Natural Ways to Get Rid of Head Lice

School starts, you get everyone settled into their new routines, and as fall zooms along and you start focusing on the upcoming holidays…wham! One of your kids comes home with head lice. Head lice are passed around in any group setting, but particularly those that involve children: daycare, playgroups, preschools, kindergarten, and school. Children are much more apt to have head lice because of the close proximity of their play. Girls are more susceptible probably because their hair is generally longer than boys' hair; and because girls elementary school age and above share more physical proximity with their friends than boys do. If nothing else, girls do share their hair care products with each more than boys do.

Despite a long held social stigma and embarrassment about having head lice, it does not reflect on the hygiene or cleanliness of your home or child. On the contrary, head lice seem to appreciate nice, clean hair to live and lay eggs ("nits") in. There is some anecdotal evidence that supports the phenomenon that people who use hair spray and hair gels are protected from head lice by their hair products.

Having head lice is not a sure ticket out of attending school any more either. The dreaded "no nits" policy of a few years ago is being phased out because having head lice is not a health issue. There is nothing dangerous or disease-laden. Having head lice may cause a child's head to be itchy, and excessive scalp scratching could lead to infected skin, but that's about the only health risk involved. They are simply very contagious and very annoying.

Medicated shampoos and hair treatments popularly recommended by doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are basically pesticides. Rid, a popular anti-head lice treatment, contains Pyrethrin/piperonyl butoxide, a pesticide said to be safe for human use. And Nix, another front runner in head lice treatment, uses permethrin as its active ingredient. Some studies suggest that head lice may be becoming "immune" to these pesticides. Other pesticides used by prescription only for treatment of head lice are lindane and malathion. Even though approved for use by humans, some of us are understandably reluctant to bathe our children's heads in pesticides.

What natural, non-pesticidal remedies are there for ridding one's self of head lice? A lot, apparently. Some of them are dangerous, and shouldn't be used on animal or human. Using kerosene on your hair to kill head lice is one of those dangerous practices. Other popular treatments involve coating the hair in Vaseline, or petroleum jelly, and leaving it on overnight. The danger with that remedy is, of course, that petroleum is flammable. Leaving your child's head coated with a flammable substance is probably not a good idea.

Many parents recommend coating the hair with a hair conditioner, making sure to bathe each strand. Then carefully comb, section by section, with a fine toothed metal comb, especially made and sold to combat head lice. Wipe the comb after each pass through the hair. A louse is about the size and shape of a sesame seed; the nits (or eggs) are small, white, and cling to the hair shaft down near the root. Nits resemble dandruff but do not flake off. The hair conditioner makes the nits easier to comb out, some people believe, although others stated that the conditioner makes the nits more difficult to see. Either way, every strand of hair must be combed all the way from the root.

Cetaphil Skin Cleanser gets a lot of favorable feedback in the war against head lice. You use it the same way you would the hair conditioner. Other people like to coat the hair thoroughly with the cleanser; then dry with a hair dryer until you have created a stiff "helmet" of hair; sleep on it overnight, then comb out with fine-toothed, metal comb in the morning. The theory behind this approach is that the lice will suffocate while trapped in the dried cleanser. Head lice can live several hours without oxygen, so be prepared to leave this cleanser on your head for at least 8 hours.

Freezing is known to kill head lice, but you would not want to use that option on a live human's head. Freezing is effective for small stuffed animals, treasured hair ribbons or bows, or other small items that may have potentially be contaminated by head lice.

Many head lice veterans swear by various natural "poisons". One of them is a spray made by boiling Quassia wood chips in water, letting them steep, and using the resulting "tea" as both a head lice killer and deterrent. Other people swear by a product called Neem Oil, although this is hard to find, and usually it is found overseas. Adding tea tree oil to regular shampoo, or the Quassia tea is another popular, and reportedly, effective option to choose when combating head lice.

Tar-based shampoos were regarded as effective head lice killers as well. Some countries have banned some tar-based shampoos, but they are still available by prescription. Other people use olive oil or sunflower oil to comb through the hair; then cover it tightly (perhaps use a hair color cap, shower cap, or plastic wrap); shampoo, rinse and comb out the next morning. Once again, the feeling here is that the oil and tight covering smother the lice; and the oil, shampoo, and combing combine to get rid of the nits.

Another innovative treatment is to slather the hair with mayonnaise, wrap in plastic, shampoo, rinse, and comb. There are also reports that washing the hair in a vinegar/water solution aids by "ungluing" the nits from the hair shaft, and making them easier to comb out. Some people have taken this acidic approach a step further, and washed the hair in Coke or Pepsi products with the same results.

Washing, rinsing, and combing to get rid of head lice is only one step, however. Sheets, blankets, pillowcases, stuffed animals, mattresses, hats, and anything worn in the hair needs to be washed in hot water. Items like stuffed animals and the mattress that can't be washed in hot water can be stored in airtight bags for two weeks to ensure any remaining head lice are gone. Any of the above remedies (and the same goes for chemical remedies) must be used more than once over a period of a couple of weeks.

Not all of the remedies worked for everybody. The same could be said, however, about the pesticides commonly used. Sometimes it takes a bit of trying various remedies to find one that works for your family. Experts agree, however, that it is the careful combing, strand by strand, on a daily basis, that is the most effective way to get rid of head lice in the long run.