If you see your child scratching away at his or her head, it's
most likely he or she has lice. On closer inspection, an itchy scalp
will have a lot of red welts going all the way to the nape of the neck,
and the white specks on the strand of hair, which are actually nits,
confirm that your child is infected with lice.
While most
concerned parents resort to a doctor's prescription to get the right
anti-lice treatment, there are also a number of head lice home remedies
that you could use, right in the comfort of your home.
Before you
begin treatment, make sure that the white flecks you find in your
child's hair are nits and not dandruff. The difference is quite easy to
detect. Dandruff normally originates from the scalp; whereas nits are
attached to the hair strand with its hair shaft.
If you see actual
lice moving about in your child's scalp, you might want to get
immediate medical treatment and not just home remedies. If all you can
see are nits, then you can go ahead with these simple home remedies.
One
quite effective way is to suffocate the lice by applying a thick coat
of mayonnaise and then cover the head tightly with a wrap, leaving no
room for air to get in. After about two hours, rinse the hair out well
using an anti-lice shampoo. Comb out dead lice and nits with a lice
comb. For best results, repeat this process twice. Instead of
mayonnaise, olive oil, hair conditioners, baby oil or heavy henna hair
cream may also be used instead. Of all these options, olive oil is the
best solution, as it softens the shell of the lice, making them more
vulnerable and therefore much easier to remove.
Using herbal
remedies is another way to combat this problem. Certain essential oils
and tea tree oils have been used for removing lice, but exactly how
effective is this method is uncertain. The drawback in this method is
that it is not recommended for very young kids as it may irritate their
skin and scalp. If at all it must be used on young children, an allergy
test is required. However, herbal remedies are better used on older
children.
Another remedy is Benzyl Alcohol Lotion. 5% of this
lotion can be applied to your child's' hair for 10 minutes, making sure
each strand of hair is covered in lotion. Clean hair using a lice comb
and then shampoo thoroughly preferably using an anti-lice shampoo.
Repeating this process weekly will ensure your child has no lice or
nits. It's an effective way to kill lice by crippling their respiratory
tract. However, precautions are necessary. Make sure your child is nor
allergic to Benzyl Alcohol Lotion and is above six months old.
Lastly,
having a good anti-lice shampoo at home is a must to finish off any
anti-lice treatment that you have done. Other than being easy to use,
it's a good way to control lice infestation.By
Christopher R. Thomas
