Head lice - help! Tea Tree oil effective? wash everything?!
Question: I have four adorable children! What remedies can I use that are natural to treat the lice and do I really have to wash EVERTHING????
ARGHHHH!!!!
Has anyone used tea tree oil with 100% effectiveness? If so how do I do this?
Please don't refer me to a web site that I have to pay something for to get information!
thanks!
Answers: I have four adorable children! What remedies can I use that are natural to treat the lice and do I really have to wash EVERTHING????
ARGHHHH!!!!
Has anyone used tea tree oil with 100% effectiveness? If so how do I do this?
Please don't refer me to a web site that I have to pay something for to get information!
thanks!
Tea tree oil is the perfect solution - you want oil with T36-C5 qualities as this is the best medicinal form - simply add a drop or two into the shampoo and do as you would with traditional methods - also add to your wash. If you require more info email me and I will help you the best I can - you're doing the right thing by not using pesticide laden lice shampoos - let's keep those children safe and healthy!
Well, if you are Indian, then take coconut oil and heat it. Add crushed kapur to it.Apply to ur kids' hair on every alternate day.
You can try this one I don't think you need to pay anything for watching the treatment.
Vinegar, any head hair is most likely so on everything.
Well! U can find some home remedies on > www.peoplespharmacy.com( in Home Remedies section) they suggest "Vaseline for Lice"& "Listerine for Lice". Plz read this artical,All the best!!!
Home remedies are generally ineffective.
Tea tree oil is great, also for keeping it at bay as well...
Eucalyptus is great as well, as is Geranium oil and Lavender oil.
Rosemary is fab and also tackles dandruff as well!!
Lavender protects your hair and conditions it.
The best all round oils are: Lavender (can use is for burns, cuts, bruises, stings....the list is endless) Tea tree oil and Rosemary oil.
I recommend reading: "Aromatherapy and Massage" by Christien Wildwood.
Avoid Rosemary if in the 1st 3 months of pregnancy. just a warning!! :D
Head lice are not a big deal, they evolved with us for millions of years! It doesn't mean you're dirty or low-class or anything of the sort...but they itch and so let's get rid of them, ASAP.
Tea Tree oil is toxic in large amounts and can irritate/burn the skin. DO NOT put straight Tea Tree oil on your children's heads. It could get in their eyes, and cause severe problems.
INSTEAD:
Take vinegar and put it on their heads to loosen the nits. A spray bottle will simplify this...Then...completely douse each infested head in mayonnaise, to the scalp, and cover with plastic wrap, tightly. This will suffocate the lice, but it takes some time...
Put on a movie or something...feed them a snack...play a game...whatever...it has to stay on two hours...
After two hours, comb the hair with a flea comb (it's $2 at the pet store, and works better than the lice combs in the drugstore for $10-20) to remove the nits. Now the hard part, getting out the mayo...It's terribly greasy, and you might want to use dish soap (organic of course) but it's going to take several washings...
Repeat this in five days. Twice should take care of the lice problem. If you need to repeat again, do it again in five more days, but you probably won't. Twice should do the trick...Once might, but if one nit got past, you can get reinfested from it, so repeat to be safe, otherwise you start over again in a few weeks.
Use Tea Tree shampoo to repel head lice. They hate it. But it won't kill them...
As for cleaning everything (boiling or washing in hot water), I've been told this is not necessary, but it obviously couldn't hurt. Vacuuming loose hair off the floor is probably a good idea. Lice off the head are essentially dead lice. Their environment is the human head, nowhere else. They are transmitted from head to head, or from a head to a cap or hairbrush to a head. They cannot live long off the head. I would clean all hairbrushes well. Replacing hairbrushes is probably wise...
Your children are not 'adorable', they are what the Social Services Department will call 'Verminous'. Unless you get them proper medical treatment they can take them away from you.
TOOLS:
- 100 watt lightbulb or natural light is best
- nit comb (recommended instead of fine-toothed comb)
- old toothbrush for cleaning out the nit comb after each check
- magnifying glass (easier to determine what's what)
- natural lice treatment/preventative (normally contains tea tree oil and/or lavender essential oils)
- rubbing alcohol and glass cup (to put combs, toothbrush in after checking)
- option: pup tent for the child to "camp" in for the duration so you don't have to keep stripping down the bed every day to wash
DO:
- Make sure you know what ingredients are used in the lice treatment product and research how safe it is
- Treat the hair according to the lice treatment product directions
- Be vigilant about combing every strand of hair with the nit comb (every day the first week, every other day the following week)
- Vacuum car seats, mattresses, furniture
- Wash all bedding and recently worn clothing (put dryer on the hottest setting)
- Soak all affected combs/brushes in rubbing alcohol for at least 24 hours
- Notify/check all family members and any visitors that have been in recent contact with your family
- Make sure your kids don't share hats, coats, scarves, etc at school
- Make sure your kids bring their own sleeping bags/pillows to sleepovers
DON'T:
- confuse nits with hair debris (see article When a Nit is not a Nit > http://www.headlice.org/faq/notnit.htm)
- get/use lice spray > lice are localized and won't stray from the head unless there's another head of hair close by to set up shop in
- use OTC or prescription lice killers because they are pesticides, therefore poisonous (the CDC concedes that "treatment failures are common" and states several health hazards with using the following: pyrethrins [A-200, Pronto, R&C, Rid, Triple X], permethrin [Nix], malathion [Ovide], lindane [Kwell])
- use mayo, vaseline, pet flea shampoo, vinegar, gasoline > not only are they a PITA to clean out but some like gas are flammable and dangerous to use (c'mon, use a little common sense!) or strip the hair
- buy a lice treatment product if it doesn't state what is in the ingredients
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
My first (and hopefully last!) experience with lice was when I noticed nits on my oldest DS 3 weeks ago. I had those little buggers gone within 3 days! I did not spray, use crazy home remedies wearing a shower cap all night or bag up all sorts of stuff (like stuffed animals). I did not have to use Rid, Nix or any of the other OTC stuff.
I combed my DS every day, twice a day for a week. I washed all the bedding and dirty laundry using the normal water temperature but put the dryer on the highest heat setting. I checked my son twice a day for a week, being careful to comb through his entire head. I bought the Robi-Comb but it wasn't very reliable. It considers dandruff and other hair debris as lice, and doesn't detect nits. Nobody else we had been in contact with or within my household (me, DH, youngest DS) ever got infested. I do, however, insist my family use a natural tea tree oil & lavender shampoo/conditioner as a treatment and preventative (I like Giovanni the best; also tried JASON; California Baby makes one too), along with Lice Off spray daily, in between shampoos.
Good luck and email me if you have any questions!
When my daughter lived with her father last year, she contracted head lice. He didn't believe me, thought that I was making it up, so he didn't have her checked out. I had to combat head lice for over 3 months with her. You can only use commercial head lice treatment about 2 times, then it becomes poisonous. Since I am an Aromatherapist, I searched and finally came up with my own remedy.
Basically, oil of any kind suffocates the lice. If you have essential oils, it will help get the job done, while soothing the scalp of your child. However, it isn't necessary. I tried Tea Tree Oil but it cannot be used by itself as it isn't powerful enough. Just take about one cup of olive oil, heat it to make it warm, and coat your children's heads. Cover with a plastic disposable shower cap. Wrap their heads in warm towels, changing out the towels frequently. You can also put their heads under a blow dryer. Do this for about 3 hours. Put them in the shower, and comb their hair while wet with the oil, but before you rinse the oil out. This will be kinda gross and ucky if they actually have lice. Then, shampoo a couple of times to get the oil out. You can do this daily, as lice hatch almost daily once you have an infestation. Lice do not live without a human host past 18 hours, so wash and dry on the hottest settings you can their bedding, hats, scarves. Put all stuffed animals and extra pillows outside in garbage bags for one month, which will allow anything that hatched to die (no human host). You should be free of lice within two weeks, chemical free. Don't forget to do this to yourself, just in case.