Sandra Scratches Her Head:
I’m having a lice problem, I just wanted to know what’s the most effective way to kill lice and nits and not dry or damage my hair in the process?? Thanx!!
The Left Brain’s Louse-y Reply:
Sorry to hear about your lice infestation problem, Sandra. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty common problem. There are many other parasites that I’d prefer to have! But before I talk about a cure, here’s a bit of background for those of you who may not be familiar with this problem:
Head lice are tiny crawling insects about the size of a sesame seed or smaller. They have six clawed legs that they use to crawl over your hair; they cannot hop, jump, or fly. Lice lay eggs, also known as Nits, which they glue to individual hair shafts. Lice live only on humans, not pets, and (here`s the best part) they FEED ON HUMAN BLOOD!
The good news is that there several Over-The-Counter drug products that are effective against lice and nits. The bad news is, these products contain isopropyl alcohol which can dry your hair. There are “natural” lice cures but there is little or no data to prove these are effective. The safest and most sure way to get rid of lice and not damage your hair is to use a lice comb, but this is a very extremely tedious process.
Recently, there was a study done by researchers at the University of Utah in which they created a steam cleaning device (a cross between a vacuum cleaner and a hair dryer) to kill lice. This could prove pretty interesting.
Which treatment method is best for you? Rather than recount all the pros and cons of each method here, we’ll point you to Head Lice.org for a very through question and answer page that you should find helpful. And if you do decide to use the lice-killing shampoo please make sure you follow that with a good conditioner to counteract the drying effects of the alcohol. Good luck!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
the way i got rid of my lice was first to smother my hair in butter overnight, to kill the lice. then coat my hair in olive oil and have my mom rake through it with a nit comb to get out the eggs. then i went to these “nit picker” people who went through my hair to get the rest of the nits out. but they said that after all that butter and combing there werent many left, so maybe multiple treatments of the combing and butter might work. but if that doesnt work, go with the shampoo and a really good conditioner.
Most commercial lice shampoos contain Pyrethrum or some other insecticide. I avoid insecticide-based lice treatments. During our last (I truly hope LAST) infestation, we learned that oil (baby oil, salad oil, mayonaise, butter) suffocates live/hatched lice. I also found a children’s hair care product manufacturer that sells a product to loosen nits and a line of product that repel lice from taking residence on your family’s heads. I didn’t know your policy on name-dropping, so if thebeautybrains.com wants further info, I will provide it.
my daughter (8) got nits and then lice for the first time in her life – we don’t know how or where. She then gave them to me and we have tried so many products and spent so much time and money. We went to a hair salon in mobile, AL and the owner promised her product would cure it. She removed the nits from both of us and charged us $250 plus prducts she recommended (Fairy Tales). It was OK for a little while and then they came back, even though we cleaned everything that could be cleaned every day including the interior of the car. We are so exhausted. We have tried everything safe and are unwilling to use the chemical products. I would love to know the name of the product that repels lice from “taking residence on your family’s heads”. Thank you so much.
you can kill lice using pine-sol.my aunt is the head nurse at a major hospital and when her children got lice she used 1 part pine-sol to 3 parts water and first she washed their hair and while it was still wet she mix the pine-sol/water solution and rinsed their hair.do not dry the hair after the pine-sol solution cover it with a bathing or shower cap over night.it worked like a charm on my nieces and nephew when they came home from school with these nasty little bugs.also put any combs and other items including book bags into a plastic trash bag and set it in direct sunlight.the heat and lack of oxygen will kill and that are on these items.PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR CHILDREN IN A PLASTIC BAG THIS WILL KILL YOUR CHILDREN.I HAD TO ADD THAT LAST WARNING SINCE WE ALL KNOW THERE ARE SOME PARENTS OUT THERE WHO DO CRAZY THINGS.
I am an elementary school teacher in an inner-city school and so encounter lice far too often. I actually realized yesterday that one of the little girls from the school gave them to me when she hugged me this week. : S
As far as chemical products go NIX is the one that always works, because they don’t use common pesticides which the lice have begun growing immunities to. I have heard that oil works well – we’ll find out, I put some on last night and will go wash my hair soon to check the results. TEA TREE OIL SHAMPOO is supposed to be one of the best repellants, but it is very strong smelling.
I’ll let you know if the baby oil worked!
Correction: “RESULTZ” works really well, NIX is the one that was over used!
I tried the baby oil, left it over night and combed it out this morning. I definitely removed a bunch, but as I have really thick hair I will have to wait for boyfriend to get home for the final inspection. I blow-dryed my hair before combing as I read they hate that.
Anyway, it seems to have worked!