Olive Oil smothers and kills active
Suffocate the Lice
Soak your child's head in olive oil or coconut oil. Cover with a shower cap for at least 2 hours (or preferably overnight). When ready, remove the shower cap, and separate the hair into small sections, then use a metal nit comb to carefully remove the lice and eggs. Rinse the hair well with shampoo.
Olive oil is also an excellent tool for helping to loosen the nits from the hair shaft. But, does olive oil kill lice eggs? The answer to that question is an unequivocal no. Nothing penetrates the hard shell of the nit, including olive oil.
Even though it is very likely that a single application of the oil will kill all stages (eggs, nymphs and adults) of the lice, I recommend retreatment about 7 days after the initial treatment.
Permethrin lotion 1% is approved by the FDA for the treatment of head lice. Permethrin is safe and effective when used as directed. Permethrin kills live lice but not unhatched eggs.
Washing, soaking, or drying items at a temperature greater than 130°F can kill both head lice and nits. Dry cleaning also kills head lice and nits.
What repels head lice? Coconut, tea tree oil, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon grass, and peppermint are scents popularly believed to repel lice. Using any coconut scented shampoo and conditioner is an easy way to increase your defense. At 1% concentration, tea tree oil killed 100% of head lice after 30 minutes.
Olive oil is our choice for the treatment of head lice because it avoids the side effects of other treatments. Avoiding the potential absorption of a chemical pesticide and understanding that head lice may become resistant to various chemical pesticides are two good reasons.
Malathion lotion: Approved to treat people ages 6 years of age and older, malathion works by paralyzing and killing the lice and their eggs. This is very potent medicine, so be sure that you: Keep the medicine away from everyone's eyes.
Lice and nits can live on pillows and sheets. Lice glue their eggs to the hair strands of their host. However, if a piece of hair with an egg falls out while the lice host is sleeping, an egg could end up on pillows or sheets.
Olive Oil And Eucalyptus Oil
To get rid of head lice, you need to mix 4 tablespoon olive oil and 15 drops of eucalyptus oil in a bowl. Mix them well and apply on your scalp. Cover your head using a shower cap. Wait for 2-3 hours and then rinse off using a mild shampoo.
Can head lice live on pillows or sheets? Head lice cannot live for long on pillows or sheets. It is possible for a live louse that has come off a person's head to crawl onto another human host who also puts their head on the same pillows or sheets.
Apply a shower cap. Within a few minutes, the Olive Oil cuts off the oxygen and the lice start to move. If you wash the Olive Oil off too soon they will come back to life. It takes 6-8 hours for the head lice to die.
Heat Method:
There are recent studies that show that treatment of lice with heat can be quite effective in killing head lice. Products such as Lousebuster are very effective but even a home hairdryer can successfully treat lice.
Petroleum jelly (Vaseline).
Like olive oil, many moms swear by this (other options: styling gel or mayonnaise). The thick jelly supposedly suffocates lice by clogging their breathing holes. For best results, coat the hair and scalp, cover it overnight with a shower cap, and wash out the next morning.
Vinegar contains properties that kill and get rid of nits and lice. This mixture should be applied directly to the whole scalp. Mix 1 cup of vinegar with 1 cup of warm water. Next, distribute this mixture onto the scalp and cover your hair with a hair cap.
Rinse hair thoroughly with warm water. Apple cider vinegar can also be used as an alternative. Mix half a cup of apple cider vinegar with half a cup of water and apply this on the head. Use a nit comb to remove lice, and then wash off your hair with warm water.
The only way to prevent them from hatching would be to remove them with a good metal nit comb, or your fingernails. Nits are laid by the mother and attached with a glue she formulates, to sit on the hair shaft in the perfect spot to incubate and hatch.
Adults are not immune to head lice. In fact, if you have any close contact with children or even parents of children you can be at risk of catching them if they have them. Lice transfer primarily through head to head contact, so you would have to get close to the other person.
Generally, if no live crawling insects are seen three weeks after the treatment, it's safe to assume that they are gone. Nits would have hatched by that time if they were alive. Nits and their shells may remain in the hair for some time but won't be viable.
Introduce natural predators (Ladybugs)
Ladybugs can eat 100 lice a day! Plant lice, anyway, but I'm sure it's the same with head lice. COVER YOUR CHILD IN LADYBUGS. You can purchase them at any of those “Brew 'n Grow” type stores where people grow weed by equipment and pretend to grow tomatoes with it.
The conditioner does not kill lice but stuns them for about 20 minutes enabling easier removal. The long toothed metal comb will remove nits and the stunned head lice. Wipe the comb on a white tissue and check for any lice or nits. Keep combing until no more appear on the tissue.
Vinegar is one of the classic home remedies for lice. However, if you are trying to find out how to get rid of nits using vinegar, you should know that using vinegar to kill nits or lice eggs is totally ineffective. Vinegar has no negative effect on the lice eggs.
Pile hair on head, if needed, and cover with a close-fitting shower cap OR cut plastic bag and wrap around head. Use scotch tape or hair clips to keep on the head. Leave cap or bag on for as long as possible (at least 4 hours BUT works best for 8+hours). Remove all nits as discussed under the Nit Removal Section below.