Lice occurrences are common. By taking immediate action and implementing preventive measures, you can avoid them invading your home.

When parents face head lice, it can lead to panic as they are unsure how to tackle the issue. This is mainly because head lice are not a popular topic of discussion until they become a problem.

However, the most effective way to deal with head lice is to be proactive. Considering that 12 million children under the age of 13 contract head lice annually – with a total of 48 million children in that age bracket in the United States – one in four children is likely to get head lice. It is beneficial to have a plan prepared in advance

Pyrethroids, the active ingredient in most popular lice products, have been linked to early puberty in boys, and to attention deficit in experiments with laboratory animals.  Traditional lice products are increasingly ineffective because lice have become resistant to the pesticides they use. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that 98 percent of head lice carry a genetic resistance to pyrethroids, the class of pesticides used in the most popular lice shampoos. 

Lice shampoos like Rid only target adult lice and young lice, not the eggs or nymphs. These shampoos function by affecting the insects' central nervous system, which the nymphs have not fully developed yet. Consequently, they are not affected by the treatment. Moreover, lice shampoos do not eliminate lice eggs (nits), allowing them to hatch after a few days and restart the infestation cycle. The challenge lies in the resilience of lice and the ineffectiveness of these shampoos due to their toxic components and the resistance of adult lice to the chemicals.

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It is possible to manage head lice without using the toxic lice shampoo containing permethrin or pyrethrins sold at your local pharmacy, but it takes diligence.  And I mean due diligence!

First of all, when you hear that these little pests are around, start using a prevention spray.

Here are 3 recipes for prevention spray:

#1: In an 8 oz spray bottle: combine 20 drops of lavender essential oil, 20 drops of peppermint essential oil, 20 drops of tea tree oil, and 1 Tablespoon of Witch Hazel and fill with distilled water.  Shake well before using. 

#2: In a 2 ounce spray bottle, 10 drops of lavender essential oil, 10 drops of rosemary essential oil, and 2 ounces of distilled or filtered water.  Combine in the spray bottle. Shake before using.  Apply daily.

#3: In a 2 ounce spray bottle, 5 drops of tea tree essential oil, 5 drops of eucalyptus globulus essential oil, 5 drops of rosemary essential oil, 1 teaspoon of epsom salt, distilled or filtered water.  Add the oils and salt to the bottle. Swirl to mix.  Fill the rest of the bottle with water.  Shake well. 

Spray the prevention sprays on the child's head, backpack, jacket, and any other items from school or daycare. 

It is also advisable to add the oils to your shampoos and conditioners, shake well before using.  Geranium and Roman Chamomile also help hydrate and moisturize the scalp and can be added as well. 

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The other non-toxic treatment other than essential oils is heat.  This is a dry air device that will eradicate head lice.  The only problem is the cost, but it is highly effective and non-toxic.

Lice Clinics of America and Nit-Free Noggins use heat devices.  Lice Clinics of America uses the AirAllé device which uses heated air to dehydrate lice without chemicals, killing lice and eggs quickly and effectively in a single treatment. Nit-Free Noggins uses a device called a Louse Buster which also dries out the lice.

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While head lice can be difficult to eradicate, using essential oils for lice is becoming very popular because it is a natural, rather than chemical approach to the problem. So you feel much safer in the treatment. Also, don’t forget that cleaning your head with essential oils is a great idea to keep critters out. And it smells much better than the chemicals too! Natural remedies for lice can be very powerful, too.

A few things to note, when a child gets head lice, it can be quickly passed to the entire family so everyone [except pregnant mothers and infants] will need to go through the treatment to prevent any risk of cross-infection.

Important: No matter how effective a treatment is in killing the lice, there will be re-infestation if all of the nits are not removed. Do daily head checks. There is usually a re-infestation in 7-10 days after the initial treatment, so be diligent to check at that point.

Teach your children not to share hats, combs, hair ornaments, helmets, headphones, and so on.

HOW TO CHECK FOR HEAD LICE:

• Go to a well lit area in or outside your home.
• Use your comb or brush to completely de-tangle the hair.
• Then section or part your child’s hair and using the magnifying glasses or similar, look behind the ears, at the nape of the neck, above the forehead and at the crown (warm areas on the head where fertilized female head lice like to lay their eggs).
• Look for tiny poppy-seed sized eggs, stuck to the hair shaft and generally close to the scalp. They’re usually in quarter-sized clusters. If you can dislodge something on the hair shaft or scalp with a flick of the fingernail or by blowing on it, it’s NOT a head lice nit.
• If you’ve found nothing, spray the hair with the water or a combination of water and diluted conditioner. De-tangle again with a standard comb or brush to remove all knots.
• With a head lice comb, start combing – from the scalp to the ends of the hair over a large piece of paper towel. After three or four swipes through the hair with the lice comb, wipe the comb on the towel. Live lice and nits will be evident if they are present in the hair. Continue combing, multi-directionally (nits can be anywhere on the hair shaft so you need to comb from underneath and from the sides) until you’ve lice combed the entire head.
• If you perform a thorough lice combing on the entire head and find nothing, it’s highly unlikely that a case of head lice is present.
• If you pull lice of any size, they will be crawling a bit on the towel. (If you’re considering using a professional service for removal, put the evidence in a Ziploc bag for inspection.) After you find a couple of lice, there’s no need to continue with the head check. The individual needs to be treated.
• If you pull nits (which again, are poppy seed in size and generally somewhat dark if they’re viable), and again are considering using a professional for removal, place the paper towel in a Ziploc bag and if it’s several nits, you can stop the head check as the individual needs to be treated.

TREATMENTS

This recipe is for one complete treatment for one person. It is applied three times so you will need to store the remainder in a sealed, dark bottle. It can be kept for up to 12 months.

Head Lice Formula 1

2 Tablespoons  of F.C.O. (Fractionated Coconut Oil)

5 drops lavender essential oil

5 Drops eucalyptus globulus essential oil

5 drops geranium essential oil

3 drops tea tree essential oil

Lice comb

Apply mix over the head and hair, massaging in well. Massage all of the way through to the ends of the hair. Cover head with a towel or shower cap and leave on for at least 4 hours. Overnight would be even better. To remove the oil, massage shampoo completely into hair, all of the way to the ends of the hair, before applying water. Wash and rinse as normal. Comb through hair with lice comb.

Repeat treatment in 24 hours and again in 8 days. This is to treat any lice that hatched after the initial treatment.

As a preventative, you should teach your family to vigorously brush or comb their hair very thoroughly morning and night. Also use the following oils when washing their hair: Rosemary, Geranium, Lavender, Eucalyptus Radiata, and Lemon. You can mix equal parts of Rosemary, Lavender, and Lemon and add 2 drops of formula to final rinse after shampooing. These should be used sporadically, not every day.

Head Lice Formula 2

27 drops rosemary essential oil

27 drops geranium essential oil

27 drops lavender essential oil

1 ounce White Beeswax

2 ounces Castor Oil

Melt the Beeswax in a double boiler and add Castor oil until a creamy consistency is achieved. Cool, then add essential oils while stirring well. Rub well into the scalp and leave overnight.

If your child already has head lice and has scratched his/her head so much as to cause inflammation, use this formula to help heal the inflammation.

20 drops German Chamomile Essential Oil

10 drops lavender essential oil

5 drops lemon essential oil

These can be used as a rinse, added to the Beeswax and Castor oil cream and left in overnight, or in a hair oil treatment made by adding 30 drops of formula to 2 tablespoons F.C.O. and again, leave in overnight.

Head Lice Formula 3

8 drops geranium essential oil

8 drops rosemary essential oil

1 tablespoon Jojoba

Head Lice Formula 4

5 drops peppermint essential oil

6 drops ginger essential oil

5 drops lavender essential oil

1 tablespoon Walnut oil

With either one of these, massage the entire formula vigorously into the hair and scalp before bedtime. Wrap towel around the head, and leave it on overnight. Repeat nightly until the lice are gone.

Head Lice Scalp Oil and Rinse

10 drops myrtle essential oil 

10 drops tea tree essential oil

5 drops clove essential oil

10 drops lavender essential oil

4 drops thyme essential oil

5 drops eucalyptus globulus essential oil

Mix together and store in a dark colored, glass bottle. Put 10 drops of formula into 1 tablespoon Sesame oil and apply to scalp. Do not allow mixture near the eyes, nose, or ears. Cover the hair with a shower cap and leave on for a half hour.

Using a fine tooth comb, gently comb, wiping the comb between each sweep through the hair. Comb the hair in one inch sections. If the hair is long, you’ll need to use clips to separate the hair. When you have combed the whole head, wash the hair with a gentle baby shampoo.

Then use the following rinse:

4 ounces Water

10 drops of above lice mixture

If your child’s scalp has become irritated because of the biting and possible infection, make up the following:

Calm Scalp

1 teaspoon Jojoba

1 drops Roman Chamomile Essential Oil

2 drops lavender essential oil

Apply directly onto the scalp with your fingertips. Gently separate the hair into sections, so you can reach the whole scalp.

Why Use Essential Oils to Treat Head Lice?

Although not scientifically proven to be effective against head lice, anecdotal reports suggest that essential oils do work, and they do not contain industrial chemicals and insecticides employed by some proprietary brands of head lice treatment. Lice are also known to show some resistance to the insecticide treatments, which is why parents of children with head lice are turning to natural alternatives.

Wet Combing

Wet combing has been shown to be the most effective method of removing all eggs and lice from hair. However it is time consuming and must be repeated daily to ensure that the infestation is completely cleared. This is fine if you have a child who is content to sit still for half an hour to an hour having a comb run repeatedly through his hair. However some children dislike this and find it hard to keep still and not complain. Treatment with essential oil helps may cut down on combing time.

Which Oils to Use

There are around half a dozen essential oils which have proved effective against lice. These are: cinnamon, eucalyptus, tea tree, geranium, lavender, rosemary and thyme. The most effective are judged to be tea tree and eucalyptus.

Mix your shampoo with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of tea tree oil and 1 teaspoon of eucalyptus oil. Apply this combination into the hair. Wear a tight-fitting shower cap. Wash off after an hour.  If the skin has been irritated by the bites, add 2 drops of Roman Chamomile to the mix to soothe the skin. The combination of tea tree and eucalyptus oil is thought to either suffocate the lice, or numb them sufficiently to make them easy to comb out.

To avoid overuse of the oils, occasionally substitute thyme or rosemary for tea tree oil and lavender or geranium for eucalyptus. However, if there is a history of epilepsy, avoid using rosemary essential oil as it has been known to cause seizures.

Precautions

Never apply any essential oils neat (neat means not diluted with a carrier oil) to a child’s head. If your child has sensitive skin, add one drop of tea tree, one drop of eucalyptus and one drop of chamomile to a golf ball sized dollop of conditioner and use after a normal shampoo, making sure to comb all the lice out afterward.

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This is Important so I am emphasizing it again: No matter how effective a treatment is in killing the lice, there will be re-infestation if all of the nits are not removed. Do daily head checks. There is usually a re-infestation in 7-10 days after the initial treatment, so be diligent to check at that point.

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After Care

The best way to prevent head lice spreading is to check your whole family’s  heads regularly and treat them as soon as live lice are found. Live nits re-hatch in 7-10 days, so be diligent to check and treat again every 7-10 days until you are sure you have eradicated the lice.  Once the infestation has been dealt with, add one drop of tea tree to your usual shampoo once a week as a precaution.

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TREATING THE HOME:

Just the phrase “head lice” is enough to make your head itch. However, if you happen to be one of the thousands that contract this irritating menace, you might wonder how to clean your bedding, including your mattress. While it might seem like this is an impossible task, getting your bedding lice free just takes diligence.

Unlike fleas, head lice aren’t jumpers. Therefore, where they go is limited to crawling. And being on a human head is their happy place. According to the CDC, head lice won’t survive long off of the human head.

Supplies

You don’t need to clear your bank account on expensive cleaners. Gather a few simple supplies and you’ll be ready to go.

• Vacuum
• Large garbage bags
• Dryer

Step 1

Remove all your bedding. This includes sheets, blankets, pillows, duvets, skirts, etc. Strip your mattress down to nothing.

Step 2

Wash anything that can be washed. Pillows, sheets, pillow cases, blankets, bed skirts, etc. can all be thrown in the washer if they are washable.

If you can’t wash an item, at least dry it for 40 minutes. It is the heat will kill the louse and nits. It is not the washing that kills the lice it is the high heat produced in the dryer. Place all things in the dryer on high heat for 40 min. If the fabric won’t tolerate the high heat then place in the freezer for 24 hours or bag for 2 days.  

Step 3

Anything that can’t be washed, stuff into the garbage bags. These will need to sit for at least 7-10 days to ensure that all the louse and nits are dead. Therefore, if you can dry it, you should. This will allow you to use your items immediately.  

Step 4

Vacuum all floors, carpets, rugs and upholstered furniture. Any leather furniture can be wiped down with paper towels and an appropriate spray cleaner and disposed of afterward.

HERE'S A CHECKLIST:

1. ___ All combs/brushes, hair pretties, headbands, barrettes should be bagged tightly and placed in the freezer for 3-24 hours, put in a mesh bag and placed in the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle or set aside (in the tightly closed bag) for 2 days.
2. ___ All glasses, goggles, earrings, hearing aids, phones and head phones should be wiped down gently with soap and water.
3. ___ All recently worn clothing (within the last 2 days) hats, jackets, sporting gear should be washed (only if dirty). It is not the washing that kills the lice it is the high heat produced in the dryer. Place all things in the dryer on high heat for 40 min. If the fabric won’t tolerate the high heat then place in the freezer for 24 hours or bag for 2 days.
4. ___ Cleaning bedrooms: strip all the sheets and mattress pads off and place in the dryer on high heat for 40 min. Pillows can be placed in the dryer for the 40 min, or bagged for 2 days.
5. ___ Vacuum all floors, carpets, rugs and upholstered furniture. Any leather furniture can be wiped down with paper towels and an appropriate spray cleaner and disposed of afterward.
6. ___ Car seats: Vacuum the car seats/headrests thoroughly. If you have leather seats wipe them off with a damp rag. If your child sits in a car seat/booster remove the seat cover and dry on high heat for 40 min, or bag for 2 days.
7. ___ All dolls, blankets, stuffed animals and rugs should be put in the dryer on high heat for 40 min or bagged for 2 days.

SOME TIME SAVING TIPS:

1. If it is not dirty, don’t wash it! It is not the water that will kill the lice it is the high heat in the dryer. When using the dryer use the highest heat setting for 40 minutes.
2. After you have vacuumed and/or wiped down the couch, chairs in your living area, place a flat sheet over them. At the end of each day you can remove the sheet and put in the dryer for 40 min.

DID YOU KNOW?

• About half of all infested individuals do not know they have head lice.
• Many infested individuals will not feel an itching sensation from a head lice infestation.
• Head lice infestations are most common among pre-school and elementary school children.
• The food of head lice is human blood.
• Girls are much more likely to become infested with head lice than are boys.
• Adult head lice can live for about 20-30 days.
• The female head louse can lay between 5-10 eggs per day.
• You may not know you have a lice infestation for several weeks.
• Most head lice die after 15 hours without human blood.

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I hope you never have to deal with those pesky head lice, but if you find yourself in a hairy situation, just drop me a message, an email, or give me a ring. I've got your back!

In the meantime, remember that prevention is key. Encourage your little ones to avoid sharing hats, brushes, and other personal items, and regularly check their hair for any signs of unwanted visitors. A little vigilance can go a long way in keeping those tiny troublemakers at bay.

If you're ever in need of more tips or just some friendly advice, don't hesitate to reach out. Together, we can tackle any challenge that comes our way. Stay positive and proactive, and you'll breeze through this with ease.

Blessings,

Nancy