Natural Treatment for Lice and Nits

Natural Treatment for Lice and Nits

We’ve recently had to deal with the unfortunate experience of lice…it happens. This was my first time dealing with this issue and I’ve learned how to take care it.. the natural way. If you or your child have lice or nits it is important to stay calm, as hard it may be, you don’t want your child upset or to freak out. I admit, I freaked out when I first made this discovery in my child’s hair. I scoured the web searching for something natural that would get rid of the lice..there are a lot of suggestions out there (such as mayonnaise, vinegar, oils and of course lice shampoo available in most stores). It has been suspected that lice are actually becoming immune to the chemical lice shampoos sold in stores and they don’t always work, for this reason and the fact that I try to find natural cures and remedies for everything, I decided to do some research. I found that lice can be “smothered” and killed with oils, olive oil is one of the best oils to use, it is expensive, a cheaper alternative would be anything with petroleum oil. Vaseline or hair grease would more than likely do the trick. I got rid of most of our hair greases a long time ago, because they don’t provide any nutritional value for D’s hair. I did find a jar of hair grease that contained lanolin and petroleum oil and I applied this to her hair for extra measures after I used our homemade lice treatment.

Mix:
>> Olive Oil
>> 10 drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil (vapors kill lice and their eggs)
>> 10 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil (antibacterial and antiseptic properties)

I thoroughly saturated her hair with this oil mix and left it on her hair for about 1 hour. I then continued with the following:

>> Shampoo and Oil Mix
>> Conditioner
>> White Vinegar Rinse
>> Nit Comb


Lice and Nit Removal
I washed the hair with shampoo and oil mix (the olive oil, eucalyptus and tea tree mix mentioned above), added some conditioner and then did a vinegar rinse using white vinegar. Once I began combing through her hair the majority if not all the lice came out dead…I was so relieved! Then came the nit removal, this was the most difficult part. I took approximately one inch sections of hair and went through each section with our Tangle Teezer comb followed by a nit comb. I did this to ensure all the tangles were out of her hair before using the nit comb. The teeth of nit combs are so close together and they can very easily get caught on the hair…the nit comb did in fact snag several times over the course of this process despite using the Tangle Teezer prior to the nit comb.

Repeating the Treatment
The nit comb needs to be used daily and a second treatment (the above treatment) should be done 7-10 days after the first treatment (the 9th day is what is recommended by pediatricians).

Cutting Hair
Though cutting of the hair is not always necessary, we made the decision to cut D’s hair. She had waist length hair and getting through it all thoroughly with the nit comb each day was time-consuming, not only that but the nit comb would snag her hair. She was in need of a trim and it just seemed like the best decision at the time. I must admit that my heart sinks a little bit each time I see just how much of her hair we cut off, it is mid-back length now vs the waist length that it was.

Nits
Nits can be hard to see. They can be mistaken for dandruff very easily. They are usually light in color, they can be white, tan or yellowish looking and very hard to remove as they are stuck the hair shaft. This is why using a nit comb daily to ensure their removal is important.

Don’t Forget To Wash:
>> All Bedding and Clothes Recently Worn
>> Combs, Brushes, Hair Accessories
>> Stuffed animals and other things that can’t be washed should be put in trash bags, tied tightly for about 2 weeks

Protection and Prevention
I’ve learned that lice thrive in clean hair and can’t live in oils. I recommend not over shampooing and adding oils/essential oils to the hair daily.