Home Remedy for Lice Elimination

Heat helps fight head lice.

Though lice may inhabit the body and pubic hair, you most often find them in the hair on the head. Head lice can spread quickly among school age children. When someone gets head lice, it does not indicate that he is unclean or lives in a dirty home. People who wash the hair daily are as susceptible to contracting head lice as those who do not wash often. You can eliminate head lice with home remedies, but the effectiveness of these remedies depends on the hair of the affected person. Thicker haired people will have a harder time ridding themselves of the affliction.

Things You'll Need

• Shower caps
• Mayonnaise
• Tea tree oil
• Coconut oil
• Vinegar
• Mint mouthwash
• Hair dryer
• Washer with hot water
• Dryer
• Plastic bags

Instructions

1. Massage mayonnaise into your hair. Saturate hair from roots to tips. Pile the hair on top of the head, then place a shower cap over the head. Allow the mayonnaise to work for two hours. Remove the shower cap and wash the hair thoroughly. Mayonnaise suffocates living lice and destroys the nits (lice eggs) that may fall out during washing. Check the hair thoroughly after treatment for nits attached to the hair.

2. Use tea tree and coconut oil to treat and prevent head lice. Place 12 to 15 drops of tea tree oil into normal shampoo, then use daily to help prevent head lice. Apply coconut oil liberally to the scalp after shampoo and conditioner to kill live lice. Pick remaining nits out of dry hair.

3. Wash the hair with vinegar daily. Saturate the head with vinegar in the shower, massaging the hair from root to tip. Follow with a coconut conditioner. Depending on the infected person and type of hair, the vinegar wash should kill the lice and their nits in two days.

4. Saturate the hair with mint mouthwash. Bring the mouthwash into the shower and cover the hair from root to tip. Massage the scalp for a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly. Follow with a coconut conditioner and check dry hair for leftover nits. Mouthwash kills live lice but not the nits, so you will have to remove the nits manually with this method.

5. Utilize heat to destroy lice. Blowing heat works better than flat heat, such as curling irons or flat irons. Use hair dryers on the highest heat after each treatment to dry hair. Place all bedding, clothing or any other cloth having contact with the hair into a washer and wash with hot water. Dry the items in a dryer on the hottest setting.

6. Search the hair for lice eggs (nits) by section with a fine tooth comb. The nits are small and white. If a white speck in the hair falls away easily, it is not a nit. Pick nits out of the hair and drop them into a plastic bag. Tie and dispose of the plastic bag immediately after use.

7. Gather bedding and stuffed animals that you cannot wash in the washer and place them in plastic bags. Tie the bags and allow them to rest for two weeks. The lice will have no blood to eat, and they will starve to death. You can then remove the items. The lice should fall off and be left behind in the plastic bag. Brush the items with a lint roller, if you prefer. Dispose of the bag promptly.

Tips & Warnings

• Use remedies one at a time until you find something that works. Use the method which seems to work best until no more nits remain in the hair.

• Continue to check the hair for a week after infestation to ensure you have killed all the lice and have gotten rid of all the eggs.

• Consult your doctor if the condition worsens or does not change after treatment.

References

• Home Remedies for Head Lice: Lice Treatment
• Remedies and Natural Health: Heat for Head Lice