# Treatment for head lice



## Lilala Astrid (Jan 7, 2015)

My first post here so hello everyone...

I have been battling with head lice on my two girls for the past 6 months. I tried natural remedies such as olive oil and vinegar, and even the products available in the pharmacy - nothing has worked. It is like the little buggers are non-destructable! 

Anyone here got a solution I can try that they have seen work? My girls are getting very frustrated with all the "treatments" I am giving them.

Thanks

Astrid


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## marilyn612 (Feb 11, 2014)

Around here we have people who treat headlice professionally (Toronto Ontario). Is that an option? They told me to comb comb comb with a high quality nit comb. They told me that lice have become resistant to the pesticides in the commercial products from misuse of the products. Also, have you been treating bedding, clothing, toys etc. Anything plush that she comes into contact with needs to be treated too. One more thing. Have you been checking the rest of the family and her close friends. You could be passing it back and forth. Sorry not much time to post right now!


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## VocalMinority (Apr 8, 2009)

HEAT.

Over the last few years, between our 4 kids and the neighbors' 4 kids (who are all best friends) going to schools, churches, sports, the Y, children's museums, indoor playgrounds, etc., we've shared 2 bouts of lice and one of bed bugs. They're similar creatures who've been killed with similar chemicals in the US, for the last 50 years. Both are growing immune to those chemicals. With regard to both, granola parents (like my neighbor and me) have compiled a backlash of home remedies which, in many cases, sound nice (like tea tree oil), but which simply are not consistently effective.

But heat IS consistently effective - even more so than the chemcials - and it's been the common way to combat these pests in non-1st-world countries, forever.

By now, the internet is replete with articles about heat treatments, ranging from simple, to 10-page scientific papers, access to which you can buy for a few bucks. *The key is to be methodical and meticulous about it.*

My friend and I eradicated one bout of lice by taking everyone in our families to the sauna at the Y (where we caught the darn things in the first place). We even snuck in the younger kids. Somewhere online, I found an assertion about what temperature (for what period of time) kills lice eggs. It's been years, so I'll let you look that up for yourself. But it was not a dangerous temperature or amount of time to keep a young child in a sauna. I can't imagine it was more than 10 minutes. (For a baby, I'd be much more cautious.) We followed up at home by meticulously using nit-combs to remove as many lice and eggs as possible, from everyone's heads. We repeated it maybe 2 weeks later (or however long the lice gestation period is - again, I'll let you look it up), just in case some survived the 1st treatment.

With our 2nd bout of lice, I found the scientific paper published by the "LouseBuster" inventors. (That product *may* be available commercially now. It wasn't, a few years ago.) Based on their research, we meticulously pinned everyone's hair (like hairdressers do when people get perms or coloring) and aimed a hairdryer at the roots on either side of each "clump" of hair, at the hottest temperature, for as long as the person could stand it. FTR, no one could stand that heat for quite as long as the "LouseBusters" recommended, yet we eradicated everyone's lice anyway. It took ~30 total minutes, per head. Again, we repeated this after the gestation period, just in case.

Both times, my friend and I meticulously went through our homes, washing every possible fabric item (including all clothes, stuffed animals, etc.) in hot water and drying them in dryers; or slowly using a steam-cleaner on unwashable upholstery or rugs. (For clarity, I don't mean the carpet cleaners you can rent at grocery stores, with which you're supposed to use chemcial solutions. I mean the a water-only steam machine that looks like a canister-style vacuum, which you can buy at hardware stores for ~$60. Post-lice, they're a wonderful, safe way to clean floors and all sorts of things, or strip wallpaper. A good investment!)

We did this cleaning one room at a time and only allowed people into "clean" rooms after their heads had been treated with heat. "Clean-headed" family members were restricted to "clean" rooms and clean clothes, until our entire houses were clean. We also did this in our cars. It was a COLOSSAL pain in the -ss. But it was 100% effective. Between our 2 families, all *12* people had no symptoms, after the 1st heat treatment.

With the bedbugs, we also used the sauna and steam-cleaning and it was also totally effective. In hot countries, evidently people kill bedbugs by dragging their mattresses outside into the hot sun.

Hope this helps!


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## PirateQueen (Feb 28, 2014)

don't burn your kids' heads! The key to the hair dryer trick is NOT heat - it's drying out the eggs. It does nothing for live lice. Which is OK. Getting rid of eggs is totally worthwhile, and you don't have to burn your kids' heads to do it. 

You need a hair dryer that has a "high/low" speed setting separate from the temperature setting. Set the thing on "high" but low heat. Divide dry hair into small clumps. Blow each clump for thirty seconds on each side. Supposedly this works like the "LouseBuster." It also takes forever. 

But, mostly what I have done when my kids got it, was to brush their hair out, goop up their scalps with cheap white conditioner and comb with a good lice comb. Daily, until there are no more bugs for 10-14 days. The comb gets everything out of the hair, and the conditioner makes it hard for the lice to scamper away from the comb. In my experience, you pull out a bunch of adult lice on day one, and then a bunch of nymphs in the first week, and then you're mostly making sure you didn't miss anything for the next week or two. 

Lice shampoos are a great idea, that most lice in North America are now genetically resistant to. Mayonnaise has never been proven to work. Most potions strong enough to have an impact on an organism with an exoskeleton are not things you want to be putting on your child's head. So combing is really where it's at.


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## PirateQueen (Feb 28, 2014)

Also, I know we've been trained to think we need to clean All The Things when our kids have lice on their heads and to segregate the clean from the unclean - but lice live on heads. They don't leave one head without another warm head nearby, which for lice, is within a few inches. To get rid of lice, you don't need to clean your furniture or your carpets - focus your attention on heads. Everything else is a distraction that is making you crazy and tired and taking your attention away from removing lice from heads.


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## avonmommy (Aug 2, 2014)

My teen daughter had lice a few years ago. We used a Listerine mouthwash treatment (Google it - it worked for us!). I also removed as many nits as I could. At the same time she also colored her hair, and I think this may have helped too. I think it maybe killed the nits that I missed. She never had it again and the rest of us in the house never got it.


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## es1967 (Oct 31, 2007)

My son had lice this past summer. We used warmed coconut oil w tea tree oil. Apply to the hair and cover with shower cap. Wait for 30 minutes or so then start combing. The combing is the most important part. Keep combing! Dip the comb in soapy water after each pass. I just kept doing this for about a week and a half and they were gone. My DH and myself also had them. Some nights I actually kept the oil on our heads all night. We bagged up all stuffed animals and washed all linens, sofa covers etc. It worked great and they never came back. We also purchased a coconut shampoo and I made up a tea tree oil spray to mist the hair with.


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## EmsMom (Dec 13, 2001)

I have dealt with lice three times. I tried some of the over the counter natural treatments the first time but after that I just used the nit comb meticulously several times a day. I even got rid of them in my own hair by just combing it myself about five times a day because there was no one else who could do it. I also bagged up all stuffed animals and washed all bedding every day for a while. 


The school didn't want to let my kids back in because I hadn't used the chemicals, but in the end the school nurse called me to ask what I had done because the chemicals weren't working for the other parents.


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## Rachey (Jun 18, 2015)

Lice is very common in my neck of the woods, I've personally used this method and it works great!
slather scalp and hair in pantene conditioner, wrap head in saran wrap(this will suffocate the lice). Wait a few hours, wash and comb/ pick out dead lice and nits. Nothing kills the nits so make sure to pick all of them out.
After this treatment, spray rosemary or teatree oil on the hair at least once a day as a preventative measure, good luck


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## dhinf323 (Feb 3, 2016)

Apply curd and keep it for an hour!!!


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## momquestions (Feb 17, 2016)

Lilala Astrid said:


> My first post here so hello everyone...
> 
> I have been battling with head lice on my two girls for the past 6 months. I tried natural remedies such as olive oil and vinegar, and even the products available in the pharmacy - nothing has worked. It is like the little buggers are non-destructable!
> 
> ...


There was a story out last fall about "mutant lice." They're apparently harder to kill than every, so maybe that's the problem. A pharmacist recommended the Nitview LED Lice Detection Device, which makes lice and nits glow, so they're easier to spot.

He suggested mayonnaise, Vaseline, and Cetaphil lotion as chemical-free ways to smother lice. There are also services (like Lice Squad) that will do the removal for you


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## Shanna Hodson (Dec 1, 2014)

Hi, I have encountered lice on my kid's hair before and so I can easily relate with your problems. I used to remember that I even let them to be treated by a specialist but the best thing that solved the issue was a frequent wash of their hair with a good shampoo and conditioner. Perhaps, its also about a good hair hygiene.


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## rickysmith (Nov 5, 2015)

Head lice are not known to distribute disease, but having head lice can make your face extremely scratchy. If you the scratch a lot, it can cause blisters on the top that may cause illness. Some people lose sleep because the itchiness is so extreme.


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## knockoutlice1 (5 mo ago)

There is no quick way. But you can do it by wetting the hair, lathering it with conditioner, and meticulously combing every inch of the scalp with a specific nit com. Unless and until you physically remove them. You'll notice them in the comb; rinse it in a basin of water. Don't remove the conditioner from the comb while combing your clothes or the floor. The conditioner prevents them from attaching to the hair shaft. And the comb takes them out of the hair. Because of the nature of their lifecycle, this must be repeated within six days. As a result, any hatched lice would be effectively removed. It is a difficult and time-consuming task. Follow Knock Out Lice LLC and visit our website to get a professional lice removal appointment for yourself and your family. 9 *Best Head Lice Treatment For Long Thick Hai*r *Read More*


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