# Natural remedies and cures for head lice?



## Mishty (Sep 29, 2011)

I'm a volunteer and part time teachers aide, I work with a lot of kids, and today my class was head checked and we've had a really,really bad break out of head lice. Since I've been with this class an entire week, and I have really long hair I've worn down, the nurse went ahead and sent me home to shampoo. But, A) I don't want to spend so much money B) Some of the chemicals are really horrendous C)RID and other shampoos sometimes require you to use them over and over, so in other words they don't work. =\

So, I've looked around online and found a few ideas, but nothing with enough reviews to try it.

I've heard olive oil smothers them, but I'd like someone that's tried it to reassure me.


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## CarlaSixx (Sep 29, 2011)

My friend and I slather her daughters' hair with Vaseline and leave on for a few hours. The hair gets greasy, the bugs and eggs die of suffocation, and they slide right out. After a few hours, you just comb trough, ten shampoo normally to take it all out. It's worked every single time for my friend and we did it on me as a preventative measure because her daughters are very prone to lice, and no cmplications. They always all come out. 

They also ha e tried dyeing their hair. My friend can't seem to get Vaseline in her hair evenly, so she dyes it, and they all die and fall out. That's another measure but is the last resort. 

Definitely oils and grease work the best and are the least harmful.


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## Diana_Prince245 (Sep 29, 2011)

They say tea tree oil will get rid of them. I'm not sure what it will do to your hair, but it allegedly will get rid of the lice.

Also, Ulesfia (Benzyl Alcohol Lotion 5%) is something my sister's pediatrician suggested after her oldest boy came home with them.

Or you can ask somebody to go through your hair with a comb or tweezers and pick them out one at a time, but that's awfully time intensive.


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## Ruffie (Sep 29, 2011)

Olive oil slathered in the hair and then wrap in plastic wrap and leave on for as long as you can. It works the same as Carla's vaseline suggestion and the steps are the same, we found it incredibly good for your hair.


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## penguin (Sep 30, 2011)

I've been told a thick application of conditioner can do the same thing. But whatever you use, have someone else comb through your hair looking for nits, and do it in sunlight. Then repeat again the next week to catch any you may have missed.

And wear your hair up as much as possible from now on, too!


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## truebebeblue (Jan 14, 2012)

tea tree oil works... Get a bottle of cheap sauve shampoo,dump in a half the bottle of tea tree oil. Put it on your head and give it half an hour while you strip your bed and wash everything rinse and condition really well,then use a pin comb. My neice got lice years ago and we could not get rid of them with nix etc. I started reading on the internet and came up with tea tree.. works like a charm. Has a crazy energizing effect on me though so I avoided it before bed. 
There are also some essential oil combos that you can mix into water and spray on hair before going into school environment that work as lice repellent( i can't find one atm but the one I remember had a bit of tea tree and lavender). 
I was reading about schools where they were so infested the mothers started stripping and washing kids clothes when they walked in the door (coats scarves hats and clothing all right to washer) and kids into shower to be tea tree shampooed as soon as they walked in the door DAILY. 

BTW adding the oil to the shampoo makes it super watery but for less than 10 bux you have tons of treatments. The store bought treatments do not work and can cause neurological damage. I read years ago that there were people trying to get treatment packages changed because the % they give are no longer valid... the lice are immune. I'm sure there will be super frustrated parents treating the kids over and over and still being infested and spending loads of money. I feel bad for them!


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## *Goofy*Girl* (Jan 15, 2012)

If all other methods don't work & you can't go to a salon, see if there's a beauty school nearby that could help with some type of treatment.

There's one very last resort that I've heard of, and that's bleach. "Born Blonde" is a good one you can get at just about any Walgreens. Sally has some too that are pretty strong.

But, you've got to want to be really blonde, lol.

If you don't want to change your hair color, you could try using dye that matches your own hair color. I think someone mentioned that in this thread already. Dye is generally much gentler than bleach, though. Some brands might be too gentle to work. Look at the box and make sure it's not one of those dyes that are ammonia-free. Actually, if the label says "anything"-free it's probably going to be to gentle to work. 

Good luck, and I hope you get rid of all of those little critters!


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## Dr. Feelgood (Jan 15, 2012)

Lice do it, too. So any treatment you use will have to be repeated at intervals to kill the baby lice as they hatch. But I'm not sure what the interval should be; anybody know?


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## spiritangel (Jan 15, 2012)

their breeding cycle is 7 days so if you do it say every 3 or 4 days you should catch them as they hatch although some combs are great for getting out the eggs as well


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