No-chemical head lice treatment

We've talked before about using Cetaphil as a non-toxic lice treatment, but Suzanne takes it a step further: she uses a nit comb and plain water. The details are on her blog.

Comments

[Meetu]

This comb method has been used for ages in India.The comb teeth are very thin and close together..it helps getting rid of lice and its eggs too.

[ThisMom]

We have always used Olive Oil. It is very messy, and stinks! I may have to check this out, for the future!

[Soni]

Check this out - an electric comb that "zaps" live lice and de-nits at the same time.

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001487.php

[Ted Shelton]

There is a new much better way to treat head lice -- a super hot hair dryer does the trick. Kills nits and live lice. Information on this Harvard website suggests that some regular hair dryers are sufficient:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html

But I'd look into one that gets a lot hotter - look at this article from the University of Utah on the "louse buster"

http://unews.utah.edu/p/?r=101906-9

But don't use a hair dryer AND chemical lice shampoo - the hot air deactivates the chemical component (well, makes it ineffective by drying it out... )

Good luck!

[Chakolate]

Ted,

If you read about the louse buster in Utah, they state specifically it's not the heat that does it, but the drying action. Lice can't stand low humidity.

I think the nit comb is a good idea, but you should put olive oil on the scalp first so that the nits are easier to pull off.

[Kween]

Back in (insert caribbean island name here) we did something in between. First you get some regular conditioner and mix it with lots of salt. Get under hair dryer for about 15 mins (blower works too), rinse and repeat.

[Ted Shelton]

Yes, university of utah says it is not the heat, but the humidity -- though the Harvard article suggests that a regular hair dryer can help (which is why I also linked to that article).

Perhaps the heat helps to dry things out (lowering humidity). And maybe the role of heat is different someplace where humidity is higher naturally (like Boston vs. Utah...)

best

ted

[Camille]

My daughter has really thick hair, when she got lice I was clueless what to do. I went through the chemical treatment suggested by the school, only to have it not work. After much research and some trial and error we ended up combing her hair with a Licemeister comb. Every night she got in the tub and we put conditioner on her hair, combed through with a regular comb, then used the nit comb. Whenever she gets the lice notice home we do this for a week or so and haven't had a problem with lice for over 2 years.

I've found that brushing rosewater/glycerin on the hair helps comb even the most stubborn eggs & nits out. When I read that the two top ingredients of the chemical combing gel was glycerin and water, that made me grab the bottle of rosewater. It smelled a lot better and didn't have all of the other chemicals in it.

[G]

I can't believe this. I just posted a non-chemical lice story! USE MAYONAISSE! Trust me. You'll smell like a sandwhich for a few days but they lice, they will be daid, daid, daid!

[Debbie]

My daughter got head lice only thing to do cut her very long hair very short that did trick I still my daughter hair very short to stop head lice