Lice

[alluneedisLUV]

We have a lice problem, and I reached for the NIX without thinking--just wanted it gone. We are all carrying the little buggers, and would like to hear from anyone with experience using natural remedies to get em out. I found a couple of live ones even after using the chemical junk, so whats a mom to do??

[mamaoso]

I had lice when I was pregnant so NIX was not an option. I wish I could remember the name of the stuff I used, but all I can remember is that it smelled like licorice. I think the combing is the most important part. I have long hair, but at least it's straight and easy to comb through. I combed every day for a week. The metal lice combs are the best. I used a shampoo called liceless and also tried coating my hair in olive oil and covering with a plastic bag overnight. That's supposed to smother them I guess. (I only tried this one once, don't know if it helped) Mayonaise does the same thing. I also washed as much stuff as I could get into my washing machine. After that I covered the couch where I usually sit with a blanket and just washed that every day along with my pillow case. I kept this up for about 10 days and that did the trick. Good luck, I feel for you!

[Julie]

olive oil works well...lice need their skin clean to breathe so you can kill them with oil, Soak your scalp in oil, leave for a bit, fine thooth comb your hair,repeat daily for a week or so till all the eggs have hatched and ya get them. This is what I do for birds when they get lice.

[Chelsea]

Just some info about when you get rid of them. They prefer clean hair with no prducts. When they were going around at my sons school, we washed his hair only once or twice a week and put gel in it. He didn't get them. Maybe you could try this once you comb everything out to discourage them from settling in again.


- Chelsea

[barjem]

I had read something about Tea Tree Oil......yOu may want to do a search on google.com
gOOd luck

[OceanMomma]

I posted this on the boards before they went down I think. Dd#1 has waist length curly blonde hair & she got lice about 2 years ago. She's not into my "wierd" remedies so we went chemical. Nothing worked. In the end, we went wierd. What I used was :

6 drops essential oil of aniseed
2 drops essential oil of manuka ( could sub tea tree )
2 drops essential oil of euclayptus

in 100ml of vodka. (This was for each treatment due to the amount of hair she has)

Saturated the hair & left it on overnight. Poured over a mix of vinegar & water & 2 drops of essential oil of eucalyptus in the morning & shampood the whole lot off. Coz she point blank refused to do the lice comb thing after the chemical incidences, we didn't. Plus her hair is very long & thick & curly & lice combs are a nightmare to get thru it.

I got her to repeat the treatment weekly for 3 weeks. After that they didn't come back. She had some dead eggs left but they dropped off eventually. I think the vinegar is supposed to dissolve the glue that holds them on.

If you go to google & search in "agora" & "aromatherapy" you should find the agora web site. There's a really good article there on treating lice with essential oils. She also dispels some of the myths about lice in furniture & so on.

we didn't use olive oil either coz it is so difficult to get off the hair & I think vodka works as well.

[carol]

lice treatment

we had 10 children and myself get lice after we left mexico. they really are tricky to get rid of. the nix really is not as effective as the natural treatment. you think jsut get rid of them and so you reach for the haed stuff but in the case of lice, the natural remedies are better. the post about the olive iol is a good start. start with
1 cup olive oil then add
5 drops citrenella(essentail oil)
4 drops pennyroyal
5 drops eucalyptus
5 drops tee tree
3 drops of peppermint
rub this completly into the head until saturated with it. you then get a fine comb and comb and come and comb. now you should have a nice well oiled head. i wrapped a plastic bag on their heads for 3 hours . leave the oil on for 48 hours and wash their heads with dog shampoo. this will get rid of them. must you must declare war on them. i hope this helps

[VisionQuest]

One of my daughters got lice earlier in the school year. We did use Nix because I didn't even consider alternative treatments at the time.

I also bagged up all of the stuffed animals, Barbies, dolls, etc. and washed all of our bedding in hot water and used a hot dryer.

I also spent about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon every day for about a week combing through her hair and getting all of the nits because our school has a no-nits policy. She was able to go back to school in two days after being inspected by the school nurse.

I was glad I didn't get them. Good luck to you.

[anythingelse]

Robi-comb is supposed to zap them dead, no chemicals. Tea tree oil is wonderful as a prevention tool during an outbreak.

[momofthreecuties]

My niece contacted lice earlier last month. We chose to stay away for awhile. She got it, had a RID treatment done, got it again, did another Rid treatment, my other niece got it and my sister they all did it....Thought they were all done with it. Last weekend had my niece spend the night. She didn't have school on Mon, but yesterday she was sent home with LICE! I totally freaked out...chances we got it are pretty hight unless he contacted them Sun eve or Mon again...I went ahead and washed all the bed linen in HOT water, pillows in HOT dryer, vacuumed and vacuumed...I will not do the chemicals on my family. Some of the chemicals might cause seizures in small kids...I have used tea tree oil and lavendar essential oil on the kids heads when we've been out just to prevent them catching it from other kids. I've read the mayo or olive oil thing is good...rinsing with a vinegar rinse will prevent the eggs from attatching to the hair shaft. Also I read on a web page this a.m. that blow drying the hair will "possibly" kill the eggs and lice..someone's theory...heat killing makes sense with putting things inthe drier...hair drier gets hot,but you don't want to burn your hair or scalp!!! The suggestions on this board
were great... momofthreecuties

[emmaline]

this site has fantastic info about the conditioner and comb method for getting rid of lice without chemicals or even essential oils (some allergic kids really can't tolerate the oils either), just hair conditioner and a good fine tooth comb(long, round, metal teeth)

if you look around the whole site you find heaps of good info and research these folks are doing in North Queensland

our state government health department even recommends this over chemical methods as so many lice prove to be resistant!

good luck! and happy nitpicking!



http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PH...ce/hlinfo1.htm

***the checking method if used every second day for a week or so will get rid of the lice without any other treatment***

p.s. we used a robi-comb until we found this method - they work great but are a much more expensive option

edited to add : i know the comb method doesn't work for oceanmomma's dd's curls!!

[Hera]

To throw another one out there, I have heard thyme is the best essential oil for lice. We used to get rid of them by soaking the hair in vinegar and plastic bagging it for 10 minutes, then rubbing in olive oil mixed with cayenne pepper and bagging that for 10 minutes, then rinsing and re-oiling with tea tree (or lavender or thyme) and combing. We were adults though, not kids. Don't do cayenne to a kid, it burns.

[momofthreecuties]

I'm just curious wha exactly do the lice look like?? I have been searching my kids and I haven't seen snything but maybe a small piece of dry skin. I read that they look like tiny grains of sand ranging from gray to coffee in color. What is the size? Is is like this big (.) or bigger??? Can you see them moving? I know about ht enits attatching to the hairshaft and supposedly don't flick off they stay attatched. My kids are getting annoyed with me checking their heads! So paranoid though...my head just itches thinking of it all.

I read about the essential oil of thyme too and if you don't have that you can use the herb seeped in boiling water for 1 hour.
Here's a recipe:
4c cider vinegar
4c. Water
1/2 oz essential oil of thyme
(lavendar,sassafrassm and anise seed work well too)

massage into scalp and hair. 1/2c for 7yrs and older & 1/4c for younger ones...do nightly then proceed with mayo,olive oil or cheap conditioner and comb and comb ! If you use the herb thyme put it in the 4c boiling water to seep, if you use the oil just add everything, don't have to boil.

momofthreecuties

[OceanMomma]

wow momofthreecuties, that is a lot of thyme oil to be putting on anyone, let alone children. That's like 14 ml. If you average out 20 drops per ml, that's 280 drops. :

Remember, as well, sassafras oil is pretty toxic & most places won't even sell it to you. Read this article. It may help you

http://www.wingedseed.com/Agora/Lice_page.htm

[momofthreecuties]

I guess you are right that is a lot of thyme oil! But just a recipe i found to pass on...I'd try anything natural befor RID or NIX!

Thanks for the info!

[Hera]

You don't often see the bugs, unless it's gotten to be really bad. What you see is their eggs. They look like little pearly drop-shaped blobs on a hair, smaller than a poppy seed but larger than a grain of average sand. They are very well cemented on, they can't be flicked off easily. You can burst them with a fingernail, with a distinct popping feeling. The vinegar soak in my recipe is meant to soften the eggs so they can be combed out more easily.

[momofthreecuties]

what I am so afraid of is someone having lice and we don't even know it! I don't want it to get bad before I'd figure it out... I have been checking and checking...and praying and praying! I'd hate to have it,not know it and give it to friends too. I have told my kids not to share hats, combs, clothes, etc...before this all happened. I hate feeling all paranoid....

momofthreecuties

[mom at home]

Great info!

My dd's school sent home a notice last week that someone had lice. We've been putting lavender oil on her neck and behind her ears every day. I hope that wards them off.

I'm glad to see all these remedies, though, in case we get them. I would NEVER use those chemical treatments. Besides the fact that they are toxic, the lice are resistent to them.

[peggy]

bump

[momofthreecuties]

I think I am being very paranid but it has been 2 weeks since we were around my niece who had lice...Do I have anything to worry about anymore??? Yesterday I saw black flecks in my sons hair, from some lice page I read lately it had said something about coffee colored specks could be their feces...okay so I'm checking all the kids again, washed all the bedding, vacuumed, my hubby thinks I am being nuts. In ways I do too that is why I am writing...when is it all clear after being around someone? For people who do get lice is it ALL over or just a few here and there? I've read what to look for, it has to be attatched to be a nit, won't flick off etc... but I haven't read anywhere on how many lice or nits it is common to see....I'm being so paranoid I know! Also within the last few weeks I got this itchy red bumps around my naval, didn't think much of it till last night when my oldest son got an itchy red bump thing on his wrist...happended to see something about scabies on one of the web sites...I'm turning into a hypercondriate and it is making me go nuts! I called the public health nurse yesterday, she thought I had nothing to worry about, although she did tell me to do Rid treatments if it'd make me feel better. I asked her about something homeopathic and she said she didn't know of anything. I asked her wasn't it crazy to put chemicals on kids who might not even have it. (probably) She told me to check out things on the internet, which I have done before. Just crazy a nurse giving that advice...I actually feel I know more than she does on all what I've read. Thank God for this sight here....I know I am sounding crazy! Just some reassurance out there will make me feel so much better.....