home remedies that might be effective. Here’s what I found:
Smother those little buggers with olive oil. Sleeping overnight with a shower cap and olive oil on the scalp supposedly drowns them.
Blow them away. Use a hot blow dryer to dry shampooed hair. One study revealed a blow dryer using direct heat got rid of nearly 98% of nits and 55% of lice.
According to health.com, some people believe vinegar will dissolve the sticky glue that the female louse uses to attach her eggs to hair shafts. The acetic acid in vinegar is considered helpful in prepping hair for nit combing after using a bug-killing treatment.
Tea tree oil, mixed with shampoo and coconut oil, left on for an hour with a shower cap has been reputed to effectively kill the whole colony.
Here is the most unusual one I found: make a paste by grinding eight to ten garlic cloves and mixing it with two or three teaspoons lime juice. Thoroughly apply this mixture on the scalp and let it be for half an hour before thoroughly rinsing hair with warm water.
Everyone seems to agree on the following:
To help prevent a re-infestation, try these steps:
● Wash brushes and combs daily in hot water as this will dislodge nits and lice
● Seal items that are non-washable and touched the head (like stuffed animals) for two weeks in a plastic bag
● Change towels, pajamas, sheets, and pillowcases each day
● Vacuum the part of a child’s car seat cover that touches her head daily
● Remember that head lice won’t affect animals, so checking or quarantining pets isn’t a concern.
And remember, they’re pesky little annoyances, but in no way reflect poorly on your cleanliness or housekeeping.
