Home Remedies to Get Rid of Hair Lice

Lice can quickly become a nuisance when left unnoticed. With all the constant itching and irritation, your child will have a tough time relaxing and doing daily activities at home or at school in peace. Spending a lot of time outdoors and with other kids affected with head lice can have your child contract this itchy problem. If you see nits on your child’s scalp, that’s the ultimate sign. Here’s everything you need to know about natural remedies to get rid of hair lice.

Most important thing: Chill out

Honestly, just take a deep breath and don't freak out if your child has head lice. Sure, they're gross (just talking about them can make your head itch), but they're not actually harmful to health.It's best to steel yourself for weeks or months of vigilance since lice can reappear due to repeated exposure or a missed nit.

Try some olive oil

This kitchen staple is thought to be an excellent smothering agent. Lice supposedly suffocate and die when the ooze plugs their breathing holes, but it needs to be applied overnight under a shower cap because lice can survive without breathing for hours. You'll also have to comb to remove nits, but the olive oil should help loosen them from the hair shafts.

Dunk your hair in a bathtub

You could try drowning lice by immersing hair under water in the bathtub. But chances are it won't work all that well. Various reports suggest lice can survive total submersion for many hours at a time. Not even chlorinated pool water can kill off head lice, for Disease Control and Prevention.

Go ahead and try some mayonnaise

Lice can open and close their breathing holes to avoid suffocation, so there's no guarantee that it will work. People who've tried it recommend using real, full-fat mayonnaise. Slather it on liberally and pop on a shower cap. Let the mayo do its thing overnight. Shampoo and comb for nits in the morning. Repeat one week later to kill any lice that hatch from nits that survive the treatment.

Give the shrinkwrap method a try

Despite its name, this technique doesn't involve plastic wrap of any kind. What it does involve is the application of a non-toxic product to dry hair combing out as much as possible, and blowing the hair dry. This is repeated 3 times at one-week intervals.

Pair another home remedy with dishwashing liquid

Dish soap doesn't kill lice. But it does help remove the bug-suffocating glop—salad oil, mayonnaise, hair styling gel, or Vaseline—that moms slather into kids' hair.Dawn dishwashing liquid is said to be good for cutting through the greasy mess left behind. Some dish soaps supposedly help break down the glue-like substance attaching nits to the hair shaft.

Rinse your hair with vinegar

Some people believe vinegar will dissolve the sticky glue that the female louse uses to attach her eggs to hair shafts. The acetic acid in vinegar is considered helpful in prepping hair for nit combing after using a bug-killing treatment. Like many lice home remedies, there's no proven evidence of a clinical benefit.

Prevent head to head contact

Lice are just as happy to invade a squeaky clean head as a dirty one, so frequent washing is no guarantee of preventing an infestation.The best advice is to avoid head-to-head contact. And don't make it easy for them to crawl from one head to the next. Keep long hair in a tight ponytail or braid. Other tips: Don't share combs, brushes, barrettes, hats, scarves or pillows.