Preventing lice should be your first thought when it comes to getting rid of lice. If you already have an issue, here are a few tips for getting rid of lice in your home.
Steps to Take in Lice Prevention and Management
You should treat all bed sheets, clothing, and hair utensils that may have come in contact with the lice. Lice is only transferable through direct contact. If you have it, the first step is to sanitize and remove any infected object(s).
You can soak hair items in question in rubbing alcohol to kill off any lice or eggs. Specialty shampoo is available for getting rid of lice in the hair.
If you do have lice in your home, thoroughly clean all areas of your home where lice could hide out. One such area is in the carpet. Frequent vacuuming should become a priority in case lice made its way into it and started to lay eggs.
You’ll also want to treat where you sleep, or any clothes you may have had in contact with the lice. Wash your bed sheets, pillow cases, and clothing in hot water, and dry on high heat. This will kill off any lice that may have been present.
Over-the-counter remedies may not be your best option for an effective way of how to get rid of lice
There are a variety of over-the-counter methods you can buy for getting rid of lice, but the downside to this is that lice are very adaptive creatures and have been developing resistance to some of these treatments. Lice have been around for thousands of years dating back to ancient Egypt and beyond and they don’t show any signs of going away.
Lice have been ever evolving and adapting to how humans live and have developed many resistances to chemical treatments. Unfortunately this means there aren’t really any quick fixes to resolving a lice issue, thus making prevention the most effective means for keeping you and your home lice free.
Many people have found going a natural route the best option for treating and getting rid of lice.
A few natural home treatments for getting rid of head lice
Beyond the prevention steps outlined above of killing off lice, the next step is removing them from your head and/or body. Even though this can be time consuming and mind numbing, it is the surefire piece to combine with other efforts. As with most pest control efforts, a combination of effective modes increases success rates.
Vinegar – With this method it’s best to cover your head with a half vinegar half water mixture or half mineral oil. Cover your hair with a shower cap to trap the lice in the vinegar solution and leave it overnight. Since vinegar is very acidic this can help kill off the lice, nymph (baby & adolescent lice), as well as nits (eggs). Simply wash out the solution with your regular shampoo the next morning. You’ll want to use this approach several times a week for a month or two. Also be sure to frequently comb your hair with a nit comb to eliminate any lice or nits or eggs. Keep in mind that nit combs are not going to grab all nits, so it is important to use a bright light and do a visual inspection as you go to manually remove any missed nits.
Mayonnaise – This method focuses on suffocating the lice on your head. Thoroughly cover your head with mayonnaise and cover it with a shower cap. Keep this on your head for at least five hours. Then simply wash your hair out with regular shampoo, and comb out your hair with a nit comb to remove the lice that you can. Do this at minimum once a week for around two months. The difficulty on this is ensuring that air pockets are not left for the lice to find and survive. Also, it is not possible to suffocate nits.
Coconut Oil – This method is similar to the ones above but does seem to have quicker results. You make a solution of coconut oil and camphor and apply this solution in your hair and leave it under a shower cap overnight. This method works on suffocation as well. You should use it every day for five days or more to get rid of any lice issues.
There are several other home remedies that have been shown to be effective, but they all rely on the same principle of either suffocation or using something acidic to kill off the lice. The most important points are to always use visual inspection and removal to any other effort being used and continue treatment until all lice and nits are certainly gone. Leaving a few survivors will allow the stronger lice to build a super population that is more resistant to control efforts.
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