Lice Treatment

Lice is not a fun thing to find on your childs head. We have had lice, twice at our house ( kept it to only once child- a major feat as the school nurse says most families all get it). Well I decided to post about what I learned to help others (My poor sister called me frantic this morning, as her daughter has it). She needs help!

You will need.- DO NOT Buy Over The Counter Supplies- Does not work!
Lysterine (generic is okay too)
White vinegar
Shower cap or Glad press and Seal- this stuff is great!
Cloth Bandana
Terry cloth head band
Metal lice & nit combs (do not buy plastic- Will not work!)
White kleenex
Rat tail comb
Hair clips to sectio off hair

Upon finding lice- Do not cut thier hair! So tramatizing. NO NEED Really!

COMBING LICE OUT OF HAIR AS THE ONLY TREATMENT WILL NOT BE EFFECTIVE!!!! Missing only one egg or tiny lice will cause a huge infestation! If you treat it hard and fast you should be able to knock it out in a day or two!

Pull up your hair into a pony tail. Your head will be itching-just the thought makes my head itch. Do not itch your head! Clean your hands really well with tea tree soap. using a nail brush.

At some point in the day please call everyone that you or your child has been in contact with. It may be embarrasing, but they need to catch it if they have it or your child could get it back from them. It is easier to treat when it first starts.

1. Pour lysterine over the childs hair fully saturating the hair and rub in scalp. DO NOT GET INTO THIER EYES! Gather up hair in pony tail holder and either use the shower cap or Glad press and Seal. Cover hair. Cover shower cap with bandana and then secure with terry cloth headband. (Keeps lysterine from running into the eyes.)
*Put sheet on couch and put a movie on for the child to sit still. You will need to leave the Lysterine on for a minumium of 30 minutes up to 1-2 hours to kill the lice.

2. Check the rest of the families head. Treat anyone that you find. (You will treat everyone in the family that night, regardless if you see lice -see below)  Check the back of the neck and around the ears. WASH YOUR HANDS REALLY WELL after each person, scrubbing under your finger nails. Lice eggs and new lice are soooo small-smaller than 1/4 of a ground black pepper.

3. You will need to vaccumn everything. Wash all bedding. Start with the person with lice's bedding. Wash in hot water and add white vinegar. Vaccum thier matrass too. Don't forget to vaccumn the car too. Couches...etc. Anything that the child may have been on.

* You can also mix up a spray bottle of water (distilled is the best)  with 20-30 drops of Tea Tree essential oil (or other E.O.listed below-or a combination of E.O.). Spray onto surfaces, car seats, couches, etc. I am sighcho-cindy so I even sprayed my kids clothes down when they would come home.

4. Bag up anything that you cannot or do not have time to wash for 4-6 weeks. Lice die if they do not have a host.

5. I left out only a weeks worth of clothes for the infected child so I could control what I had to wash.

6. Every morning I would wash  thier bedding again. I had the child sleep with the shower cap on and covered thier pillow with a towell, until thier were no more lice.

* I kept the childs head covered (at all times!) with something (like lysterine, coconut oil conditioner, tree tree shampoo, olive oil, or white vinegar) and the shower cap, until I knew they were lice free.

7. When you are ready to rinse out the lysterine, use tea tree shampoo.

8. Now you need to cover the hair in white vinegar. Replace shower cap and bandana and leave on for 1-2 hours. The white vinegar loosens the glue on the hair shafts.

Schools have a no nit policy. Which means the child cannot have any nits (empty lice egg shells) in thier hair. To be able to go back to school.

9. Now you need to go section by section and use the metal comb to comb each thin section. I used a white kleenex to wipe the comb onto so I could see if I was getting anything. If I did I would go over that section of hair a few times.

10. After the combing wash hair again with tea tree shampoo. You can blow dry the hair. Lice do not like heat.

11. Braid hair or put up into a bun. Apply liberal hair spray. Lice do not like hair spray either. (Hair spray and using tea tree shampoo,  is a good school and church option to avoid lice).

12. Repeat head check on everyone over the next few days. Repeat lysterine, tea tree, vingear process as warrented.

13. I boiled everyone's hair brushes and then kept them in a ziplock with thier name on it. No sharing brushes.

This process works great. I switched eveyone in the house to tea tree shampoo and coconut conditioner. For the next 6 weeks.
Important!!!!!
As a Preventative for everyone in the house!I also treated everyone in the house with an olive oil treatment every few days (Apply the same as the lysterine and cover over night with a shower cap.) Do not even bother with the over the counter lice treatments. Harsh chemicals and the lice are resistant to it.

Why the Tea tree and other essential oils work when over the counter lice treatments do not. Essential oils (depending on the E.O.) contain hundreds of chemical constituents that have been identified by scientific methods (and many more that cannot be identified). All of these chemical constituents make it very difficult for the lice, bugs, bacteria, virius, etc. to become resistant to the Essential oil. However, the over the counter and prescription lice treatment s only contian a few chemical constituents, so the lice can quickly become resistant.
E.O that are effective with lice-Rotate through the different oils if using more than two weeks.
Tea Tree
Eucalyptus & Rosemary-combine a drop of each in a dolp of shampoo.
Cedarwood, Pine, Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus citradora, Geranium, Lemongrass, Spiramint. Add a few drops to your shampoo.
Ginger root or Thyme- hotter oils, always diute.
6 drops Thyme to a bottle of shampoo.

After washing with any of the above E.O. and shampoo combinations, run 5 drops of lavender oil, undiluted or diluted with oilve oil (or carrier oil) and rub through hair and scalp. Rinse if you like or leave in.

If your child has an extreme case I will use all of the items on the list below!
1. Lysterine
2. tea tree shampoo
3. Coconut conditioner
4. Olive oil
5. White vinegar
Start with the first listed item. Apply to hair as listed above. Shower cap, bandana and leave on for 1-2 hours. Rinse out with tea tree shampoo and apply the next item. Continue until you end with the white vinegar. Comb out as listed above.

*If you are too tired as I was I left the coconut conditioner on the hair over night and then continued in the morning.

Another way to get rid of the lice in one treatment is to color your hair. (I have not tried this but the school nurse says it works.) You will still have to comb the nits out of the hair.

Lice Prevention
Do not share combs, brushes, hats etc...

I am a mean Mom I guess but I do not use my combs and brushes on any of my kids. (I do not let them drink out of my cups either...If I get sick I still have to take care of everyone).

Put your childs long hair up every day and use plenty of hair spray.

Use tea tree shampoo.

*A lice expert once told us that she thought the alcohol (26.9 percent) in Listerine was toxic to lice. The herbal oils found in Listerine (thymol, eucalyptol, menthol and methyl salicylate) may also contribute to the effect.

Please e-mail me or call me if you need clarification...really! Boy is my head itching just writing this! So sorry you are having this trial!
Read here to learn about the life cycle of lice-