Are your in need of head lice treatment? With school back in session, kids are bringing home more than just homework. Stuffing 30 small children into one room inevitably leads to germs being shared, and unfortunately, raising the need for head lice treatments.
Unless you’ve done it before, you probably don’t know how to get rid of lice. It’s the kind of thing you don’t (want to) know about until head lice treatments become necessary in your life. If your child brought home a few unwelcome house guests, and you need head lice treatments, you need to know the following tips:
Four Tips for Getting Rid of Lice
- Check all of the heads in your house.
Treating your home for lice might be a bummer, but nothing compares to the frustration of treating your home for lice, only to find it reared its ugly head again after you’ve gone through all the hassle. If one member of your family has lice, you should assume that all the members of your family have lice.
Using a fine-tooth comb, search through the entire scalp of each human in your house. You’re looking for little bugs that are about the size of a sesame seed. Also, keep an eye out for lice eggs (called “nits”). Nits are tiny white clumps that the mother lice essentially glues to the scalp of the host. They’re easy to overlook as dandruff, but they’re a ticking time bomb for your next lice infestation.
When you identify lice in your household, use a lice-killing shampoo on every effected member. Apply the shampoo to dry hair, let it sit for ten minutes, and then rinse off. - Treat twice, cry once.
Unfortunately, those darn nits we mentioned previously are shielded with a protective coating that the Federal Defense Bureau should research as a potential protection against atomic bombs. They can withstand even the most aggressive lice treatment, hatch once the fog has cleared, and continue to multiply and prosper. The trick is to do your lice treatment on all the family members in your home, and then launch another attack before the nits are able to grow into mature lice that can lay more eggs.
That should nip it in the bud, but if you still find lice after the two treatments, it’s a good idea to seek professional lice removal services. The pros will be able to use treatments that are not available over-the-counter, and will rid your home of them once and for all. - Treat where your head goes.
Unfortunately lice can survive several days on the items your head comes in contact with, without the warmth and food that a human scalp provides. That means that you could follow our first two steps, completely cure all of the heads in your household of lice, and then pick it up again from a little guy that survived in a hat.
In addition to treating the human heads in your home, you need to collect all of the hair brushes, pillows, hats, jackets, clothing that comes in contact with the nape of the hairline, and so on. Put these items in a pile and have a medieval-style bonfire party. Just kidding. You might feel like that is necessary, but you can treat these items with a treatment for lice and then use them again.
If your washing machine or dryer has a “sanitize” setting, this will be your best friend will removing the lice from your home. Also, run your hair brushes, combs, and accessories through the dishwasher on the “sanitize” setting. The scourge of the Earth cannot survive temperatures that high. - Consider non-toxic lice removal.
The insecticides that over-the-counter remedies are poison. We don’t blame you if you feel hesitant about introducing poison into your home. If this is you, there are natural remedies for lice that are harmless to the children and pets in your household:- The acid in vinegar and mineral oil makes your scalp too harsh for lice to make a stronghold.
- Mayonnaise is commonly used to suffocate them.
- Making a paste out of onions creates a sulfuric environment that kills them.
Having lice can be a huge bummer. But it’s not the end of the world. Following these steps will have you lice-free in no time!
