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The home remedy head lice hate

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Trials and tribulations on the road to discovering the most effective home remedies for head lice

I will never forget the moment I discovered my daughter had head lice. The image of it and the emotions it evoked haunt me to this day.

It was the eve before her return to school after the Christmas vacation. I had persuaded her that she should have her (now quite long) hair tied back and we were experimenting with styles.

I had noticed some tiny white specs in her hair earlier that week but assumed that they were the dry skin she sometimes has on her scalp. As I lifted her hair and brushed it into bunches I suddenly noticed movement. To my horror, as I looked again near the nape of her neck and underneath her hair, it was alive with tiny crawling lice and the hairs were peppered with hundreds of tiny white specs.

Being quite a cuddly family, we had all got head lice by the time I realised. I was appalled and had no idea what I was supposed to do to get rid of them. I needed a quick solution to get these repulsive litter critters out of the family's hair. Just look at this picture of head lice....you don't want these guys around any longer than necessary.

It was the beginning of a journey that most families with school aged kids will encounter at some stage until they settle on a home remedy head lice hate!

It has felt like a long journey at times. We have tried almost every home remedy for head lice that we could bring to mind (that was not dodgy). Starting out with the pesticide approach and our concerns there, I researched and tried out a range of more natural approaches and finally found two home remedies for head lice that can help to maintain a clear head (once the initial infestation has been treated) as well as achieve that quick, decisive and successful result that every parent looking for a home remedy for head lice needs.

The many types of home remedy head lice are claimed to be killed by!

Sinister, strange, effective or downright bizarre....you decide....

When I first discovered we had head lice, my first move was to try an over the counter remedy that turned out to only provide temporary relief. The next step was to get online and see what options were out there.

Some seemed surprising, others messy, one or two I imagined to be downright dangerous. Others were effective....see what you think.... If there are any home remedies for head lice I have not covered here, please let me know and I will research them.
  • PESTICIDE BASED REMEDIES These include Lindane (highly toxic), Permethrin (be cautious if you are allergic to crysathemums), Synergised Pyrethrin (effective in killing lice but not eggs) and Malathion (currently removed from the market but with plans afoot to bring it back). My younger daughter and I both had a skin reaction to Malathion and Pyrethrin so we have been cautious in using pesticides since then. I always reckon that if doctors won't prescribe these treatments to pregnant women there must be something a bit sinister about them.
  • ENZYME BASED REMEDIES These approaches work on the basis of using an enzyme in the shampoo that is totally safe to humans and contains no pesticides. Basically, products like are an effective home remedy that causes head lice to shed their protective shell and therefore be susceptible to damage from drowning (when hair is washed) and heat (when hair is dried).
  • SUFFOCATION METHODS These approaches include leaving the hair and scalp bathed in some substance such as mayonnaise or olive oil for a period of time in the hope of suffocating the lice before removing them with a nit comb. These approaches leave nicely conditioned hair afterwards...but it needs thorough washing otherwise you go around smelling of two day old salad dressing...slightly high and rancid ....nice!
    There are manufactured remedies based on suffocation approaches and using aromatherapy ingredients to help to kill head lice and deter fresh infestation by leaving a scent to the hair that is claimed to repel lice.
  • SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER WITH ADDED INGREDIENTS A cheap approach that makes this home remedy for killing head lice is Joy Elizabeth's Best Head Lice Remedy. Her approach adds ingedients to your own shampoo and conditioner to make an effective hone remedy head lice hate that we enjoyed using and found effective.
  • CONDITIONER AND NIT COMBING If you just don't have the budget for proprietory treatments from the drug store, a nit comb can be bought very cheaply and used with a liberal amount of conditioner on damp washed hair. This makes the lice slip out quite easily. My word of advice here, though, is that you really need a high quality nit comb for this method as the cheaper ones will only pull out adult lice leaving you thinking you have done a good job and got all the little critters only to find all their siblings have grown up and started a family taking you back to square 1. A very demoralising but familiar story.
  • HEAT APPROACHES This involves blow drying the poor victim's head for about 30 minutes until they either go demented or the lice and their eggs are presumably damaged from the heat. I don't know about your kids but mine have a tolerance of about 3 - 5 minutes with a hair dryer.
  • FLAMMABLE METHODS Whoa! Steady on there....every year terrible accidents happen where alcohol or even petrol has been rubbed onto a scalp in the attempt to kill lice then Great Aunt Esmerela or someone comes into the room smoking! I know these little critters can make you desperate but PLEASE, PROMISE ME you won't try this approach.

Non-pesticidal manufactured head lice remedies

If you don't like the idea of pesticides but can't face making your own treatment....

Licenex is an amazing product. My daughters have become connoiseurs of what works for them and they enjoy the lasting effects, minimal fuss and pleasant smell of this home remedy for killing head lice.

It was the third one that we tried and I discovered it by chance when sufing the web for a solution to our nightmare. The appealing part of this solution is that, unlike other home remedies for killing head lice, it is not pesticide based. Instead, the reason this is the home remedy head lice hate is that it is enzyme based and they are unable to develop resistance to it.

Licenex works by the enzymes damaging the skeleton of the louse thereby making it more susceptible to drowning or drying out. Using a good quality nit comb afterwards ensures removal of dead lice, eggs and nits and leaves your hair feeling refreshed and soft.

We were amazed by how quickly this product worked. See what other people have thought of it as well by clicking on the image below.....



As a special deal for readers of this lens will be able to receive an amazing discount by clicking on the image above.

Readers of this lens can enjoy a $10 discount (conditions apply) by using coupon code AF10. This coupon can also be enjoyed on telephone orders by calling 800-875-0850 and quoting reference number 344852.

The good, the bad and the ugly of home remedies for head lice

Head lice may hate 'em .....but we weren't keen on them either!

I don't know about you, but when I search the names of ingredients in the pesticide based over the counter remedies for head lice and find they come up in veterinary and farming sites as well as with poison symbols on the labels, I get worried.

One of my first reactions when we got head lice was to dash down to the drug store and buy anything that could essentially nuke the little critters. I wanted them out of my family's hair. Immediately. Permanently.

I can imagine now that knowing smile of readers that have been here before. Of course it doesn't work like that. The lice have laid eggs, these eggs hatch and within a week the nymphs are old enough to breed. The potential for the exponential breeding of lice if left untreated is terrifying! However, after one daughter and I having a skin reaction to two of these types of remedy, I feel that I am unable to use them again.

I probably would be unwilling to anyway. One of the first things a parent discovers when treating lice is that some parents are less vigilant. You can get your child clear to find they come home with more adult lice the next day due to their unwitting contact with someone whose parents are either, as yet, unaware or, worse still, do not care.

It can be soul destroying and an ongoing battle. After this first outbreak my kids were bringing home new lice each day. I was putting in 6 hours per week into nit combing and treatment. To use chemicals was just not an option. They may be fine for a one off treatment if drastic measures are needed but, apart from being very costly, but I personally worry about sustained contact with pesticides - especially where my kids are concerned.

What about oils, mayonnaise etc for treating lice?

These methods can be very beneficial for making the lice slip out when using a nit comb. I personally feel that using all that mayonnaise or olive oil is messy and quite costly for sustained use. It can take quite a few shampoos to wash the oil out as well meaning some of the conditioning benefit is lost. The better versions of oil carrier treatments, are in my opinion, those that include essential oils. Clearly lice do not like the taste and smell and I have benefitted from using deterrent sprays including essential oil mixtures.
Important!

DON'T PANIC!

The important thing to remember is that you CAN beat head lice. It is unlikely that it will happen overnight due to the breeding cycle of lice. However, with a methodical approach, you will first eliminate breeding adult head lice. A few days later any tiny nymphs (young lice) missed from the first combing can be eliminated before they start to breed. A few days after newly hatched nymphs can be killed / removed meaning (assuming no re-infestation occurs from elsewhere) the problem is solved.

What is the home remedy head lice hate?

The winning combination for us.......

For any approach to head lice treatment, it is vital to invest in a high quality nit comb with the teeth of the comb really close together so that the tiniest nymph can be removed. Even better if the comb will also extract eggs and empty nits (egg cases).

I have described how repeated infestation can be a problem if other parents are not vigilent. With this in mind Best Head Lice Treatment by Joy Elizabeth has been our preferred apprach for the day to day monitoring of lice and treatment of those occasional outbreaks. The beauty of her approach is that it is very inexpensive (less than the cost of one drug store remedy) to set up and she guides you through how to treat and avoid lice in video footage and audio recordings included in the package.

My girls have come to view the regular checking for lice and occasionally needed treatment as a pampering session when it comes around (a long way from what they felt about those nasty pesticides!).

It is important to do regular checks on your child's hair. Failing to do so can lead to nasty surprises and a much bigger infestation to sort out. To quickly regain control we favour Licenex as a gentle and effective way to wash away lice. This product is fantastic for regaining quick control of the situation. It is pleasant to use and lasts a long time providing good value for money to use on all the family. Licenex can also be used to wash bedding etc that may still have live lice on it to prevent re-infestation from within the home.

Freedom from Head Lice

Bringing you the power to conquer head lice!

For up to date reviews of home remedies for head lice and instructions for different methods, check out Freedom From Head Lice.
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karis43

Hi!

I am Caroline Greenwood and I run the authority site Freedom From head Lice which gives a detailed overview of the causes, symptoms and treatments... more »

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