Head Lice Home Remedies

Getting Rid of Head Lice

Head lice home remedies can solve the problem without the use of pesticides. Getting rid of head lice with common household staples is easy and safe. Oil prevents the lice from breathing and they die fairly quickly.

What Are the Symptoms of Head Lice Infestation?

Run a fine-toothed comb through the hair and look for bugs and nits (eggs). Head lice need a hair shaft to lay their eggs on. Head lice eggs stick easily to clean hair.

Try These Head Lice Home Remedies

• Mix two tablespoons of regular baby oil and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Apply to the scalp and hair and cover with a shower cap or plastic bag. Leave it on for an hour. Shampoo with your regular shampoo and end with a final rinse of vinegar. Then use a fine-tooth comb to comb out the bugs and the nits. In addition, use a hair dryer to heat the hair when you have it wrapped in the shower cap or plastic bag. Head lice cannot survive high heat.

• Head lice - tea tree oil. Mix tea tree oil with your regular shampoo. Use one teaspoon shampoo and one teaspoon tea tree oil, and three teaspoons olive oil. Apply to hair and scalp and cover with a shower cap for half an hour. For long, thick hair you may have to increase the quantity. End with a regular shampoo and a vinegar rinse. Comb out with a fine-tooth comb.

• Apply Neem Oil to the hair and scalp and leave for one hour covered with a shower cap. Again end with a regular shampoo and vinegar rinse. Comb out the bugs and nits with a fine-tooth comb. Neem Oil is available at health food stores.

• Many people recommend just using mayonnaise, vaseline, or olive oil. If you use mayonnaise be sure it is regular mayo and not light or fat free. Vaseline is very difficult to wash out of the hair but it is one of the effective head lice home remedies that has been used for years.

• You can apply a mixture of tea tree oil and olive oil. Leave it on for an hour or so before shampooing with regular shampoo. End with a vinegar rinse and do the usual comb out to get rid of the lice and nits.

• To prevent a future infestation, add 15 to 20 drops of tea tree oil to your regular shampoo bottle.

Head lice - vinegar. I cannot stress enough the importance of using a vinegar rinse following any treatment you use.

You may require more than one home remedy for head lice treatment. Check the hair and scalp every day for signs. Brush the hair twice a day with a natural bristle brush. It really isn't true that head lice infestation is the result of being dirty. Anyone can get it no matter how clean you are.

Head lice are passed from person to person through using another person's comb or brush. Wearing a hat or cap used by someone else can pass the bug along. Using someone's cell phone can also do it.

It is probably wise to wash all bed linen used by someone who has had an infestation. Use very hot water for both wash and rinse. Vacuum the mattress and surrounding area and empty the vacuum immediately afterwards into an outside garbage bin.

What about borrowing the dog's shampoo as a home remedy. Head lice would be killed by anything that kills fleas, wouldn't they? Don't do it. Dog and cat flea shampoos contain pesticides and they are not meant for human use.

When using these head lice home remedies it would be wise to buy a special "nit comb" at a drug store. The teeth of these combs are very close together and the teeth are very short.

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