Alcohol Abuse Advice

Home Remedies for Head Lice Removal

So, you’ve opted to bypass the medical madness of dispensing insecticides and pesticides to your child in hopes of finding an effective way to rid your child of head lice without poisoning her in the process.  Good!  And home remedies are just the ticket.

It is my pleasure to share with you what I’ve learned about decimating the enemy and winning the war without throwing the baby out with the bath water!

No one should profit from your child’s misfortune of having acquired a nasty case of head lice … especially not while dispensing lethal substances while doing so.

Head lice is not a disease, just an invasion of tiny bugs that are easily gotten rid of using substances that are in no way harmful.

I never have understood the “theory” prevalent in the allopathic approach to physical treatment that would use something harmful to attack something else that is harmful.  That’s like using a mosquito to alleviate the itching of a mosquito bite!

And all those commercial products out there that you can buy over the counter, like Rid and Nix?  Lice have become resistant to them over the years, and so they don’t work at all anymore-if they ever did.

So why not choose the readily available alternatives that are cheap to boot?  Everyone always things they have to have the latest and greatest … well, I’ve got news for you-just as old sayings are still true (that’s how they got to be old), the old remedies still work!

But it seems as if the powers that be finally are sitting up and taking notice that people are finally wising up and going back to the tried and true, which entails using the natural, God-given stuff.  (“The leaves are for the healing of the nations.”)

Today, access is a whole lot easier to anything natural, what with organic farms and gardens springing up with increasing frequency and conservation efforts proving to be more and more successful, preserving the growth of many of these natural herbs and plants.

There is still profit to be made for the enterprising company which has the public interests at heart, even though those profits aren’t outlandish, as is the case with the pharmaceutical industry.

For instance, only recently, I’ve heard about something called “HairClean 1-2-3,” which consists of three natural oils:  ylang ylang, anise, and coconut, which is easy to use, and it doesn’t cost the proverbial arm and leg.  It comes in kit form with a nit comb included, and it’s a good quality comb, long-toothed and made of metal, which is surprising, as most any time you find a kit in an over the counter product, the comb that is included is most always made of plastic.

But let’s get back to the reason you’ve chosen to read through this article, and that is to find a simple way to get rid of your child’s head lice once and for good.

Some of you are going to roll your eyes at this, but I still say that the best way to do this is with petroleum jelly (Vaseline), because as thick as it is, it readily smothers these buggers as the jelly blocks their air passageways so that it is impossible for them to breathe.  Then you have to wait at least eight hours-more is better-while your head is covered to protect furniture and/or pillows while the jelly does its deadly deed.

While it would seem that the lice would suffocate in less than an hour, they don’t, because they have the ability to stop breathing for long periods and revive again later … hours later.

The negative about using Vaseline is that it takes awhile to get it all out of your hair, but it’s worth it.  You can use vinegar to help get the goo out, along with your shampoo.

Whatever route you choose though, you just cannot avoid the combing process.  You have to section off the hair and comb and re-comb each one to be sure all the nits have come off.  These eggs have been cemented onto the hair shaft by the female louse when she laid them, and they are stubborn to get off.

And not only that, but after another week or 10 days, you have to do the combing process all over again to be sure that no nits have hatched in the meantime.

If you’d rather not opt for Vaseline, you could go the oil method by adding a teaspoon each of tea tree oil (yucky to lice) and eucalyptus oil, along with three tablespoons of olive oil to your regular shampoo, massaging it in thoroughly down to the scalp.

I have not personally used this one, but I have heard that the lice will be dead in less than an hour.  However, I would think it a good idea to leave it on a little longer before combing through as described above.

Still another method is to soak some raw almonds (not the roasted kind), about 10 or 12, in water until the nuts can be ground into paste.  Then add three or four tablespoons of fresh (not bottled) lemon juice.  Thoroughly massage this paste into the hair and let dry for two or more hours, following with a cool rinse and then combing.  (You can’t get away from the combing, as that’s the only way to get the lice eggs off the hair shaft!)

Now, what I’m about to tell you could not exactly be called a home remedy, but it does employ all natural ingredients, which is what you want:  Ulesfia, which is not a pesticide or an insecticide, but a water soluble gel, is something new that doctors are prescribing.

It is a 5% Benzyl alcohol lotion, and it works, because lice breathe through holes that automatically close when in contact with a liquid, which cause the lice to be able to go for several hours without taking in any oxygen so that they can lie dormant until they can breathe again.  This alcohol solution prevents them from being able to close their vents, and so they are asphyxiated within half an hour.

But-now don’t be surprised at this-you still have to do the combing bit.  So, even though it’s not the kind of home remedy you expected, I’ve included it here because of the speed with which it works.

The reason I mention it here is that, supposedly, you can shampoo all the “dead” lice out after only 10 minutes.  It’s purported to work that quickly, but still, you need to use it again after 7-10 days to be sure … and of course, you have to use the fine-tooth comb after the shampoo, no getting around it!