Head Lice and Home Remedies

You have the dreaded note in your hand and it says your precious child has head lice! Head lice? How can that be? You shampoo every day you comb and brush every night, her hair is glorious. The thought of using pesticides on your beautiful little girl is frightening so you start looking for home cures. First you should know that head lice have no respect for social status, cleanliness, or personal hygiene! Home remedies may be the answer to your child’s head lice infestation but there are some facts you should know before trying some of them!

The first thing you can try is just combing them out. It may seem like the easiest way but is it the best? Lice are hard to find in the hair but can be combed out with a special nit comb, or by using a pet’s flea brush. If you are going to try this method be prepared to be patient and separate the hair into sections so you will know which ones you have already combed. It will be easier if the hair is wet and by using conditioner or olive oil. You should comb from the root out to the end of the strand. Look at the comb each time it passes through a section. You may comb the hair over a bowl of water or over paper so you can see what you are combing out. This takes a lot of patience, both on the parent’s part but also your child’s.

If you consider using over-the-counter head lice treatment you should look at the warnings on the labels because they do carry a risk of side effects including rashes, scalp irritation, and excema. One report suggests a link between the chemicals in the head lice treatment could increase the risk of childhood leukemia. A report by French scientists infers that children treated with head lice treatment were two times more likely to get leukemia. These studies are just that, studies and theories, but please be careful when using a pesticide on your child’s head, and do not use it at all if you are pregnant or nursing.

An effective home remedy has come from a combination of Tea Tree Oil, Citronella, Lavender Oil, and Neem Oil. Neem oil is highly respected in Australia and is used as a preservative in cosmetics and other therapeutic purposes including skin diseases, and often is used as an insect repellent. Tea tree oil is extracted from the melaleuca laternifolia leaf South Wales in Australia. It has properties that are antiseptic and antifungal and is used to treat colds, flu, gum infections, acne, and insect bites.

Lavender is a multiuse herb that is used for anxiety, sunburn, insect bites, and for treating fungal infections. Lavender is widely used in herbal remedy recipes. Citronella oil is from grass and is well known to repel animals and insects. Citronella has been used for repelling mosquitoes, flies and ticks. We burn citronella in our outdoor candles to keep summer insects away. This natural blend is available to the public and you can order it from Natural Head Lice Solution on the Internet.