Every parent dreads that inevitable note coming home from the teacher; there’s a case of head lice in your little one’s classroom.
According to recent news too, head lice are no longer a problem reserved for our younger children, but teenagers too because of the craze for taking ‘selfies’, where kids stand close together allowing adult head lice to move nice and easily from one scalp to another.
And while chemical, delousing shampoos may prove necessary in certain cases, the downside is that head lice are developing resistance to these chemicals, meaning that even harsher chemicals have to be used to clear the infection. There can also be side-effects associated with using these shampoos, like scalp irritation, which could be problematic if your child has sensitive skin.
Natural treatment tips
I’ve personally had great success using olive oil or coconut oil combined with a mixture of essential oils, such as tea tree, lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus or oregano to get rid of head lice.
- A few tbsp of either oil (the coconut oil may need to be warmed slightly so that it turns to liquid)
- 6-8 drops of tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil
- 10-12 drops of lavender oil
- 1-2 drops of peppermint and oregano oil (as these are stronger)
When it first happened to my daughter a few years ago, the irony was that it wasn’t another young kid in her class that infected her, but a teenager she had spent time with on holidays. We came home from our holidays to discover my daughter’s mass of curly hair had a few visitors!
The key to using the olive or coconut oil combination is that the hair has to be fully saturated and the oil should be left in place for as long as possible to suffocate the adult head lice. With a slightly older child, you should be able to cover the head in plastic wrap, then use a towel turban over the head to keep the wrap in place while they sleep.
With younger kids, they’re unlikely to tolerate that on their heads at night, so leaving the mix on while they watch a movie, might be an easier distraction tactic.
You will still have to use a specific ‘nit’ comb on the hair to remove the head lice eggs, but you will find this process much easier with oil saturated hair as it allows the very slim gaps of the nit comb to slide through easily.
Nits stick themselves to the hair shaft, so the oil helps to dissolve the glue so they slide off onto the comb. Stubborn nits can be removed with a flat head tweezers. In between uses of the tweezer or comb, dunk them in a cup of apple cider vinegar to make sure the comb or tweezers are clean before you use them again.
Hygiene is a crucial part of the process.
If your child gets head lice, it has nothing to do with having clean or dirty hair, it’s simply because they’re in close proximity with lots of kids.
Head lice can’t jump, but they can walk rather quickly, so you will need to clean all bedding and soft materials your child has come into contact with in the house, to have the best chance of clearing the infection.
Make sure to bag up any hats, headphones, favourite cuddly toys or cushions and leave them for a couple of days, as the head lice can’t survive longer than 24 hours without a human host. Then wash everything with super-hot water and anything that can safely go in the tumble dryer can be dried on a high heat to make sure the head lice remaining are well and truly gone.
Prevention
Kids will be kids, so it’s very difficult to entirely prevent the occurrence of head lice. That said, simple measures such as tying up long hair into a bun and using a tea tree oil spray around the nape of the neck and behind the ears could make a big difference to the odds of an infection spreading, as well as advising children not to share scarves or hats with their friends.
Jessica Bourke is a Natural Fertility Specialist, who deals with all aspects of reproductive health. Her clinical approach is based on evidence-based nutrition protocols, acupuncture treatment, and she also offers functional lab tests to support you on your journey to parenthood. She’s a regular contributor to Irish media and co-author of the ‘Guilt Free Gourmet’ cook-book. As a Mum of two, Jessica understands the challenges of pregnancy and parenting. For more, visit jessicabourke.com.
