Alternative Head-Louse Treatment
If you have discovered a head louse issue in your home or with your children and do not want to use chemically laden shampoos and sprays, there are other choices. Many different things have been utilized to remove head lice and their eggs, and this article will investigate many of those things. The goal of this article is to help you find an alternative head-louse treatment that works.
Smothering Methods -
Many parents who do not want to place chemicals on their child’s head have used different products to smother the lice. This typically involves placing some sort of substance on the child’s head and saturating their hair with it. You would then place a shower cap on the child’s head and allow them to sleep all night with it on their hair. The next morning, you would wash the child’s hair out. This is supposed to smother the head lice and kill them. You would have to repeat this process within a week to kill any newly hatched lice. Then, of course, you need to remove nits with some sort of comb. The most common products used to smother the lice are full-fat mayonnaise, petroleum jelly, baby oil, and even olive oil.
Researchers say that this method can actually work, but you should be warned – it is very messy. You may also have to wash the child’s hair several times to remove oily residue. For things like petroleum jelly, you can sprinkle baby powder into the child’s hair and then wash it out with a grease-fighting dish detergent.
Insecticides -
Want to get those bugs out without the chemicals? There are natural products that are insecticidal in nature without being full of dangers for your child. Some of these products include anise, ylang ylang and citronella oils. They should be pure essential oils in order to work, but they will need to be diluted. Undiluted essential oils can be very skin irritant, so what you would need to do is mix them into a base liquid. One of the best working bases is ooil. About ¼ cup of olive oil and five to seven drops of essential oil should work just fine. Leave this on your child’s hair for 30 minutes to an hour and then rinse or shampoo with regular shampoo.
Removing Nits and Eggs -
No matter what alternative head-louse treatment you utilize, you will still need to remove the nits. Most schools will check for nits before your child is ever allowed back in. A very fine-toothed comb will be effective at removing these nits. You may have to pop a movie in for your child, as this can be quite time-consuming. You will need to remove each and every nit you can find, going strand by strand.
Warnings -
You may hear or read a lot about alternative head-louse treatments; however, you need to use your own judgment for some of them. Never put gasoline or lighter fluid on your child’s hair. Both of these things are extremely flammable and can even poison your child when it enters the blood stream through absorption. This is not only a bad decision to make, you could end up seriously injuring your child. Utilize the tips and ideas above for alternative head-louse treatments.