When attempting to kill lice in the hair or on the head, you
should take it seriously and the job should be done carefully and right.
If you are thinking of using a commercial lice shampoo, are you really
aware of what chemicals you would be putting on your child's skin?
The
American Academy of Pediatrics says that the Nix brand of lice shampoo
is one of the most effective treatments for hair lice. But wait! If you
choose to apply that product, you are putting chemical pesticides on you
child's skin. Because of the social stigma that is frequently
associated with hair lice, frequently parents just want to use the
strongest, fastest way possible to solve the problem. There are other
parents however, who choose to look more carefully at the health and
safety of their children and they look for more natural and healthy
alternatives.
Of course, you want to get rid of the adult lice,
the nymphs (young lice) and all their nits or eggs. When your child has
allergies or else when you are just concerned about avoiding the use of
chemicals on your child then you start looking for other choices.
Probably, the simplest and most time tested of the natural home remedies
for getting rid of lice would be to use a fine lice comb and tweezers.
Use these tools to manually
remove the lice and their nits from
the hair and scalp of the child. This method takes a lot of time and
good eyesight. It also needs to be done daily for several days in a row.
Even if you are going to use a lice shampoo product, the time consuming
process of combing out the eggs is still a "must do" activity.
One
of the most popular and reportedly effective home remedies for killing
and getting rid of lice is to use a greasy substance like mayonnaise,
Vaseline or Olive Oil on the hair and this then smothers the lice. By
using this greasy substance and leaving it on the hair for 8 hours or so
(under a shower cap to keep it contained), then this remedy often
works. This is a messy method. Many people believe that this works
because when cleaning up the mess in the hair afterwards, the cleanup
process also takes out the lice and their eggs. If you use this "greasy"
remedy, it is recommended to rinse the hair with Vinegar after the
clean up. This rinse helps dissolve any remaining grease and it makes it
difficult for residual nits to stick to the hair strands.
One
non-pesticide remedy that is worth consideration is using the Ulesfia
medication. Ask you doctor about this if interested because you need a
prescription to get it. When Ulesfia, you need to saturate the hair with
is and then leave it on for ten minutes before you wash it out. The
treatment also needs to be re-applied in a week in order to finish the
job through the whole Lice life cycle.
A number of other home
remedies have been reported to have worked to rid the hair of and kill
lice. Many remedies are made from herbs or spices or essential or
aromatic oils. One of the most popular of these methods is the tea tree
oil remedy. Keep in mind however, these methods (as with the other home
methods) are not watched by the FDA and their effectiveness is not well
documented.
Let's talk a little about prevention. Help your
children learn about lice and how they are transferred. Only through
direct contact from one person to another can the lice move from one
person to another. They can't fly or jump. There must be contact from
hair to hair or from some contacting conveyance. When girls wear their
hair up and by having gel in it, this reduces the chance of transfer of
the lice from one person to another.
Teach the children to stay
away form doing things that could make it easy for the lice to make a
direct transfer. Common activities that create this risk are climbing on
and wrestling with each other, sharing combs, hair brushes, hats, hair
ties, bows and other items that may have had direct contact with the
hair. Teach your children to prevent the problem and you will find it is
a lot easier than repeatedly having to solve it.
By
Don Ellis
