Summer Camp Souvenirs–Natural Solutions for Head Lice
Written by Joanne on August 30, 2009 – -
Last week the kids finished summer day camp, and along with some memories and new friends, they picked up head lice. I’ve spent the last several days passing hours and hours preening and plucking and nit-picking. Tea tree oil and persistence got us through this round! Here in Montreal, if you do not treat with the toxic chemicals, you can’t send your children to school. Frightening to think of it, but I thought I would include a couple of the recommendations we were given, and post this with the hope that a few of you might have other ideas and suggestions to contribute.
Conditioner: The idea is to comb conditioner into dry or slightly damp hair, use lots of conditioner. Comb it in well so that the whole head is covered and the hair right down to the roots. Then you use a nit comb to get them all out. The conditioner helps to slow down the lice so that you are able to catch them all and it also helps to loosen the nits. Do this every day for a week and you should have got them all out.
Brush like crazy: This breaks the little pests legs so they can’t run away from you…. it also means they won’t survive because they won’t be able to feed.
Vinegar: Works in the same way as a toxic chemical or the tea tree oil. The vinegar stuns them and helps to kill the eggs. Always use a nit comb.
Tea Tree Oil: Has a strong acidic odour like vinegar and works in the same way to stun the lice and kill the eggs. Don’t use every day.
Remember: If you do have unexpected visitors like these you must wash all the families clothing and bedding, if you can’t use a hot water wash then add vinegar to the washing water it will help to kill any survivors. Don’t forget to vacuum the beds, and furniture too.
With a keen eye and persistence, I think we’ve managed to finally rid ourselves of these little devils. In the name of preventative measures, we’ll be adding a few drops of tea tree oil to all the shampoo bottles and doing a lot of creative hair braiding this year. When I was homeschooling this was something easily avoided. Now that the kids are in school, these are part of the joys of parenthood.
Hope these natural remedies for head lice come in handy!
If you would like more information and ideas on how to combat this problem there is a great site http://www.headlice.org which has information, suggestions and reasons why you shouldn’t use chemicals.
Here’s to squeaky clean scalps,
Tera
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By helen007 on Aug 30, 2009
Tera,
oh boy, do I sympathise about the headlice!
The other thing that really works and doesn’t cost the earth is coconut oil. It works in the same way as conditioner which we gave up using because the one that’s really free of chemical nasties was way too pricey. Whatever method you use, you have to repeat it a week later because of the unhatched eggs that always get missed the first time around. Oh, and treat your own scalp as a precaution!
Good luck,
Helen
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By juile on Aug 31, 2009
so last year we had head lice again, but instead of calling the nit pickers i called last time, i called a new company called HEROES, well let me tell you although the service is still as expensive as the nitpickers the children and myself were relieved that the service time was only about 34 minute person. Now that was definitely priceless. The Heroes where in my house and done in a total time of about 3 hours from the time i called to the time they left my house. I then looked up the product they sold me and found it online on http://www.bestpricesalon.com. there i also purchase a preventative shampoo and conditioner that will repel the lice son they don’t come back. Now that information was worth every penny….good luck Heroes, Your GREAT!!!!!
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By Cheryl Gibson on Sep 2, 2009
Hi all,
Something else that works well to kill head lice (and leave your hair beautiful!) is mayonaise. Slather it on (do not use ‘fat reduced’ mayonaise – use the real stuff) wrap in plastic overnight (or during the day if you want) and wash… works a treat.
Loved learning about the Heroes! that is a new one for me!
Thanks.
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By Justin on Jul 22, 2010
Alot of people try these remedies and struggle you really need to treat the entire home as well as the body/scalp. Clearlice has worked really well for many desperate moms.
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By anna on Aug 23, 2010
your article is a very good read, to be honest.. i really dont want to use some kind of chemical agents on my kids head. but sometimes. the home remedies just doesnt work. and head lice, is really hard to get rid of. also nits are hard to because you have to get a special comb to remove them.
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