Non Pesticide Head Lice Treatment

You have received the dreaded note from the school nurse--your child has head lice. As a concerned parent, you are worried about using pesticides on your child. But do non-toxic remedies work?

Head Lice are not Superbugs

• Head lice are insects, and they breathe through the surface of their bodies. If you can cover them with goo, they will suffocate and die. You don't need pesticides to kill them.

Nits

• Nits are the tiny eggs that adult female lice lay on the shaft of the hair. They are tiny and white, a little smaller than a sesame seed. When they are 1/2 inch or more away from the scalp, they are either dead or hatched.

Suffocate Those Bugs

• Get a large bottle of hair conditioner. Apply it very thickly all over the hair and scalp, then cover with a sturdy, close-fitting shower cap. Leave the cap on for 8 hours.

Use a metal nit comb

• After the 8 hours, comb though the hair with a metal nit comb. Wipe the residue on disposable towels. The nit comb or your fingernails will help you remove nits from the hair shafts.

Keep on Nitpicking

• Keep combing through the hair with the nit comb and with some conditioner every week until it is clear that all the nits are gone. If the nits are grown out more than 1/2 inch, removal is simply cosmetic.

Clean up

• Lice die after a day or two off of a scalp. There is no need to fumigate your home. Vacuum the carpet, and wash sheets, clothing and towels in hot water at around 130 degrees. Pets do not carry head lice. Stuffed animals can be placed in a plastic bag for a few days or in the hot car for a few hours before giving them back to your child.