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Head lice. Even the mere mention of the words makes our heads itch. They are, however, a common problem with school children and day care centers.

Head lice are small grayish bugs that lay their eggs, called nits, on the scalp. They use a sticky “glue” to attach the nits to the scalp. There are many commercial shampoos available to treat head lice. Most contain insecticides or pythrethrum. There are some situations where these products are not effective against lice. Some lice are resistant to pyrethrum and they are not killed by the shampoo. The shampoos are not recommended for those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or sensitive to the ingredients. There are some herbal and other natural remedies available that are effective and not harmful to you.

Essential oils, especially tea tree oil, is very effective against head lice. A mixture of the following essential oils can be a natural remedy for head lice.
30 drops rosemary essential oil
7 drops tea tree essential oil
30 drops lavender essential oil
15 drops geranium essential oil
15 drops eucalyptus essential oil

5 oz olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together. Apply half the mixture to dry scalp and cover with a towel or shower cap for at least one hour. After the hour apply hair conditioner to the hair and comb all the nits out with a nit comb. It is essential to get all the nits out. Shampoo several times and rinse with apple cider vinegar. The vinegar dissolves the glue that attaches the nits to the scalp. Use conditioner and rinse out. Nit comb again. The life cycle of the head louse is seven days. Repeat this process with the remainder of the oil in seven days.

If you are pregnant, do not use the essential oils. Apply plain olive oil to dry hair, cover with a shower cap and leave overnight. In the morning, shampoo out the olive oil, rinse with apple cider vinegar, use conditioner and rinse. Comb the nits out with a nit comb.

Once the lice are gone, use tea tree shampoo or add tea tree oil to your regular shampoo once a week. This works well as a repellent. Remember to launder bedding and sterilize combs and brushes routinely until all the head lice and nits are gone.

Tags: essential oils, head lice, shampoos

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.