How to Treat Head Lice

Head lice are usually found in a persons hair. Most commonly in the hair line around the ears or at the nape of the neck. It is most often associated with small aged children and is often a battle every parent faces at some point during a child's education.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• lice shampoo
• fine tooth comb

1. A good non prescription lice shampoo will normally rid a person of a lice infestation. Sometimes obtaining a stronger prescription strength treatment from your doctor may be required however.
2. Start by shampooing the hair with the lice shampoo you have. Follow the directions on the bottle you have purchased. The most common directions for use are to saturate the hair, massage in, let sit for 5 minutes, wet, lather and rinse. This will kill most of the living lice and nits (eggs) that are in the hair.
3. Next, begin the tedious task of combing out the lice and nits. Begin at the nape of the neck and start with one small section of hair at a time. Use a fine toothed comb. Most non prescription lice shampoos include a nit comb in their packaging. While combing clean the comb out often so that you do not spread nits from one part of the hair to another. Running the comb under hot water to rinse away loose lice and nits you have picked up is a good way to do so.
4. Once you have treated the hair a second application is usually recommended within 7 to 10 days to kill any nits you may have missed that have since hatched. Failing to do so may result in an infestation all over again. Repeat the same steps as above for the follow up treatment.
5. After the first treatment you want to insure the infested person or anyone else in the home for that matter doesn't get lice. The first thing to do is cleaning all the bedding in the home. Especially the bedding of the person who was infested already. There could be lice on the pillows or blankets that could crawl on to someone else and infest all over again. The most recommended thing to do with bedding is to wash everything and dry on high heat. This will kill any living lice living on the fabrics. Towels and clothing that have been used during the infestation should also be done the same way.
6. If there are children in the home be sure to clean all their stuffed animals that could be carrying lice in the fur. There are two ways to do this. One is by bagging them all in trash bags, closing tightly and leaving them sitting for a week. The other is by placing the toys in a dryer on high heat for at least 20 minutes. I recommend the second one as it takes less time and I have found it to be much more effective.
7. The last step is to clean in any carpeted areas in your home. Lice will be drawn to any place that mimics hair. Steam clean your carpets then vacuum to pick up any living or dead lice and nits. Empty bag and remove from the house immediately.