Saying “Hi” and “Goodbye” To Headlice

Nothing fills a parent with dread more than a child scratching their head.

With the return to school well under way you may be worried about some unwelcome visitors making reappearance in your home.

 I am of course talking about the dreaded head lice, the mere mention of the name is sure to get you scratching your head, but there are things you can do to prevent and, if need be, treat an infestation.

As we all know prevention is better than cure, so here are some ways you can prevent head lice from your children’s hair.

Repellents

Head lice hate the smell of Tea Tree Oil.

Using a tea tree based shampoo and conditioner can help repel the head lice from making your head their home.

There are also repellent sprays that contain tea tree. Spraying these on your hair every morning can work wonders in repelling the head lice.

Another natural remedy you can use is pure Tea Tree Oil.

You can use this by placing a drop behind both of your child’s ears or you can mix a few drops of the oil with water in a spray bottle to spray over your child’s hair.

Combing

Another way of preventing a head lice infestation is to regularly check your child’s hair (at least once a week) by detection combing. Detection combing can be done on either wet or dry hair, but wet is highly recommended because it works better.

For effective results follow these simple steps:

1. Wash the hair using normal shampoo and use lots of conditioner.
2. Use a wide-toothed brush or comb to ensure there are no tangles in the hair.
3. Change to a fine tooth comb (louse detection comb) and make sure to place the comb into the roots of the hair, as close to the scalp as possible.
4. Bring the comb down through the full length of the hair and check the comb for lice or eggs.
5. Repeat through all of the hair in sections until the whole head of hair has been combed through.

If any live lice, eggs or droppings are observed by combing you should:

• Check all other family members.
• Only treat those who have live lice or visible eggs.
• Tell close friends to check their children.
• Let the school know.

We all know that there is a lot of information available on head lice, but there are also a lot of common misconceptions.

Fact or Fiction

Head lice carry diseases like fleas.

Fiction- Head lice do not carry any disease. They will bite the scalp to feed on blood four times a day. This will cause irritation resulting in the child scratching and could then lead to sores and infection.

Head lice can jump from one head to another

Fiction- Head lice cannot jump. They are small wingless critters, roughly the size of a sesame seed.  They can only spread through direct head-to-head contact between people. That’s why they love schools and children

Head lice hate Tea Tree Oil

Fact- Tea Tree Oil is a great natural repellent for headlice. You can mix it with water and spray it onto your childs hair and use shampoos containing tea tree.

Head lice attach themselves to the scalp

Fiction- Head lice attach to a strand of hair, very close to the scalp. They have hook like claws that allow them to grip tightly onto the hair. They will then lay their eggs on the strand of hair, usually behind the ears or at the nape of the neck.  

Head lice multiply quickly

Fact- Each Head louse can lay up to 10 eggs a day, so infestation can happen very quickly.  Detection is most important to effectively treat them.

Head lice treatments and shampoos are the best options

Fact- Head lice treatments such as Lyclear are excellent at eliminating head lice but combing is essential. It is important to comb the hair of all members of the family if infestation has been detected and treat if necessary.