Ways to get rid of head lice

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

A little about these NASTY little critters(Head Lice): Head lice are human parasites and require human blood to survive. They have been around since the beginning of time, at least a few thousand years. They can live on a human host for approximately 30 days and cannot survive longer than 24 hours off the host A female louse lays up to 3-5 eggs per day. It takes 7-10 days for the eggs to hatch and another 7-10 days for the louse to mature and lay their own eggs. Spreading Since head lice do not have hind legs to hop or jump, nor wings with which to fly, then spread with contact with other host. (Yes.. Our kids are now hosts) through sharing of personal articles like hats, towels, brushes, helmets, hair ties and so on. Its said that they can not live on our pets, but some parent have found that a cat/dog as cause their family to get these nasty little pests again(remember, they can live up to 24 hr off a host). For more information on these nasty critters go to "HeadLice.org" OK enough about them....... How do I get rid or them?   Try this remedies, sent in by: Lucy Saul I have tried over the counter, Vaseline, and mayo. The best thing I've found for ridding lice is castor oil. Coat hair cover with disposable shower cap leave on over night. In the AM put shampoo on hair before you wet it! Wash twice castor oil is gone and so are lice. I do comb hair carefully to be sure there aren't any nits left. Hair is conditioned and looks great. This is the best and easiest method I've found. Debby Brown ([e-mail]) "At our drug store pharmacist suggested using petroleum jelly (Vaseline) for lice.. Says this works in getting ticks out of dogs too my smoothening them. We tried it - it works great. You saturate head with it, keep plastic cap on overnight and the next day they all wash out, no need for fine tooth comb. May require several washings though...." Thanks Debby! Liane Paulson ([e-mail]) writes: "I know a few people who have tried rubbing mayonnaise in the scalp and covering with a shower cap overnight. It's a lot easier to wash out in the morning than petroleum jelly and works just as well." Thanks Liane!   Windy Stolz; I got rid of them was to wash her hair twice a day and rinse with vinegar. The lice find it hard to eggs to stick on hair. You still need to pick through the hair and dispose of eggs. I found the best way was to stick them on masking tape, seal them in a plastic bag and put them in the garbage. LK: Soak your body and your hair in a pine oil bath for at least 10 to fifteen minutes twice a day. Then towel dry your hair and apply oil, (we used baby oil) but I'm sure any kind of oil would have much the same effect. The oil loosens the nits and makes it easier to comb them out. After this leave the oil in overnight, using a shower cap or placing a towel over your pillow. The next morning shampoo hair, first with Dawn dishwashing liquid (to cut the grease) then with your regular shampoo.   Sharon Gerlach, ([e-mail]), writes: "I read your suggestions and have tried them all previous to finding your site. Vaseline did NOT work, and took three months to get out of my daughter's hair. Mayonnaise does not smother the lice (and leaving on overnight runs the risk of salmonella poisoning) but it DOES slow them down and makes it easier to find and extract them; and it is also a great hair conditioner. This is what we do for head lice: We comb, comb, comb!! We try to comb at night, because it seems easier to catch the live bugs at night (they are very light-sensitive, but artificial light seems better than natural light). We rinse the hair daily with the below essential oil blend and comb out every day, dipping the nit comb in vinegar --- vinegar won't kill the live lice but it does loosen the adhesive the eggs are attached to the hair with. Daily rinse of essential oils: lavender eucalyptus rosemary peppermint tea tree Appx. 5 drops of each oil to an ounce of carrier oil (castor, sunf, grapeseed, olive, saff), and about 5 drops of that mixture to a cup of water. This seems to be a repellent. Our routine is this: The kids go to school (or out to play in the summer) and I strip their beds, run the bedding through the dryer on high for 20 minutes. While the bedding is in the dryer, I vacuum the mattresses and the other furniture the kids have come into contact with. When the kids come home from school, they go immediately to the laundry room, where they put all clothes worn that day, including coats, hats, mittens and scarves, into the washer to be washed on hot (your outdoor wear can be popped in the dryer on high for at least 20 minutes if you don't want to wash it every day). The kids then proceed to the shower, where they wash their hair with a tea tree shampoo, rinse with a cup or two of the essential oil solution, then I comb through their hair. We do this every day, lice or no lice. The kids also have a plastic 13-gallon waste-can liner with the plastic drawstrings (I think Hefty makes them) that they take to school to put their outdoor wear and backpacks in. My daughter is not allowed to wear her hair loose at school.It is braided or pony-tailed every day. Having had an infestation of head lice every three months or so for the last year, we take hearty precautions against it, and wage full-scale war when infested. It seems a lot to do every day, but it isn't it has become routine and actually goes quite quickly.. much better than a full-scale cleaning frenzy when you have an infestation!!" Thanks, Sharon Jewel ([e-mail]) writes: "I have the answer, no more chemicals! Simply buy a Hair curling iron the big fat round ones with a temperature setting, set on highest level and run through every bit of hair. It will burn out all the eggs. You can also burn them out with an old fashioned hot comb, the kind sometimes used to straighten hair. After you burn the eggs, section the hair out and pull off the eggs and catch the bugs. Ways to avoid cleaning everything; buy a plastic mattress cover at kmart or jc pennys, they're only $6. When you purchase a new pillow keep the plastic on the pillow and safety pin the pillow case so the child will not suffocate on plastic. For the next days after you do the hair have child wear a plastic shower cap over hair, and check hair daily for any missed nits. Have child wear hair up in a scrunchie at school until the lice problem is over." Thanks Jewel Roberto Markulin ([e-mail]) writes: "My daughters were always infested with lice & nits. We tried various methods with negative results, until one day we prepared an infusion (tea) of Quassia Amara (also known as Simaruba - Bitterwood - Palo Amargo - Quassia Amer), and sprayed it on their heads. All the lice & nits were gone or died. We keep spraying for prevention every day. Bring to boil one cup of water and add two tablespoons of Quassia Amara wood chips (from the bark) and let stand until cool. Strain and place in a hand sprayer and add 15% of rubbing alcohol to prevent bacterial spoilage. Discard chips. Spray on head every day. Lice will not appear." Thanks Roberto Pamela Williams ([e-mail]) writes: "Use creamy peanut butter. Part hair in small sections and put peanut butter on the hair and comb back out with the small lice comb. This will take all the eggs out. This takes about 3 hours to do, but it works, my daughter came home from school with it and she has hair down to her waist and we just used the peanut butter and rinsed and shampood hair and that was the end of the lice." Thanks Pamela D. West says: Great information! I used the over the counter remedy first. Then had to use the vaseline which was the most effective. One shortcut I found was when rinsing out vaseline - shampoo and also shampoo with dishwashing liquid. Helps cut the grease! Thanks D.!

  © Make-Stuff 1998 - 2011