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How to Get Rid of Head Lice for Free

Head lice living on the scalp or hair of a human can easily spread from person to person through direct contact. Adult lice can live up to 30 days, needing only human blood to survive. To detect head lice, a careful inspection of the hair and scalp should be performed. The eggs can be found attached to the hair, whereas the immature adult and adult lice move quickly. Although there are lice-killing medications available, there are lice home-treatment methods using non-pesticide, safe household products.

Things You'll Need

  • Vegetable oil
  • Vinegar
  • Shampoo
  • Mayonnaise
  • Plastic shower cap (optional)
  • Petroleum jelly
  • Baby oil
  • Dish soap
  • Comb
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Instructions

  1. Vegetable Oil Treatment

    • 1

      Apply vegetable oil on the hair and massage in to ensure complete coverage. Leave the oil in the hair for 3 hours. The vegetable oil will suffocate and kill most of the lice.

    • 2

      Shampoo hair thoroughly and then rinse to remove the vegetable oil.

    • 3

      Rub a small amount of vinegar to the hair to make combing easier.

    • 4

      Repeat the vegetable oil treatment again one week later. If any traces of lice remain after the second treatment, repeat treatment for a third time one week later.

    MayonnaiseTreatment

    • 5

      Apply mayonnaise to thoroughly cover all the hair. Either a new jar or one from the refrigerator will work; a refrigerated one, however, may be too cold to be comfortable.

    • 6

      Cover with a plastic shower cap, if available, and keep on for two hours. The mayonnaise will smother the lice and eggs.

    • 7

      Shampoo the hair thoroughly. Repeat shampooing until the mayonnaise has been thoroughly washed out.

    Petroleum Jelly Treatment

    • 8

      Rub a generous amount of petroleum jelly on the hair and leave on for two hours.

    • 9

      Saturate the hair in baby oil. Rub thorough the hair thoroughly and then squeeze out as much as possible.

    • 10

      Wash the hair three times using dish soap and hot water. Leave the dish soap on for a few minutes with each wash before rinsing out. This will the allow the soap to remove the petroleum jelly easily.

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