Question:
My daughter has never had head lice before this year,but her school
is infested with them. She has had them nnow three times in four months!She
comes home with them. I spend hours washing her hair with that lice
shampoo,picking nits, spraying beds, cleaning linen , stuffed animals,
couches, beds, well you get the picture!So anyway she is not catching them
againn at home. She goes back to school, and a month later, she gets them
again. This time I had to use oil to smother them, since the lice shampoo
has damaged her hair. She has really long hair, which makes it more of a
pain to pick them out,but I really dont want to cut her hair. I knnow that
lice is something that is pretty much inevitable in childhood, but once a
month is getting rediculous! Any suggestions?
Answer:
First, make sure your daughter's hair is tied back tightly when she goes to school. A French braid or some other style which keeps her hair close to her head is ideal.
You can also buy a special fine-toothed comb which kills the lice on
contact - this treats the lice without having to use chemicals.
There is also a treatment using essential oils, which is very effective. This is *not* the same as the "smother-em-with-oil" method :-). Mix together 10 drops of eucalyptus oil, 10 drops of tea-tree oil, 5 drops of geranium oil & 5 drops of rosemary oil, for a total of 30 drops. Mix this with 1 oz of vegetable oil (any type will do). Apply liberally to dry hair. Cover with shower cap for half an hour, then shampoo. Use a lice comb on dry hair (not
when the blend is in). Two applications of this, on consecutive days, are enough. The idea to use four oils is to build up resistance, so it sounds as though in your case this would be ideal. You could repeat the method every few weeks to maintain the resistance.
