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Home Remedies for Preventing Head Lice

When kids attend regular activities and school sessions, their exposure to head lice increases. While it seems nearly impossible to keep an infestation from occurring, there are natural methods you can put into practice to help prevent a lice infestation.

  1. Avoiding Lice

    • Pay attention to lice outbreaks in your areas and keep away from them. If there is a major outbreak at the public school, pools or playgroups, keep a safe distance until the outbreak is under control.

      If you are a teacher or caretaker, be sure to clean all costumes, toys, nap mats and anything else that may have become infected during and outbreak. This measure will prevent another outbreak.

      Head lice need to have head-to-head contact, as they rarely leap from one head of hair to another. This means that most head lice are transmitted through use of someone else's hairbrush or hat. To avoid contracting lice, never use another person's comb, brush or scarf or wear their hat.

    Nit Combing

    • If a lice infestation has occurred and you would like to prevent it from happening again, use a small nit comb to make sure all of the lice eggs have been removed. Even if the infestation has been treated, remaining nits will hatch and start the infestation all over again. Spend time combing away and disposing of any remaining nits.

      If nits are difficult to remove, you can soften them with mayonnaise. Work one half cup of mayonnaise into your hair and cover your head with a shower cap. Leave the mayonnaise on your hair for at least one hour and then rinse it clean. This should soften the grip of nits on your hair and make them easier to remove.

      Clean all bedding, clothing and carpets after an infestation to prevent another outbreak of lice.

    Daily Natural Lice Treatment

    • Regular use of an all-natural lice shampoo treatment will help repel lice if you do come in contact with them. You can also add 15 to 20 drops of tea tree oil to two cups of water and pour the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray and comb into hair after each shampoo to repel lice.

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