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Oil and Vinegar Lice Treatment With a Hair Dryer

Lice, also known as head lice, are insects that live on the scalp of the human head and sometimes in eyelashes and eyebrows. Lice are spread by direct person-to-person contact. The bugs are flat and small, about 3.5 mm long, and often tan or grayish-white in color. You can buy over-the-counter chemicals to rid your head of lice, or you can effectively use a homemade remedy, such as one made of oil and vinegar, as a lice treatment.

  1. Olive Oil and Vinegar

    • Mix 4 cups of olive oil and 4 cups of vinegar in a large bowl until well blended. Stand in the shower and saturate your hair and scalp with the oil and vinegar mixture, then wrap your hair in a plastic bag or put on a shower cap. Let the oil and vinegar sit on your head for six hours. The mixture will dissolve the bodies of the lice.

      Wash your hair with dish washing soap instead of shampoo to quickly remove the olive oil and vinegar mixture from your hair. Then comb your hair with a fine-toothed metal nit comb as you rinse it with warm water. Rinse your hair at least five times to remove the oil and the dissolved exoskeletons of the head lice and nits that were present in your hair.

    Hair Dryer Follow-Up

    • After your hair is rinsed, dry your hair with a blow-dryer on its hottest setting for 15 minutes to kill any remaining lice that may be present in your hair. Comb your hair with the metal nit comb as you dry it with the hair dryer. According to DirtDoctor.com, the heat will kill both lice and nits. Repeat the hair dryer lice treatment the next morning and every time you wash your hair for the next two weeks.

      Repeat the olive oil and vinegar treatment, followed by the hair dryer treatment, every day until your nit comb turns up no lice or eggs.

    Tips

    • As you are treating your lice infestation, treat your house as well. Wash every surface that has been touched by you or by the lice-infested person. Vacuum all the carpets in your home, and if you have a steam cleaning machine, use it to clean and disinfect your carpets.

      Wash clothes in hot water and dry them in a clothes dryer set on hot. If any clothing can't be washed in hot water, consider taking them to a dry cleaner. Dry cleaning will kill lice and similar bugs. Wash bedding, towels and any other fabrics as well.

      Soak hair combs and brushes in a bowl of rubbing alcohol for one hour, then wash them in soapy water.

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