How to Get Rid of Lice: Treatment of Heads and Homes

Lice. What a dreaded four letter word to hear in regards to your child-whether it be a call from school or the discovery at home, the word alone makes us all cringe and visualize shaving hair off little heads. Luckily, nowadays, lice need not be such a scary thing with such drastic steps. Almost all children will have lice at some point or another in their lives, so it does not hurt to be semi-prepared for such a thing to happen in a parent and child's life.

While nasty little critters that we want to get rid of quickly, lice do not carry disease and do not pose any harm to the head on which they reside beyond the intense itching. That intense itching from lice, however, can lead to scratching which in turn can cause soreness and raw spots that can lead to infection if not properly cared for. It is important to get the lice infestation under control to prevent this from occurring as well as to prevent the spread of the lice. Lice can be a vicious cycle in a household or school.

First, before we talk about treatments and tactics for dealing with lice, let's demystify lice somewhat. Contrary to some beliefs, the lice do not live in your house for weeks just waiting for another head to infest. The live lice survives off a human host for less than 24 hours. Also, lice on pets do not spread to humans and vice versa. The lice do not fly or leap mightily from one head to another. Direct contact must be made to spread the lice but in a group of kids they are definitely easily and rampantly spread. Lice are particularly savvy at clinging to the hair, using their claws and the eggs adhere with a sticky glue-like substance, therefore making them tricky to remove successfully, but they do not have wings.

When it comes to dealing with the lice on heads, the treatment is time consuming but successful with persistence. Of course, the first thing to do upon discovery of the lice is to immediately treat the head upon which the critters are residing. In treatment of a lice infestation, there are several chemical lice treatments on the market today, a few homeopathic treatments that wisely steer clear of pesticides, and then there are the alternative solutions-the home remedies.

Chemical lice treatments are dangerous, how could they not be when the ingredients are simply pesticides? The fact that such harsh chemicals are dangerous for human bodies should be enough to take the chemical treatments off the list of lice treating possibilities. In addition to being dangerous, many lice are becoming resistant to the commonly used pesticides, therefore rendering them unsafe and ineffective. Again, it is a wise idea to take the chemical treatments out of the solution options altogether.

Homeopathic lice treatments-These solutions, such as the brand name LiceFreee, are becoming more popular and are easily available at mass merchants such as Walmart. Without dangerous chemicals, these treatments seem to work just as well as the chemical versions. While pleasant enough in scent, we found the LiceFreee to be incredibly sticky to work with and too fast to dry as we combed out the lice eggs.

Home remedies for lice treatment-While the list of home remedies in the treatment of lice infestation is long and there are some that are preposterous, I have found there are quite a few reliable, working methods of ridding heads from lice. A recent lice problem among heads in our own home led us to try a few of these remedies-figuring there was nothing to lose by trying. Many tips can be found by Google searching online, as I did. Here are the things we did to combat the lice in our home:

Applied baby oil to the lice-affected head-the oil will kill any living lice and make the hair shafts slippery and difficult if not impossible for the nits/lice eggs to adhere to. The soothing baby oil will also relieve the intense itching, which is the worst part of having lice.

Cover the baby-oiled head with a plastic shower cap, the oil combined with the heat building up inside the shower cap serves to kill off the lice. Leave this on for several hours.

Remove the shower cap and comb out the oiled hair. You will most likely see dead lice on the shower cap and as you comb the infested head in question. The baby oil was stellar in killing the nasty critters.

Have the infested person shower but NOT wash the hair...rinse in order to wash out all lice possible, but leave the hair oily. Lice love a clean head, so leaving the hair oily is a good thing and will discourage eggs from sticking, as mentioned above.

Comb the hair often throughout the day, keeping the baby oil liberally applied.

When you feel comfortable that the infestation is under control, shower and wash the hair and begin normal life again.

Getting rid of lice in the house, while time consuming, is not nearly as 'impossible' as the hype would have us to believe. When it comes to the house, remember that the live adult lice do not live off the human body for long so do not spend ridiculous amounts of time and money in trying to rid the house of lice. Simply doing these things will get rid of the unwelcome lice inhabitants:

Vacuum all carpeted surfaces( being sure to dispose of the bag in the outside trash can or empty the vacuum cleaner into a bag and tie it up then dispose of outside.)

All clothing washed in hot water and dried on high heat.

All bedding should also be washed in hot water and dried on high heat for 20 minutes at least.

All pillows and/or stuffed animals can be put into the clothes dryer for 20 minutes on high heat or sealed inside a trash bag for 2 weeks to a month.

Wash any combs, brushes or hair items in very hot water or simply throw them away and replace.

While time consuming and sometimes frustrating, the treatments for both heads and homes are effective and will work for your family. Remember, lice is annoying and itchy but not a crisis at all.