Head Lice Treatment

You should not despair if one of your children displays the symptoms of head lice. The facts are that it is unlikely these days that any child will go through their schooling without this annoying problem.

Head Lice will never make it in the long jump, but they are great crawlers, and will happily crawl from head to head between children who play or sit together.

When a lice infection is discovered, don't panic. Its best to systematically work through a range of simple processes to achieve eradication. You can start by washing sheets and pillows that the child uses, and pay attention to lounge chairs with which the child's head may make contact. It is however, uncommon to find the lice in these places as they much prefer the environment of clean hair and scalp.

Combs and hair brushes should be cleaned, and the child taught not to share these items with others.

The life cycle of head lice is only around 4 weeks. The eggs (nits) are laid on the hair shaft adjacent to the scalp and cling tightly to the scalp making removal difficult.
After just over a week the eggs hatch, and after another week, they are classified as adults. During the remaining 3 weeks of their like they lay around 20 eggs each day to keep the nit infestation going. Treatment of the lice is difficult and persistence is required to eliminate them and also to prevent further infections.

One thing that can make detection hard, is that not all children suffer from the itchiness that we associate with the head lice problem. because of this, it is imperative that all family members are checked if anyone in a family is affected.

There are suggestions that todays head lice are becoming immune to the chemicals used in their treatment, although these opinions have not really been proven. One positive aspect that we are noticing is that people are no longer willing to use any harsh chemicals on their bodies, particularly on a child's sensitive skin.

Many mothers opt for home remedies such as smothering the affected child's head with oil or hair conditioner. Methods such as these can assist although it appears that frequent repeat applications are required.

There are now a range of products commercially available which contain natural oils such as olive, neem, tea tree, lavender and melaleuca and good results are reported.

Whatever product you decide upon, look for one containing natural herbs and oils which  are safe to use on your precious family members.