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Home Remedy For Head Louse and Removing Nits
The lice feed by sucking blood from your scalp.
They lay eggs, called nits , which they stick to the shafts of your hair with a
very strong glue. The eggs are dull grey, and are fastened to the hair very
close to the scalp, so they are kept nice and warm. After about 7 days, the eggs
hatch, and new lice are released. Two weeks later, the new lice are fully grown,
and start laying eggs. Very soon hundreds of lice can be living on your scalp.
Hatched eggs remain attached to your hair for
some time. The hatched egg is white, and can be seen as a small white blob stuck
to a hair, about an inch away from the scalp.
The most important step in treating a head lice
infestation is to treat the person and other family members with head lice with
solution to kill the lice. Wash clothing and bedding worn or used by the
infested person in the 2-day period just before treatment is started.
Prevent Reinfestation: Lice are most commonly
spread directly by head-to-head contact and much less frequently by lice that
have crawled onto clothing or belongings. As a short-term measure to control a
head lice outbreak in a community, school, or camp, you can teach children to
avoid playtime and other activities that are likely to spread lice.
Head Lice Treatment
TWICE A WEEK CONTROLS HEAD LICE!!
Conditioner and a fine tooth comb is a cost-effective way to stop head lice reestablishing themselves. Used once a week it can get rid of that reinvading louse. Apply conditioner to dry hair or even wet hair and comb off all the conditioner with a fine tooth comb. Look for lice and eggs by wiping the combings on paper tissue. If you find less than 5 lice, repeat the conditioner and fine tooth combing daily until lice are gone. If you find more than 5 lice, use Tea Tree Manor's Lice Treatment Kit.
Remember to retreat in 7 days, and use conditioner and fine tooth comb at least twice between treatments.
CONDITIONER AND FINE TOOTH COMB TECHIQUE
- Apply conditioner to dry hair making surer to cover each hair from root to tip with a layer of conditioner.
- Detangle the hair using an ordinary comb.
- Immediately comb the hair with a fine tooth comb.
- Wipe the conditioner off the fine tooth comb onto a paper tissue and look for lice and eggs.
- Repeat the combing of every part of the head at least 5 times.
- Also examine the comb for lice and eggs.
THE HEAD LICE DETECTION KIT
Consists of 4 items:
- Conditioner - white conditioner is best as the lice and eggs are easier to see.
- A fine tooth comb - to comb out the lice stunned by the conditioner.
- A normal comb - to detangle hair and make the fine tooth comb easier to use.
- Paper tissue - white tissues are best as the lice and eggs are easier to see.
Why use conditioner in a detection kit?
Conditioner stuns head lice!* The stunning effect seems to last about 20 minutes. After this time most lice are active again. Use conditioner on hair to increase the rate of detection. Applying conditioner to dry hair is best, but it will work on wet hair also. Older kids can use the conditioner and nit comb technique in the shower as part of their normal hair care. If they do this at least once a week, newly invaded lice will be detected and removed before they have time to lay many eggs. Re infection will then be controlled.
* It is thought that the conditioner blocks the lice's respiration tracks.
Note: Hot water kills head lice on brushes and combs. Place brushes and combs in water at 60C for 30 seconds.
HOW DO I TREAT HEAD LICE?
Head lice live in the hair and come down to the scalp to feed by sucking blood. So the head lice formulation must make contact to all parts of the hair. A complete regime consists of two treatments 7 days apart, the first to kill the climbers, and the second to kill the juvenile lice hatched from the eggs over the intervening 6 days.
- Apply Tea Tree Manor's Lice Treatment shampoo to all areas of hair from roots to tips.
- If using the Conditioner apply to dry hair. If using Shampoo, use the least amount of water possible.
- Use an ordinary comb to carry formulation down the hair shaft to tip.
- Leave the preparation on the hair for at least 20 minutes.
HOW CAN I TELL THAT THE TREATMENT HAS KILLED THE HEAD LICE?
- After 20 minutes, use a fine tooth comb-to-comb hair, after each sweep from the roots to tips, wipe the combings onto a tissue.
- Repeat this many times until the whole head has been combed at least twice and little treatment formulation is visible on hair.
- Examine the tissues and see if lice are alive or dead. Grade each louse as dead (no movement at all), inactive but alive (lice is stationary, but is moving legs or antennae), or active (louse is crawling on the tissue).
- Repeat in 7 days.
IS A SECOND TREATMENT NECESSARY?
YES, in most cases a second treatment is needed since no head lice treatment kills 100% of the eggs. So if the first treatment kills all climbers, at the second treatment one would expect only juveniles, hatched from eggs during the 7 day period, and no adults. You must retreat on day 7 with the same product as on the first treatment, and evaluate efficacy using the same protocol.
Lice that are found at the second treatment, and they are killed by this treatment, there are two options:
- Retreat with same formulation a third time in 7 days to verify complete cure, or
- 7 days after the second treatment, put conditioner in the hair, comb with a fine tooth comb and check for lice.
In Summary
- A complete regime consists of 2 treatments 7 days apart, the first to kill the climbers and the second to kill the juvenile lice hatched from the eggs from the intervening 6 days.
- Apply Tea Tree Manor's Lice Treatment Shampoo to all areas of the head and coat all hair from root to tips.
- Leave Tea Tree Manor's Lice Treatment Shampoo on the hair for at least 20 minutes.
- Between treatments use conditioner and fine tooth comb technique. Do this at least twice in the 7 days between treatment 1 & 2.
Once a person has been cleared of head lice or has not got head lice, a preventative strategy should be used. Regular combing should become part of ones weekly routine. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that regular use of tea tree oil based shampoo acts as a deterrent for head lice re infestation.
This information was obtained from Associate Professor Rick Speare's website. Professor Speare is a leading Australian head lice researcher, based at James Cook University in Townsville, North Qld. www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/hlice/hlinfo1.htm
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