subject: Helpful Home Treatments for Head Lice [print this page] Keep in mind that the following are natural head lice treatments using tried and true home remedies.
These are a few tidbits I've picked up. Hope they help!
1 - One thing to remember when using these natural remedies is that anywhere white vinegar or just vinegar is mentioned, substitute apple cider vinegar for it. The reason? White vinegar is toxic when ingested! And when using vinegar, protect the child's eyes ... it is very painful to the eyes.
2 - Try to schedule your nit combing sessions at night when it is a bit easier to see the lice. Rinse the hair every day with a blend of these essential oils: rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, tea tree, and peppermint (about 5 drops of each, mixed into olive oil (castor, safflower, grapeseed and sunflower also work well). After you have mixed the oil, put five drops into a cup of water and spray as a repellant.
Use the nit comb each day, rinsing the comb in between in vinegar, which helps detach the eggs from the hair.
3 - Get a big fat curling iron and on the highest heat, use it on every strand of hair. This will incinerate all the eggs. Then all you have to do is to section off the hair and use a nit comb to pull out the eggs and lice. Then buy an inexpensive plastic mattress cover along with a plastic pillow cover, which you will cover with a regular pillowcase, and have the lice victim use this until the problem is totally resolved.
4 - Who'da thunk it? Just make a hot tea of Quassia Amara, known by other names as Simaruba or Simaruba Amara (aka Palo Amarga, Quassia Amera, bitterwood) and let it cool before spraying it on any lice-infested head. It will kill and lice and nits (though you still may have to comb the nits out to get them off the hair shafts). Re-spray every day thereafter to be sure all traces of these critters are gone. You can buy this ingredient at your health food store by the pound.
How to make the tea? To one cup of boiling water, add 2 TBS. of Simaruba wood chips (they are taken from the bark of the Quassia Amara tree. Let the tea cool completely. Add a quarter cup of witch hazel to make it even more effective. Strain and then add 15% rubbing alcohol so that bacteria do not cause it to spoil.
5 - If your kids get head lice, please do not subject them to pesticides, insecticides, and the other chemical toxins present in over-the-counter products and also in medically prescribed ones.
Opt for the natural route, which may include suffocating these bugs with Vaseline, leaving it on overnight and protecting the bedding with a plastic cap. Know, however, that petroleum jelly is most difficult to wash out. It does, however, make nit combing a whole lot easier. Do not leave mayonnaise on the hair overnight, as it becomes rancid and may exacerbate the problem.
Also realize that neither Vaseline nor castor oil nor mayo alone will prevent recurrences of head lice.
