Sep
19
Most parents hope they will never have to know how to get rid of head lice. With children being in groups in school, hanging their jackets and backpacks together in the classroom, and even sharing hats and hair accessories, lice is a problem that many parents have to deal with every year. This article will share some ways to get rid of head lice without putting harmful poisons on your children.
Lice are small crawling bugs that feed on human blood. These bugs attach their eggs to the shaft of human hair. Often it isn’t the bugs that are noticed but the eggs (known as nits) instead. Nits are attached firmly to hair shafts and do not move easily.
Getting rid of lice permanently means you must get rid of all viable nits as well. The only effective way to remove nits is to manually strip them from the hair. Specialized combs are made to do this. When possible, do this outdoors. If this isn’t possible, try to at least be away from carpet and upholstered furniture and vacuum the area well when you are finished.
Treating children with pesticides for head lice isn’t always necessary. In fact, studies done by the Harvard School of Public Health suggests head lice is over diagnosed and that treatment with pesticides is only necessary when heavy infestation of live lice is present. Other cases can be treated by manual removal of lice and nits.
Removing live lice can be tricky as they are fast moving, small, and difficult to find. An easy way to get rid of lice is to smother them. This can be done by coating the hair with an oily substance such as real mayonnaise, olive oil, or even petroleum jelly. For this article I am going to concentrate on the real mayonnaise method but the others are done much the same way. The steps are simply:
- Identify the problem by finding lice or nits on the child’s head.
- Coat the child’s hair with a fairly thick layer of real mayonnaise. This should resemble the way you would coat it with conditioner after washing but thicker.
- Cover with a shower cap; if you do not have a shower cap, a plastic grocery bag will work.
- Allow mayonnaise to sit for 30 to 60 minutes. This will smother the lice as well as give the child’s hair a beautiful shine and make it soft and manageable as well.
- Rinse the mayonnaise out of the child’s hair. Wash until clean, this is easier if you wash once with Dawn dish soap (to cut the grease) first then wash with your regular shampoo.
- Pick nits from hair using a nit comb or a fine toothed comb (most will not be fine enough unless they are specifically made for nit removal).
The only way to get rid of nits is manual removal so you will have to go through each hair on the child’s head. Separate the hair into sections and clip the sections back or tie the sections together with hair ties to help you keep track of what areas you have gone through already.
Some parents have suggested using vinegar to help remove nits. The thought is that the vinegar may help break down the enzyme that holds the nits to the hair shaft. To do this, simply dip the comb in vinegar then comb through hair.
Knowing how to get rid of head lice is important for all parents of school age children. Parents should keep in mind that just because a child has lice it doesn’t mean that child is dirty. Lice cannot jump or fly, they can crawl very quickly though. Sharing a hat, comb, or pillow with a person who has lice can pass lice from one host to another. Hugging a person who has lice can allow a louse to crawl from one head to another. Lice cannot live for more than 24 hours if they are not on a human host because they feed on human blood.
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